Forged for Manhood with Rick Cooper

I've got Henry Weeks this week from Moulsford prep school on, with some refreshing takes on engagement in young men in education.

Henry grew up in the West Country on a farm near Bath, schooled in Bath and then university in Oxford for his degree in teaching. He spent three years in a state primary followed by a long stint in his current job. He is the Head of Scholars and TPR (Religious studies) and runs a speaker series called High Performance Lunchtimes on a weekly basis. This is aimed to help lads aged 9-13 learn about life through the experiences of others. Also coaches a lot of sport as part of his job and a big Bath Rugby fan.We chew the fat over:

🔗 Building rapport and connection with young men in the education system

🔗 The importance of knowing our own and recognising what's drives someone else to stimulate, not stifle, a young mans creativity

🔗 and the refreshing take on being outside the 'gold fish bowl' for young men to learn how to problem solve, invite collaboration and dissolve conflict

To follow or contact Henry, check out his LI handle:

Henry Weeks | LinkedIn

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For the passionate, the bold, and the game changers in Professional Sports and Independent Education, connect with Rick on his website or LinkedIn:

Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete

Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete | LinkedIn

This week I loved talking with the world class People Development Coach (my words not his 😉), ex Bath and England rugby player, Russell EarnshawFather and husband, Northerner and struggle to separate work and play. Studied Maths and Economics at Cambridge, then played professional rugby for Bath followed by coaching England 7's, U18's and U20's whilst leading on coach development in the talent pathway. Now work for myself helping people be better at helping themselves, working with various individuals, teams and organisations including NZ Rugby, GB Hockey, the Premier League, the FA, Abbott, Tyler-Grange and Google.We chew the fat over:

🔗 How powerful the environment is and where we place ourselves for our growth and contribution

🔗 His 3 criteria of what to say 'YES' to, so that time and energy is aligned

🔗 And we touch on inner drivers as guides towards excelling

To follow or contact Rusty, check out his LI handles & The Magic Academy: ⁠⁠⁠

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For the passionate, the bold, and the game changers in Professional Sports and Independent Education, connect with Rick on his website or LinkedIn:

⁠⁠⁠The Authentic Edge — Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠Rick Cooper | LinkedIn

This week I have the project manager for the UK Ministry of Defence and founder of leadership Consultancy, Grey Wolf Teams, Andrew Lockwood.

Andy spent twenty years within the British Army deploying to various locations around the world and leading teams across multiple military operations. Alongside his military career he has worked across professional sport, namely rugby union.    

He now uses his past experience from the military and sport, along with his research from a current PhD he is studying, to advise sport teams on leadership development with coaching staff.

He has previously assisted teams on the NBA and MLS.  

We discuss:-

-His experiences within the military and how his viewpoints have changed on leadership over time.

- His Three Pillars Methodology and how it is used to develop relationships, teams and leadership.

To follow or contact Andy, check out his LI handles: ⁠

Andrew Lockwood | LinkedIn

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For the passionate, the bold, and the game changers in Professional Sports and Independent Education, connect with Rick on his website or LinkedIn:

⁠⁠The Authentic Edge — Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Rick Cooper | LinkedIn

Absolute pleasure to welcome Rob Hinton to Forged for Manhood.

A Royal Navy Mine Clearance, and Bomb Disposal Diver Veteran, Military Diving Instructor, and former Commercial Diver in the oil and gas industry, Rob hails from his beloved North Devon. He is on a mission to change society for the better with the Hold Fast Challenges and the creation of the Hold Fast Community.

I know first hand, and the reason why we do some work together, that he approaches life with a strong, positive, resilient, mindset.

No fuss

No excuses

Just get it done

He is determined to empower all of society, with particular focus on young people, by getting people to understand that we all have the ability to get rid of the doubts, the excuses, lack of confidence, lack of self pride, and step forward into a mindset that allows us to do anything we want to, and benefit others along the way by our efforts.

We discuss:

- Understanding the big picture. and what we want from life.

- The importance of self reflection to gain a wide enough viewpoint that allows us to utilise our strengths and weaknesses, with brutal honesty

- Mindset. Why we refuse to blame, the finger starts by pointing inwards first.

My favourite episode so far!

To follow or contact Ron, check out his handles: Royal navy clearance diver | Hold Fast Challenge | Scotland

Robert Hinton | LinkedIn

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For the passionate, the bold, and the game changers in Professional Sports and Independent Education, connect with Rick on his website or LinkedIn:

⁠The Authentic Edge — Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete⁠⁠

Rick Cooper | LinkedIn

My guest this week is Simon Cusden.

Simon is the co-founder of Whole People Group, dedicated to embedding well-being as the cornerstone of excellence for individuals and organisations. A former professional athlete, Simon leverages his personal journey over addiction, PTSD, and depression to guide men and senior leadership teams toward sustainable resilience and success in high-pressure settings. Based in Somerset with his wife Jess and their twin sons, he aims to create lasting change by blending professional expertise with lived experience.We unpick:

-The lack of healthy Rites of passage for young men, something that was once about growth and contribution, to now dressed up initiation through humiliation.

- Cultural conditioning around being man, how that differs from culture to culture, yet remains steadfast in a mans ability to be someone of calm, collectiveness and purpose in community

-Fatherhood. The sacred bond, forgiveness, feeling blessed, seen and heard by an elder man and the powerful impact that has on the boy in all of us. To find and connect with Simon goes to the Whole People Group website:

HOME PAGE | Whole People-----

For the passionate, the bold, and the game changers in Professional Sports and Independent Education, connect with Rick on his website or LinkedIn:

The Authentic Edge — Rick Cooper - The Education AthleteRick Cooper | LinkedIn

This short weekly wisdom episode covers the compounding effect of small actions, how our future self, identity and state of wellbeing is heavily influenced by choices we make today and the importance of environmental success.

My guest this week is Anthony Astbury.

Ant is the Director of The Whole Man Academy —  helping men of all ages build strength, confidence, direction, and proper connection.After many years in corporate, he walked away from a high-flying career in the City because he knew there was more to life than chasing money and pretending to be happy.

He speaks directly about what he feels it means to be a man today — and how to handle the stuff that doesn't get spoken about often enough: Building your ideal life.

In this episode we cover:

-The power of your Circle of influence. You become who you spend time with, and where you choose to give your time and energy

-Don’t Let Tech Use You – Use It. AI isn’t coming – it’s here. Learn how to create with it, not consume from it.

-Question everything You're fed. The news, influencers, school, the system, learn to question stuff. Ask why a lot.
-Look After You First. Sleep. Train. Think.
If you’re a young lad, or man, who wants more from life — not just to fit in but to stand out — listen up.

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Check out the incredibly inspiring and transformative work Rick does and how to work with him through his website or LinkedIn:

⁠Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete⁠

⁠(1) Rick Cooper | LinkedIn⁠

In this Forged for Manhood Insight Bonus episode, I explain how to establish our own inner GPS, AKA unique Value hierarchy.

I share the insight as to how our values dictate attention surplus vs attention deficit, why we feel unfulfilled or that its 'never enough', outlining how we know we are living someone else's values when we feel frustrated and irritated, and how our learning potential is exposed when we understand our own preferential learning modalities through the VAK model.

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To dive deeper and establish your own Value system to lead with conviction and purpose, feel free to visit my website or LinkedIn to talk further.

Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete(1) Rick Cooper | LinkedIn

My guest this week is Aaron Hill. Aaron is a resilience coach, who served with UK Special Forces and is the host of the Forging Resilience podcast.

We cover the mindset he adopted to become a Royal Marine and how his drive to achieve swiftly lead him to UK SF.

The conversation leads to his own unique story into:

- Understanding and allowing emotion instead of repressing and blocking

- The importance of Mentors and the courage to ask for help

- Welcoming failure as part of a purposeful journey

- Achieving goals that weren't his own to feel 'good enough' and then building his own sense of belonging

Aaron now supports high performers, founders, athletes, and creatives helping them cut through the noise, reconnect with their truth, and lead with clarity and courage. His coaching draws on real-world experience in extreme environments and deep inner work. Aaron’s mission: To create space for impact and change by supporting others in building resilience that’s rooted in authenticity, not armour. By the end of this episode you will understand the link to establishing goals that are intrinsically driven, how we are able to overcome obstacles and challenges on the way to achieving them and staying present when feeling under pressure.

Check out the incredibly inspiring and transformative work Rick does and how to work with him through his website or LinkedIn:

Rick Cooper - The Education Athlete

(1) Rick Cooper | LinkedIn

This week I had the enormous pleasure of having mental health advocate, extreme fitness junkie and all round top geezer, Charles 'Woody' Mears on the show.

If you are someone that wants to learn about resilience, about how to take back the power of now and feel less stressed, anxious and overwhelmed about your current 'reality', this is a must listen.

In a very candid conversation the pair of us share our vulnerabilities and the battles we've had with mental health, what it felt like and how we increased our mind fitness.

In Charles quest to get people talking more, to encourage community, and to be a part of what can feel impossible, possible, he uses the art of fitness to make this happen.

Recent crazy pursuits he raised money for charity for include:

Acidic Ultra- a 50km row, 50km ski erg, 100km bike ride, taking just over 14 hours to complete

Marathon on an assault bike

Marathon on a skateboard,

the list goes on.

He has now committed to his biggest challenge in 2022...….doing burpees transcending Ben Nevis. 

Support and follow him on IG @WOODPECKER_WOD and listen to this honest, heart felt episode.