For parents of 10–18 year olds · Hyphen, Al Quoz, Dubai

Not a full stop.
A comma.

Capable kids stop trying because trying risks failing. IronMind Mentoring trains what happens in the ninety seconds after it goes wrong — in a gym, under load. And we measure it: before anything starts, and again at session 24.

The floor at Hyphen · Al Quoz
The Baseline · S 01 · sample report
Recovery after error34
Sustained effort under load52
Task completion41

Self-report, 0–100. The same instrument is taken again at session 24 — that is the evidence the programme stands on. A named, written report you keep, whether or not you continue.

How it works

The first ask is small,
and it's free.

No 24-session pitch on a first phone call. Each step earns the next one — and every claim we make about progress comes with a number behind it.

Ninety seconds — the window the whole method trains
01

The BaselineFree

One session at Hyphen. Physical and mental measures, taken properly, with a written report you keep. Before anything is booked, Gary or Jade speaks with you and your child — an honest conversation about fit, nothing more.

02

The 24-session programme

The only paid step. Each session is 30–45 minutes of 1:1 mentoring followed by an hour of personal training, with a brief note to parents afterwards — across three phases, Foundation, Development and Performance, with a full review and reset at session 12.

03

The Re-Baseline

Session 24: the same measures, the same instrument. You see exactly what moved — and if something didn't move, you see that too. Nothing is rounded up.

Sessions run by appointment, scheduled around school hours.

What we do

Mind and body,
trained as one thing.

Every strand of IronMind is built on the same conviction: young people perform better, feel better, and make better decisions when mental and physical development are treated as one thing — not two separate boxes.

1:1 Mentoring

The 24-session programme

A structured 1:1 programme with a personal workbook throughout. Identity, goals, resilience, relationships, confidence, pressure, and future planning — measured at the start, the middle, and the end.

Ages 10–18 · girls and boys
Personal training

The hour under load

A 1-hour training session runs alongside every mentoring session. The gym is not a bolt-on: it is where composure, discipline and recovery after error are actually trained, rep by rep.

Hyphen Gym · Al Quoz
Sport psychology

The mental game, built

The Robot Protocol and a full suite of frameworks — Reinvestment Theory, Quiet Eye, Neutral Thinking, The Comma — delivered 1:1 and to full squads.

Athletes, academies & teams
Parent workshops

For the adults behind them

How to have the conversation. Boundaries, screen time, academic pressure, supporting without rescuing. The adults around a young person matter as much as the young person.

Half-day & evening formats
Workshops

Single-session work

Standalone sessions for schools, clubs and academies — SMART targets, triggers, values and identity, public speaking, discipline and habits. Each one leaves the participant with something to use.

Schools · clubs · academies
Teams & squads

Group delivery

A full sport psychology programme for squads across four age bands — U10–12, U13–15, U16–18 and Elite. Built for the situation, not the textbook.

Group sessions · 1:1 · academy visits
The programme

One programme.
Two coaches. Same standard.

Twenty-four structured 1:1 sessions across three phases, with a personal workbook that builds week by week. Gary coaches the boys' cohort; Jade coaches the girls'. The scenarios and situations are tailored to each — neither is an adaptation of the other.

Boys' cohort · coached by Gary

Identity. Goals.
Resilience. Future.

Training is the entry point for the mentoring work — structured, honest and practical, built for young males who don't open up across a desk. The guard drops under load, not under questioning.

Girls' cohort · coached by Jade

Identity. Confidence.
Resilience. Voice.

The same standard and the same structure, built around the situations young women actually face — friendships, boundaries, comparison, pressure — with self-worth and voice trained as capabilities, not talked about as problems.

Same task. Same effort. There is no girls' version.
30–45
minutes of 1:1 mentoring, weekly
1 HR
personal training alongside every session
24
sessions across three phases
WK 12
full mid-point review and reset
Phase 1 · Sessions 1–8

Foundation

Self-awareness and the basics of identity — who they are, built from the inside out.

Boys
Who Am I?Wheel of LifeSMART TargetsKnow Your TriggersValues & IdentityDiscipline & HabitsSchool PressureConfidence
Girls
Who Am I?Wheel of LifeGoals That WorkMeeting Self 1Values & IdentityDiscipline & HabitsSelf-Worth & VoiceConfidence
Phase 2 · Sessions 9–16

Development

Relationships, emotions, and managing the world around them.

Boys
CommunicationResilienceRelationshipsMid-Point ReviewManaging EmotionsSocial MediaMental HealthFamily & Home
Girls
Friendships & LoyaltyResilienceRelationships & BoundariesMid-Point ReviewManaging EmotionsSocial Media & ComparisonMental HealthFamily & Home
Phase 3 · Sessions 17–24

Performance

Purpose, pressure, future self, and forward planning.

Boys
Dealing with ConflictPurpose & MotivationLeadership of SelfFuture SelfPressure & PerformanceDealing with FailureSelf 1 / Self 2Celebration
Girls
Managing PressurePurpose & MotivationVoice & ConfidenceDealing with FailureSelf 1 / Self 2Future SelfBuilding My FutureCelebration
The two voices · what session Self 1 / Self 2 trains

"You're not good enough. Don't mess this up. Everyone is watching."

That was one shot.
What's my next task?

Self 1 is the critic. Self 2 is the trained body. The whole programme is teaching a young person which one gets the microphone — and it is practised in the gym, under load, not discussed in a chair.

The reset — hand on the chest, mid-exhale
Sport psychology

The mental game,
properly built.

Not theory on a slide. Practical, situation-based, and rehearsed under pressure — built around the Robot Protocol, a personal pre-performance system every athlete builds, owns and refines.

The walk back — the moment after, never the moment of

The Robot Protocol

A full personal pre-performance system: physiological sigh, box breathing, The Switch, a process cue, and The Comma. Built with each athlete and rehearsed under pressure until it holds.

Reinvestment Theory

Why athletes choke — and how to train the automatic system to hold when it matters. Van de Velde, Novotná, McIlroy: the science behind the collapse, and the comeback.

Quiet Eye

The gaze-control research that separates elite from average under pressure. Curry at the free-throw line; Wilkinson and Doris. Trained as a pre-performance routine.

Neutral Thinking

Trevor Moawad's framework for performing through adversity. Not positivity, not negativity — the next play, regardless of the scoreboard. The past is not predictive.

Individual 1:1

Personal protocol build, pressure rehearsal, and ongoing session support.

Team sessions

Full-squad delivery across U10–12, U13–15, U16–18 and Elite. Age-appropriate, situation-based.

Academy visits

Delivery at the training ground, alongside coaching staff, embedding the protocol into daily practice.

Workbook

An A5 curriculum building into a personal protocol card the athlete keeps and refines all season.

Current partnership

Dubai Basketball Academy

A sport psychology programme across all four age bands, delivered in partnership with Hyphen as a confirmed three-way collaboration.

31
sessions across the programme
The team

People who work with
young people properly.

Not coaches pretending to be therapists. Not therapists pretending to be coaches. People who understand both — and know when each is needed.

Same bench, same eye level, clipboard face down
Founder · boys' cohort · sport psychology

Gary McIntyre

Gary coaches the boys' cohort and leads the sport psychology work. A PE teacher at GEMS World Academy Dubai, he built IronMind on the training floor at Hyphen: structured mentoring alongside the bar, where the honest hour actually happens. The rigour behind it — a Sport Science degree, teacher training, specialist ADHD study and a psychology master's in progress — stays behind it; the session is about the young person, not the certificates.

MSc Psychology & Mental Health · in progress BSc Sport Science PGCE Qualified PT CPD ADHD Diploma
Girls' cohort

Jade

Jade coaches the girls' cohort — the same 24-session structure, built around the situations young women actually face. A qualified PE teacher with Level 3 counselling training, she brings clinical rigour to an hour that stays practical: identity, confidence, boundaries and voice, worked on rather than talked around.

Level 3 Counsellor Qualified PE Teacher Girls' programme lead
Parent feedback

You stay informed.
Every session.

Parents are not kept at arm's length. After every session — mentoring and training — you receive a brief, clear note. Enough to stay connected; never enough to undermine the confidential hour.

After every mentoring session

The session note

The topic covered, how your child engaged, and one suggested way to support the conversation at home.

After every training session

The floor note

A short note from the Hyphen team: what was covered physically, and the energy and attitude they brought to it. Both notes read together.

Session 12

The full review

Progress across the first half, assessed honestly against the Baseline. Priorities reset for the second — and what you can do to support the next phase.

Switched back on.
School, sport, at home.

That is the outcome the programme is built for — and the Re-Baseline is how you'll know, rather than take our word for it.

Back up — the outcome, not the trophy
Workshops

One session can
change the frame.

Not every young person is ready for a 24-session commitment, and not every organisation needs one. Workshops are single or multi-session — focused, practical, immediately useful.

For parents

The parent workshops

Half-day and evening formats for parents who want to understand what their child is going through — and what to do with that understanding.

  • Understanding your son / daughter
  • How to have the conversation
  • Boundaries and healthy limits
  • Screen time and social media
  • Supporting without rescuing
For young people

Individual workshops

Standalone sessions for groups in schools, clubs and academies. One topic each, practical activities, and something the participant leaves with.

  • SMART targets
  • Know your triggers
  • Public speaking
  • Values and identity
  • Discipline and habits
For teams & squads

Sport psychology workshops

Group sessions for squads, academies and school teams — built around real match and training situations, not theory for its own sake.

  • The Robot Protocol — full build
  • Why you choke, and how to stop
  • Neutral Thinking under pressure
  • Leadership when it gets hard
  • Pressure rehearsal
How we talk

The words are
part of the training.

Young people arrive fluent in advice that has never worked on them. The programme replaces it, phrase by phrase.

Instead of "Stay positive."
Stay neutral. The past is not predictive.
Instead of "Don't think about it."
Flip your Switch. Let your body take over.
Instead of "Unlock their potential."
They make the most of what you already give them.
Take the first step

Find out where they
actually stand.

A free physical and mental baseline at Hyphen, Al Quoz. One session, one written report, no obligation — and an honest conversation about whether this is the right fit before anything begins.

Where Hyphen Gym · Al Quoz · Dubai, UAE How to reach us Through the form — Gary or Jade calls back Sessions By appointment, scheduled around school hours Who we work with Young people aged 10–18 · girls’ cohort with Jade · boys’ cohort with Gary

Six fields and a tick, one screen. Gary or Jade calls within one working day. We ask for the least a human needs to call back — no child’s name, no school, no photo.

IronMind Mentoring IronMind Mentoring · Hyphen, Al Quoz, Dubai Develop the mind. Build the body. © 2026 IronMind Mentoring