Sports Performance Leadership: Mark Adamoulas - Coach Up or Fall Behind: Building High-Performing Teams

Episode 194: In this episode of the Sports Performance Leadership Podcast, hosted by Pete McKnight, we are joined by Mark Adamoulas — a performance leader whose 20-year career has spanned across sport, education, and the corporate world.

Mark’s track record is both diverse and exceptional: he has worked with Manchester United, the FA, Red Bull, and numerous global corporates, supporting C-suite leaders, Premier League managers, Olympic gold medalists, and VC/PE companies. His mixed heritage and multilingual background allow him to connect authentically with people from varied cultures and contexts, bridging high-performance environments across industries and geographies.

As co-founder of coachup, Mark leads on coach development, bringing the latest behavioural science into the world of sports coaching. Where traditional coaching development often focuses on skills, drills, and tactics, Mark and his team shine a spotlight on the most critical driver of sustained success: the team environment.

Topics Discussed:

• Mark’s background — Greek heritage, move to the UK, and path into sports psychology
• Professional experience — Work with Manchester United, the FA, Rugby League, Red Bull, and more
• CoachUp — Neuroscience-based psychometric tools for team function
• The Infinity Model — Core pillars for building high-performance environments
• Practical applications — Lessons from the Crusaders and elite teams worldwide
• Benefits for leaders — Improving team alignment, collaboration, and performance
• Barriers — Overcoming skepticism, poor prior assessment experiences, ego and fear of feedback
• Evidence base — Validation by Oxford and Harvard neuroscientists
• Leadership ecosystems — Why building systems matters more than hiring experts alone
• Future trends — Rising pressures on athletes and staff, and the urgent need for better psychological environments
• Call to action — How leaders can engage with CoachUp in both sport and corporate settings

This conversation delivers a rare insight into the science and practice of team performance, blending psychology, neuroscience, and leadership to show how high-performing cultures are built — and sustained — in today’s most demanding environments.

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Where you can find Mark:

• LinkedIn
• CoachUp
• Research Gate

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Sponsors

VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training

Hytro: The world’s leading Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) wearable, designed to accelerate recovery and maximise athletic potential using Hytro BFR for Professional Sport.

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Where to Find Us

Keep up to date with everything that is going on with the podcast by following Inform Performance on:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Our Website

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Our Team

• Andy McDonald
• Ben Ashworth
• Alistair McKenzie
• Dylan Carmody
• Steve Barrett
• Pete McKnight