Roberto Forzoni

About

Roberto Forzoni is one of the world’s leading authorities on performance psychology and an acclaimed speaker. Before starting his successful consultancy, Roberto coached football at Crystal Palace, Brentford and Brighton. Whilst helping West Ham United get into Europe and an FA Cup Final, he was invited to take up the National Performance Psychologist role at the Lawn Tennis Association. He regularly appears on BBC TV, SKY TV and other news networks and is an expert adviser to BBC Radio, where he contributes to countless local and National networks.

Roberto is recognised as one of the industry’s most informative and ‘must have’ performance speakers, where his ‘feel better, perform better’ mantra will come to life.

Wherever he goes, Roberto’s passion and enthusiasm are infectious. In his talks, he shares insights into his journey working with World and Olympic Champions to help organisations, teams, and individuals achieve outstanding performance and success whilst simultaneously improving their health and well-being. `An incredible combination.

As a former football player, coach and manager, Roberto understands the culture and specific needs of consistently achieving high-performance levels in a highly pressurised and volatile environment. He also understands the life issues that come with success. The results of his work with International performers, World and Olympic Champions are exceptional. He has developed a first-class reputation as one of the leading performance psychologists in sports with his extensive experience working in football with managers, teams and players.

A Colourful Journey

Starting his career in performance as a football coach at Chalton Athletic FC, Roberto was invited by Steve Coppell to work with him as a first-team coach at Crystal Palace, Brentford and Brighton FC. During this time, he went to the World renowned Brunel University to study for his master’s postgraduate degree in Sports Sciences, where he majored in Psychology. So impressed with his approach to psychology and performance, the head of the department at Brunel University offered Roberto a lecturing role, leading two postgraduate and two undergraduate modules. He became accredited as a Sports Psychologist with BASES (British Association of Sport and Exercise Scientists) in 2001, achieving Chartered Status before leaving the organisation in 2017. He is often asked to give guest lectures around the globe on the subject of psychology and performance, including guest lecturing at some of the top Sports universities in the UK, including Loughborough and UCL.

During this time, he worked for the English Institute of Sport, helping the Commonwealth Boxing Squad and numerous track and field athletes. But it was his work in football and tennis that he excelled. In 2007, whilst helping West Ham United, the Lawn Tennis Association secured his expertise, appointing him as National Performance Psychology manager between 2007-9.

Roberto continued his extensive work in football, invariably following managers from club to club. These roles included great times at Charlton, Norwich, and Southampton, as well as working alongside Italian National Team managers Arrigo Sachi and Fabio Capello. He was invited to work for the Football Association, where he was part of the team developing psychology in football courses; he was also the lead author of the FA Guide to Psychology in Football.

A wealth of experience across sports

Roberto’s role in helping individuals and teams reach extraordinary performance levels is unprecedented.

In his early career, Andy Murray was accused of not having the mental strength or resilience to win a Grand Slam. Roberto designed and implemented ‘Team Murray’ and started working on his mindset. Andy went on to win three Grand. Slams and two Olympic Gold Medals, going on to be No 1 in the World. At the time of writing, the now 35-year-old Andy has just engineered one of the most spectacular finishes of his 18-year career. At the Australian Open, he exerted every ounce of energy to topple homeboy Thanasi Kokkinakis from two sets down in a near-six-hour, five-set marathon that finished at 4.05 am/ A great display of mental resilience, grit and determination.

In 2022, Derek Chisora, the heavyweight boxing champion in the twilight of his hugely successful boxing career, wanted some help when fighting for the World Boxing Championshionship (WBC) title fight against the unbeaten Tyson Fury. It was widely predicted that Chisora would be knocked out in 2/3 rounds; he demonstrated enormous resilience and mental toughness, taking the Champion to ten games.

Ashleigh Nelson had a tough time in her early and unsuccessful career and considered stopping competing. After working with Roberto, she went on to win nine medals at major Championships.

Outcomes: Feel Better – Perform Better

Roberto brings extensive and unique insights into how applied, evidenced-based psychology can be practically delivered, leading to extraordinary results in both performance and well-being. Working with Roberto, you and your teams will quickly learn how to feel better and perform better, whatever they do.

Philosophy

Roberto’s philosophy is simple, he wants his clients to be the best they can be, and he ensures he does everything possible to help them achieve their objectives – and have fun along the way. He is passionate about high-level performance and achievement and is driven by the focus on helping clients feel better and perform better, whatever they do

Roberto’s goal is to help clients perform at an even higher standard with greater consistency and enjoyment.  He likes to have fun and to get excited, knowing that we all learn best when we’re having a good time and enjoying ourselves.  He likes to see his clients smile and hear them laugh.

Roberto’s role is to make the most of his client’s talent.  On its own, talent is not enough.  All of his clients are very talented in many ways, and they understand that it’s a great starting point.  They want to make the most of their skills and natural abilities to use their gifts. Roberto provides the knowledge, tools and techniques to make all that happen.

Education & Lecturing

Alongside his MSc (distinction) in Sport Sciences, Roberto has studied various forms of positive psychology techniques, including Solution Focussed Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Counselling, Motivational Interviewing and NLP techniques. His undergraduate degree was in Environmental Engineering, where he was awarded first-class honours.