Performance Architect: October 2026 cohort

The next Performance Architect cohort starts the week of 19 October. It runs for six weeks and trains you to direct an injured athlete's return to play. By the end, you can decide what the athlete trains today, name what is limiting their performance, give the coach a return date with criteria, and show the work so the coach and the rest of the staff follow one plan.

There are 10 places. I review each application, and places are decided on best fit.

What I saw with Team China

When I worked with Team China, every squad had a foreign physio, a performance coach and a sports scientist. They were skilled, and they were doing their best for their athletes. They were also frustrated. They couldn't connect with the coach, and the rehab didn't get done the way they planned it.

Therapy courses teach assessments and methods for treating the condition. They teach very little about applying them in the sport: all the steps that take an athlete fully back, competitive and ready to win the next medal.

Chen Lijun tore his triceps before the Tokyo Olympics. 283 days later he won gold. During the rebuild we progressed his snatch to 100 kg before he had mastered a basic triceps extension. When we optimise for performance, we are not limited by the tissue.

Where this system has worked

The Performance Architect curriculum taught staff from five different provinces in China to get their athletes to win gold medals at the 2025 National Games. Guangxi applied the full system, and between the 2017 and 2025 National Games its gold medals went from 2 to 10, and its total medals from 12 to 28.

I spent 7 years with Team China and have worked with 1,300 athletes, more than 40 of them Olympians. Athletes I supported have won more than 24 Olympic medals and set more than 10 world records. I have also taught more than 800 doctors and therapists, and 15 of my former students now work with national and Olympic teams across Asia.

This cohort teaches the same systems that produced those results across China. They have also been shown to work in other parts of the world. The system has been applied with the Philippine weightlifting team, in Hong Kong and in Singapore, with better outcomes for their athletes.

What you finish with

Your own return-to-play system for taking an athlete from broken to podium ready, and the proof to show it worked.

You watch how I ran each part with my athletes, then build your own version for your sport and your team. By week six it has already been used on a real athlete.

Curriculum

The purpose of the six weeks is to create change right away. You build each part on the call, starting with a rough first draft on one injured athlete you are treating now. You send it to me, I review it and give you feedback, and you correct it before the next call. That gets it into your work as fast as possible, so you are taking actions that improve the outcomes of the athletes you work with.

You also get videos, the call recordings and extra lectures, which fill in the details not covered on the call.

The system has three parts. Assess: find the real limiter and work out what matters. Decide: choose what happens next, who does it, how it fits into training and how long it takes. Prove: track progress every week so you, the athlete and the coach can see it is working.

Six group calls, one each week, of 70 to 90 minutes.

In the first two weeks, you have a private call with me. It is a needs analysis, to identify what you most need to work on.

In the last two weeks, you have a second private call with me to review your final system and your next steps.

You are in a WhatsApp group with the other therapists in the cohort, so you can ask questions between calls.

You keep access to the training and its updates for as long as I host it.

Bonuses

Case support. During the six weeks, you can bring me a difficult case from your own athletes and I will consult on it.

Stay in the Game, the integrated rehab course. It teaches trainers to modify training so the athlete keeps performing, and therapists to rebuild the injured tissue within the sport environment. Access starts the day you enroll, so you have it as a reference from the beginning. It is the recorded workshop I taught in Guangxi to prepare rehab and performance staff for the National Games.

Price and the first 21 days

$3,000 USD, in two payments of $1,500.

You have 21 days to decide. If the cohort isn't right for you, tell me before day 21 and we stop there. The second payment is not taken, and you keep the Stay in the Game course.

Who this is for

You already treat athletes, in a clinic or inside a team, and you want to be making return-to-play decisions with the coach. Strength coaches who work with athletes in the return-to-play process are a good fit too.

Who this is not for

• Anyone who can't follow teaching in English. The cohort is taught in English.
• Anyone who isn't working with athletes at the moment. Each week's work is built on one of your current athletes.
• Recent graduates. This is for the person who is handling important athletes.
• Personal trainers. The cohort is for therapists and strength coaches working in the return-to-play process.

Dates and applications

There are 10 places. I review each application, and places are decided on best fit. If the 10 places fill, later applicants go on the waitlist for the next cohort. I run a cohort about every two months.

How to apply

1. Fill in the application below.
2. I review every application myself and reply within 48 business hours. I work Monday to Friday.
3. If it's a fit, I send you a short video on how Performance Architect applies to what you told me, with the full offer and the enrollment link. There is no sales call.
4. Your place is confirmed with the first payment of $1,500.
5. If you aren't ready for it yet, I tell you why and what I would work on first.

You can apply now. Applications are reviewed in the order they arrive, and enrollment opens Tuesday 13 October. Stay in the Game opens the day you enroll, and your private needs-analysis call is booked before week one.