ASCENT by The Knowing Self
The Human Side of Performance
A Human‑Centred, Data‑Informed Approach to Sporting Culture
Same game. Different experiences.
PURPOSE: The Human Side of Performance
Young athletes are shaped by sport; their identity, confidence and sense of belonging, yet many carry pressure silently:
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fear of failure
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identity tied to performance
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emotional shutdown or withdrawal
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overwhelm disguised as attitude
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communication breakdowns under pressure
ASCENT helps clubs understand these experiences through live, anonymous reflections from athletes and coaches, because behaviour always has a pattern underneath it.
When we understand the pattern, we change the response.
Strong teams aren’t built through:
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trust
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connection
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emotional safety
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shared understanding
The strongest teams don’t just train to improve physical performance, they understand the human side too; the nervous systems, emotions and relationships that shape how people show up under pressure.
Same game. Different experiences. Same team.
The Work We Do
Supporting the Human Side of Performance
ASCENT helps athletes, coaches and families build healthier sporting environments from the inside out, using a blend of live emotional insight, practical conversations, and the ASCENT framework to strengthen culture under pressure.
The Team Mirror
The ASCENT Team Mirror gives athletes a safe, anonymous way to reflect on confidence, communication, belonging and pressure.
It reveals the emotional patterns shaping how athletes show up; the things they often don’t say out loud.
These insights become the foundation for the team session, ensuring every conversation is grounded in real experience, not assumptions.
Team Session
Shaped directly by the Team Mirror, ASCENT Team Sessions help athletes understand themselves and each other more deeply.
Through practical activities and guided conversations, teams learn how to:
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support one another
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communicate under pressure
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repair after conflict
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build safer, stronger culture
ASCENT helps teams build connection, emotional awareness and the kind of environment where athletes feel safe to stay engaged.
The Coach Mirror and Coach Session
The ASCENT Coach Mirror helps coaches reflect on their own patterns under pressure; intensity, assumptions, communication and emotional load.
These insights shape the coach session, making it deeply relevant and grounded in their lived experience.
The Coach Session uses the insights from the Coach Mirror to explore:
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pressure patterns
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communication habits
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emotional load
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the impact of adult behaviour on athlete experience
Coaches leave with clearer self‑awareness, stronger relational tools and a shared language for supporting athletes under pressure.
Emerging Sports Leaders
(COMING SOON)
Developing young leaders who understand that strong culture is built through connection, self-awareness and the way we make others feel.
Because leadership is shaped in everyday moments.
What Makes ASCENT different?
Young athletes are often told to “push through” pressure, emotion and mistakes, but rarely taught how to understand what’s happening underneath them.
ASCENT brings the human side of performance into sport by combining live, anonymous reflections with the ASCENT framework to reveal the emotional patterns shaping confidence, behaviour and communication, because behaviour, confidence and connection aren’t random, they’re deeply connected to:
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how an athlete feels in their body
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what they believe about themselves
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how safe they feel in the environment
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how adults respond under pressure
Strong teams aren’t built through talent alone. They’re built through trust, repair, emotional safety and the way people treat each other in hard moments.
When athletes understand themselves and each other, and when coaches understand their own patterns under pressure, performance changes, because how we feel shapes how we play, and when the environment feels safer, athletes stay connected, take more risks, and play with more freedom.
How We Work Together
Practical conversations and experiences that strengthen culture, connection and leadership in sport, grounded in live insight and the ASCENT framework.
ASCENT works from the inside out, helping athletes, coaches and families understand the emotional patterns that shape performance, communication and belonging.
Team Sessions
Every athlete steps onto the field carrying different thoughts, pressures and experiences.
The ASCENT Team Mirror gives athletes a safe, anonymous way to reflect on confidence, communication, belonging and pressure.
These insights shape the team sessions, helping athletes understand themselves and each other more deeply.
Through practical activities and guided conversations, teams learn how to support one another, respond to challenges and build healthier culture under pressure.
Coach and Parent Workshops
Helping adults better understand the emotional load young athletes carry silently.
The ASCENT Coach Mirror helps coaches reflect on their own patterns under pressure; intensity, assumptions, communication and emotional load.
These insights shape the coach session, making it deeply relevant and grounded in their lived experience.
These workshops support healthier communication and sporting environments where young people feel safe, supported and seen beyond results.
Session Information
ASCENT sessions are practical, human‑centred experiences designed to strengthen culture, connection and emotional intelligence across sporting environments.
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Sessions are typically 60–90 minutes
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Experiences can be adapted for teams, athletes, coaches, parents and leadership groups
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Suitable for schools, sporting clubs and community organisations
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Delivered in‑person across Victoria, with online options available where needed
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Informed by live, anonymous reflections from coaches and athletes (Coach Mirror + Team Mirror)
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Designed collaboratively to meet the needs, pressures and culture of each environment
ASCENT sessions are shaped by real insight, so every conversation is grounded in the lived experiences of the people in the room.
The ASCENT Framework
Supporting the Human Side of Performance
A- Awareness:
Understanding yourself under pressure; noticing what's happening inside of you before it spills outside you
S- Self Leadership:
Owning your mindset, reactions and influence; leading your own state before you lead anyone else's
C- Connection:
Building trust, communication and emotional safety; creating environments where people feel seen. supported and valued
E- Emotional Agility:
Responding with awareness instead of reacting from pressure; shifting gears when things get messy
N- Nervous System Safety:
Helping athletes return to calm, clarity and connection under pressure, because performance is physiological before it’s psychological.
T- Teamship:
Leading beyond yourself for the good of the team; the everyday behaviours that shape culture under pressure.
Why This Work Matters
Sport can build confidence, belonging and growth, but it can also create environments where fear of failure, emotional shutdown and performance pressure go unspoken.
Through the ASCENT Coach Mirror and Team Mirror, we see the same patterns across teams:
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When identity becomes tied to performance, athletes stop taking risks.
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When mistakes feel unsafe, athletes stop playing freely.
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What looks like attitude is often protection, pressure or overwhelm.
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When adults coach from pressure, athletes absorb that pressure.
ASCENT focuses on the human side of performance; the emotions, beliefs and nervous‑system responses that shape how people show up under pressure.
We help athletes, coaches and teams build:
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confidence that isn’t dependent on performance alone
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healthier responses to mistakes, setbacks and pressure
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stronger communication during challenge and conflict
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cultures where athletes feel safe to stay engaged and connected
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environments where coaches understand their own patterns under pressure
People perform better when they feel safe enough to stay connected to themselves under pressure, and ASCENT helps clubs build that safety from the inside out.
The Human Behind ASCENT
Amanda Stokes is the founder of The Knowing Self, supporting schools, families and sporting communities through emotionally intelligent, relationship‑based work focused on culture, communication and human behaviour.
With a background in education, leadership development and youth wellbeing, Amanda’s work helps people understand what sits underneath reactions, conflict and disconnection; the emotional patterns that shape how humans respond under pressure.
Her approach supports teams, coaches and families to communicate more effectively, respond with greater awareness and create environments where young people feel safe to stay connected and engaged.
ASCENT was created to bring this work into sport, combining Amanda’s human‑centred approach with live, anonymous reflections and the ASCENT framework to help athletes, coaches and parents understand the emotional side of performance and the environments young people grow inside.
What We Believe
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Strong cultures are built through connection, not fear, because people don’t perform well when they’re bracing for judgement.
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Behaviour always has a pattern underneath it. Live reflections from athletes and coaches show us that what looks like attitude is often protection, pressure or overwhelm.
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The strongest teams know how to repair after conflict. Not because they avoid hard moments, but because they know how to reconnect after them.
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Leadership is the ability to influence how people feel, respond and connect. Every interaction shapes the emotional climate athletes grow inside.
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Pressure affects everyone differently. The Coach Mirror shows us that adults carry just as much unseen pressure as young athletes do.
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The way we speak to young athletes shapes the way they speak to themselves. Language becomes identity.
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Belonging changes what people believe they’re capable of. When athletes feel safe, they take risks, stay connected and play with more freedom.
Because how people feel changes how they perform, and ASCENT helps clubs build environments where people feel safe enough to stay connected under pressure.
Sport is never just about sport.
It’s about humans learning how to handle pressure, mistakes, emotions, relationships and belonging; the things that shape who they become long after the game ends.
Strong teams are not built through sameness, they’re built through understanding the different experiences, pressures and emotional patterns each person carries.
ASCENT helps clubs see these patterns clearly through live, anonymous reflections from coaches and athletes, so the work is grounded in real human experience, not assumptions.
Same game.
Different experiences.
Same team.