MEET THE TEAM
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Coach Mentor
Jon is a former professional League of Legends Head Coach and has worked with teams in the LEC, NLC, LFL and further afield.
Jon joins the Akolyte team as a coach mentor, helping to provide guidance and feedback to coaching staff across games and competitive levels.
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Performance Coach
Matt is a former professional basketball coach in Germany, and Athletics Director in the USA. Matt is a specialist in coach and team development and leads the design, delivery and evaluation of programmes to support staff in esports.
Matt has worked with esports coaches and teams across a range of competitive titles and levels, from student societies in the NSE, to global leaders competing in the LEC.
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SKILL ACQUISITION SPECIALIST & PERFORMANCE COACH
Kabir is a specialist in skill acquisition, talent development, and coaching, with a particular focus on supporting high-performance teams in esports.
Kabir brings a wealth of applied and academic knowledge to the Akolyte team. He has an intricate understanding of the esports ecosystem and first-hand experience as an esports coach. He is also a published researcher at the forefront of work on ecological dynamics in esports.
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Strength & Conditioning Coach
Damien is a Strength & Conditioning coach and member of the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning association.
Damien has worked with a variety of Team GB, Paralympics, and motorsports athletes as well as esports players in Valorant, Fortnite, CSGO, Rocket league, and APEX legends.
Damien supports esports players to understand the importance of physical movement and recovery to aid in improving cognitive ability, health and wellness with a goal to prevent career-ending injuries.
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Performance Coach
Dylan is an esports researcher and university psychology lecturer. He has worked with professional esports teams in LoL, CS:GO, and Rainbow 6. Dylan supports players in developing psychological skills that increase in-game performance and works with coaching staff to implement effective player monitoring systems.
Based on his industry-leading research, Dylan specifically focuses on helping players cope with stress and avoid burnout. He has also successfully implemented player monitoring systems to provide coaching staff with critical player data throughout pre-season and during the season.
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Sport & Exercise Psychologist (in training)
Anjali is a Sport and Exercise Psychologist (in training) enrolled on the Professional Doctorate program at Glasgow Caledonian University and is a registered member of the British Psychological Society.
Anjali is a former professional football player and has experience providing psychological support and developing educational material on physical health behaviours.
In her applied work, Anjali uses approaches from sport and exercise psychology to facilitate performance and well-being.
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John aka JB is performance coach who talks the talk and walks the walk. He’s currently working on his Sport Psychology MSc thesis on talent development in esports, whilst maintaining a high game rank in League of Legends, running ultramarathons and playing basketball.
JB is a key part of a number of Akolyte projects, supporting performers and coaching staff in their development and performance.
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Dr Stephen Blumenthal has worked as a consultant clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice and in the NHS for over 30 years. Stephen specialises in the treatment of a range of clinical problems, including depression, anxiety, and interpersonal trauma. He has a particular interest in understanding the connection between the mind and behaviour and the challenges of high-performance in elite competitors.
Stephen is based at Queen Ann Street Practice in central London. As well as trainings in clinical psychology, psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, he is also trained in the other main therapeutic modalities. His wide range of training and experience with a variety of therapeutic methods provides the foundation for his approach to assessing a person for psychological therapy. This needs careful thought about a person’s presenting issues, the approach that fits with them and what is likely to be most effective for their particular difficulties.
Stephen is an experienced clinician, author, researcher and supervisor. He has authored a number of books and published many peer reviewed research papers, as well as articles in the popular press. He has consulted and appeared on television, radio and podcasts and regularly undertakes public speaking engagements. Stephen provides consultation and supervision to other professionals, and is an experienced lecturer and trainer.
Stephen is registered with the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and is also a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Learn more about Stephen on his website
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Tom is a registered Trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Sport & Exercise Psychology (DSEP) and PhD student in Performance and Management Psychology within sport at Loughborough University.
Tom recognises the importance of developing the optimal mindset to pursue and achieve our goals, in sport and beyond. Tom works with his clients to help them understand the science behind performance and translate it into the everyday actions necessary to achieve performance development.
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Performance Nutritionist
Tilly is a registered performance nutritionist and university lecturer. She has worked with a range of National and International athletes in both team and individual sports and coaches executives in high stress jobs.
Tilly supports players to recognise that tiny changes made in what, or the timing of what they eat can add up to great gains. A solid personalised nutrition and hydration strategy can promote good health and performance, enhance cognitive function and improve team dynamics.
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We’re proud to be partnered with 1HP to promote healthy gaming and high performance far and wide.
1HP is a team of healthcare and performance professionals on a mission to keep the gaming community as healthy as possible and performing at their absolute best.
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Our expanding team includes a number of qualified practitioners with expertise in sports science, clinical psychology, and other fields. Practitioners are integrated into our performance support work based on clients’ needs.
If you are a qualified practitioner (or in-training on an accredited training route) in a relevant field and would like to join our team, please get in touch!
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Sport & Exercise Psychologist
Callum is a Sport & Exercise Psychologist and a member of the British psychological society.
In his time in esports, Callum has supported professional players, coaches, streamers and management staff across numerous titles including League of Legends, Rocket League, Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege and Quake at international competitions such as the RLCS 2021-22 winter split major in LA, and the CS:GO ESL Pro League in Jönköping.