30/04/2026
Before we took to the stage in Tbilisi, Georgia, Edwin van der Sar told us that Sir Alex Ferguson created a story for every match; every match had a backdrop.
Inspired by that, Sam asked the audience to reflect on the backdrop to our session: “if we are the characters, what story are we part of?
“We have a planetary story - climate change, new technologies. An international story - wars, instability. A national story - economic crises and discontent. And then this beautiful sporting story woven through it all. Hundreds of years of people loving sport, learning from their mothers and fathers, creating magical memories.
And yet we also find abuse, burnout, and falling participation rates despite huge investment. Too often, unimaginative approaches limit sport’s potential. At its worst, sport causes great harm. If we are to help sport realise its power to heal, unite and change lives, we need to understand how to design sport in a way that creates joy and balance.
The panelists brought this topic to life with the most beautiful personal examples from their experiences across sports medicine, professional tennis, and sport psychology. Merab Vardzukashvili, Mariam Bolkvadze and Urša Terdin clearly outlined why making wellbeing primary leads to improved performance and long-term retention in sport, and unpacked the barriers to this approach taking hold. They were also asked to prepare a technique they find helpful, and so the whole room practiced some “sips of air” together, before hearing a final ‘bombshell takeaway’ from each panelist!
Several parents of young athletes in the audience came up to us in tears at the end. If anything represents our why, it’s this.
With huge thanks to the Johan Cruyff Institute and JBS Academy
for trusting us with this important discussion, and for creating a forum that brought the worlds of commercial sport, performance, athlete welfare, and sport for social change together - a very rare thing in our experience!
