How Elite Athletes Overcome Mental Barriers and Build Resilience – An Interview with Coach Alex Manos
- Mar 18
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 21
As a self-confessed high performer, perfectionist, bad loser, and constant learner, Alex Manos understands the demands and challenges of trying to keep calm, balanced, and composed while still setting audacious dreams and having high aspirations. Growing up as the youngest of three boys, continuously playing catch-up and always striving to be better, smarter, sportier, and just overall outperforming his two brothers, Alex developed certain character traits such as dedication, commitment, ambition, and drive. However, this mindset also led to a constant feeling of not being good enough, staying stuck in a world of comparison to others, and believing that external validation was key to feeling good.
Alex Manos, Elite Athlete Life Coach
Hi Alex, who are you beyond coaching, and how has your own journey shaped the work you do with athletes today?
I am a dad, a partner, a son, a friend, a Physiotherapist, a student, and an athlete. The list could go on, but that will suffice! I have been in elite performance throughout my life, be it on the other side as a physio and coach to elite performers, or on the same side, with the mindset that I am an elite performer myself.
Sport has always been a huge part of my life, playing, working in, and watching, and I am still amazed by the levels of performance athletes can reach on a daily basis. I grew up wanting to be a professional basketball player, but unfortunately, I wasn't good enough, so the next best thing was to work in professional sport as a physiotherapist at a Premier League club, Crystal Palace FC.
Working with athletes day in and day out teaches you a lot about training, commitment, teamwork, leadership, practice, performance, and dealing with wins and losses. I understand the professional sporting world, the challenges players face on and off the court, the skills they excel at, and the ones they perhaps need more work on.
What inspired you to create Athlete Life Coaching for elite performers?
What inspired me most was the mission to help athletes reach their full potential and to provide services that enable them to do so. Athletes are people first, and their sport is simply where they spend most of their time. Some assume sports shield athletes from real-world problems, which can be true, but it doesn't always make things easier – in fact, it can add to their challenges.
Elite sport is a series of high-pressure moments where mental resilience and clarity are essential to outperform competitors. Margins are tiny, but there is endless scope to improve them by refining physical, tactical, technical, and mental aspects of performance.
I have seen too many athletes struggle with the mental side of things, and so ALC was born out of a desire to serve these athletes as powerfully as possible, so they become more aware of themselves as humans and athletes.
What makes your approach different from traditional sports psychology or performance coaching?
I wanted to create a different model that emphasised proactiveness, long-term support, and continual touchpoints. My experience so far of sport psychology has been that it’s often reactionary to solve a problem for a particular event or moment in time, which may last only a few months or even just a few sessions. Whilst this can be extremely beneficial in those moments, I wanted a more consistent level of support, regardless of where the player was in their performance.
I also wanted it to be more about coaching the person, not just the athlete. I didn’t want to focus solely on performance outcomes, and I wanted a set of tools that let the player handle momentary issues.
My philosophy is that any improvement in any area of your life comes from a deeper understanding of yourself, and that how your life looks outside the sporting arena often reflects how you are on the court, pitch, or track.
I work with athletes for a minimum of six months, and we usually meet three times a month, with additional interactions outside of sessions. I don't wait for players to come to me with a problem; I engage with them to identify issues before they become more difficult to resolve.
What signs tell an athlete it’s time to seek support?
Usually, it is either a decline in performance or a performance pattern they can’t seem to shake. Compounded with that are often recurring thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours during their sport, which are leading to less-than-optimal outcomes. They are doing the hard physical training but realise that, mentally, they need to be stronger, clearer, more resilient, or less emotionally volatile.
An example would be useful: I am currently working with a top-300 tennis player in his first year on the professional tour. He noticed patterns in his games in which he would struggle to hold his serve after breaking his opponent. He would get tight, think negatively, back off his shots, play defensively, hoping the other player would miss rather than taking control himself. If he lost, he would then take that loss badly, and it would often affect him for days after. He also knew that off the court, he wasn’t being as professional in his daily life as he should be. He needed better routines, systems, habits, and in-the-moment processes to handle high-pressure situations. The latter is the easy stuff, actually, but digging deeper into his world off the court and his overall belief system is where the fun begins, and transformation happens.
What kind of transformation do your clients experience off the field?
The biggest transformation I see in my athletes is when they stop defining themselves by results and start defining themselves by their process. When that shift happens, they compete with more freedom, confidence, and resilience.
Other powerful transformations my athletes experience are in mindset, identity, and daily habits. Through the coaching process, they develop deeper self-awareness, learning to reflect on their performances and understand how their thinking influences their competitive approach.
A key part of the work involves building intentional routines away from the court, such as structured morning routines and daily reflection. This helps athletes shift from results-focused to process-focused, enabling them to play with greater freedom and clarity in matches.
Over time, athletes also develop a stronger competitive identity and a more professional approach to their day-to-day preparation. They become better at handling setbacks, reflecting constructively on losses, and focusing on the small daily behaviours that ultimately drive long-term performance.
If an elite athlete feels lost, stuck, or uncertain about their next chapter, how can you help?
The first step is always to reach out via my website or directly email me at info@athletelifecoaching.com with a few sentences of what you are struggling with and looking for.
One thing I want to make really clear is that I have a very structured enrollment process for my athletes, which often involves several hours spent connecting with them, discovering what they need and how I can help, before we decide whether I am the right person for them. So often, coaches offer a 20- or 30-minute discovery call and expect the client to say yes or no afterwards. That is not how I work.
We will have an hour connection call, at least 2 discovery calls of an hour each, and then talk about what it looks like to work with me. Why do I do this? Long-term relationships and deep relationships can’t be rushed. We need trust, rapport, and clarity about the vision before we start. Just like building their game, the fundamentals can’t be skipped or rushed. Get those right, and we can then play a bigger transformation game.
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