Mick Hawes - THE HEAD COACH

Helping You Move From Stress To Success

All about The Head Coach

Most recently Michael has turned his powerful personal performance coaching abilities from the corporate world to the area of elite sport. Michael has worked with many sports people in varied sports. Michael has helped cricketers into the record books, cut golfers handicaps in half, and much more. In 2003/04 Michael was engaged by Tennis Australia to work with the Boys T.A.P. (Targeted Athlete Project), with absolutely no tennis knowledge, he has had incredible success. Michael was asked help to kick start “Operation 150”, with the idea to assist struggling professionals to move into the top 150 ATP world rankings. Within 12 weeks Michael had coached one player into the top 150 and another improving by 250 spots on the rankings. Within 6 months 5 out the 6 players he coached had moved from tennis wilderness into the top ten in Australia. He has also with tennis champion Samantha Stosur, the number one ranked doubles player in the world and Australia’s number one female tennis player. Sam improved her world singles ranking by 20 places to a career high ranking after just a few weeks of Mick’s help.

In the year 2000, Michael lay in intensive care fighting for his life. Suffering extreme head trauma following an horrific boating accident, and within a millimetre of death, Michael was to draw on an unimaginable inner strength to stage a miraculous and brave recovery. How did he effect such a dramatic and rapid recovery with no drug intervention other than the general anaesthetic used during surgery? Michael was able to draw strength from his own programs, his own teachings, his own principles, and through solid commitment, dedication to and belief in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), he moved quickly towards the achievement of lasting change for himself and others around him.


A passionate trainer, personal coach and presenter, Michael links his vigour, charisma, knowledge and passion with extensive experience and expertise in coaching others to achieve success. The compelling nature and sheer strength of his programs is derived directly from his genuine commitment to the support of others in search of their potential, and in search of skills to secure their lasting and positive change. Openly described by others as dynamic, motivating, lively and rejuvenating, Michael is committed to a quest for learning – a quest for self-evaluation, personal learning, and positive growth. A skilled and inspiring coach, his programs have direct appeal to a wide and diverse audience and so often act as the catalyst for immediate and lasting change in the lives of others.

Following a brief career as an electrician, Michael relocated from Hobart to Sydney in the early 1980’s. During this period living and working in a thriving but frantic capital city, Michael himself attended a Day Timer Time Power seminar, keen to develop strategies to ensure success in a competitive, busy, and stressed world. So convinced by the techniques discovered during this workshop, Michael returned to Hobart as an accredited Time Power trainer and presenter.


Through a bizarre sequence of events, Michael became involved in a pre-release program at Risdon Prison. This program was activated in direct response to a perceived need to equip recent inmates with the skills required to create substantial change permanently in their lives, and at the same time increase self-esteem. This was to herald the development soon after of the ‘Positive Change’ and ‘Skills for Change’ programs.

While revising and refining these programs, Michael pursued a personal interest in Neuro Associative Conditioning (NAC), Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and Emotional Freedom Technique, (EFT). This study was to prove vital at a later time in Michael’s life.

Michael attended and graduated from the Robbins Research Mastery University in Hawaii, in 1999. Following a “blinding flash of the obvious”, he became intrigued by a person’s inability to secure lasting change, and hence focused his programs on the achievement of lasting change.

A committed coach, mentor, trainer and presenter, Michael has much to offer. Through ‘real life’ experience, study, and a process of continual self-evaluation, Michael has developed a series of programs that will assist others to gain the strategies and skills to achieve permanent positive change. Michael, through his specifically tailored programs, will provide the impetus and the vehicle your organisation needs to go wherever it needs to go.