Everyone sees what happens in sport.

The performance. The result. The celebrations. The disappointment. The leadership. The work that goes into being ready for the next game.

What they don't always see is what you carry alongside it.

The pressure. The thoughts you replay. The expectations you place on yourself. The parts of sport that follow you home.

After many years alongside professional football, I’ve seen how easily the pressure of sport can become part of how a woman sees herself — affecting her confidence, relationships and the way she experiences life beyond sport, until questions around performance start becoming questions around identity.

Who am I without sport?

Who am I when I’m not performing at my best?

These are three patterns I see women in sport carrying quietly most often.

ONE PERFORMANCE CHANGES EVERYTHING

You’re on cloud nine after a great performance. Three points. Everything feels right.

But make a mistake that costs you?

Suddenly you’re replaying it, questioning yourself and beating yourself up long after the final whistle.

Your worth shouldn’t depend on the result.

But sometimes, it still feels like it does.

Jess, a footballer I worked with, described her experience:

The work is about being able to care deeply about your performance without allowing it to define how you feel about yourself.

ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE NOD

After the final whistle, you replay it. The coach’s reaction. A teammate’s comment. What you did — and what you should have done.

One conversation can lift you.

One quiet reaction can ruin your day.

You look to others for reassurance, while your own inner critic never seems satisfied.

For women in leadership, the nod can come from your team, your manager, your colleagues or the people you’re responsible for.

When your sense of doing well becomes tied too closely to how others respond, confidence can become difficult to hold onto.

NO ONE REALLY GETS IT

The rituals. The pressure. Match day. The disappointment afterwards.

It’s hard to explain this life to someone who hasn’t lived it.

So you carry more than people realise.

And when you carry too much for too long, it starts to show elsewhere — less patience, more resentment, withdrawing from the people closest to you.

A WSL player and also a mum to a three-year-old, told me:

Sometimes creating change starts with recognising the pattern you have been living inside.

PERFORMANCE THAT INCLUDES YOU

Private 1:1 coaching for women in sport.

A space to understand what’s really affecting how you perform — and how you feel beyond the performance.

Together, we work beneath the pressure, setbacks and expectations to understand the patterns shaping how you think, respond and make decisions.

Build awareness. Shift patterns. Handle pressure differently. Strengthen who you are beyond the result.

10 private 1:1 sessions · 60 minutes · Online · 3–4 months

Plus WhatsApp support between sessions.

A journey built around you, your sport and where you are now.

Your performance matters. But so do you.

If something here felt familiar, I’d love to hear from you.

Performance That Includes You →

About The Spiral Coaching

The Spiral Coaching Ltd is led by Senem Palaz, an ICF-trained identity coach with over 20 years’ experience supporting more than 700 people through life transitions.

The work centres on helping women recognise patterns of self-abandonment, avoid burnout, and build a life that includes them.

All coaching is private, one-to-one, fully online, and confidential.