Mental health and performance
Understanding that achievement does not remove vulnerability, pressure or the need for support.
Engagements / Sport & Education
UCFB ×ManchesterUnited
Winning Together: Transforming Sport Through Culture
An honest conversation about mental health, resilience and authentic leadership—and what it takes to perform without losing sight of the person behind the performance.
The engagement
Changing the conversation around performance
Why Not I was invited to contribute to Winning Together: Transforming Sport Through Culture, an event hosted by UCFB that brought together students, industry leaders and wellbeing advocates to explore how culture influences performance across sport.
Led by Kofi Josephs, the Why Not I session placed the human experience behind performance at the centre of the conversation—exploring mental health, resilience and the importance of leadership that allows people to be honest about what they are carrying.
What Kofi brought to the room
Lived experience—not theory alone
Drawing on his experience as a Great Britain and England international basketball player, Kofi spoke openly about navigating elite sport, personal loss, mental health challenges, pressure and entrepreneurship.
His contribution offered an unfiltered perspective on the tension between striving for success and protecting your wellbeing. It showed that strength and vulnerability are not opposites—and that sustainable performance begins with creating environments where people can speak honestly, seek support and remain connected to who they are.
Resilience with honesty
Moving beyond the idea of simply “pushing through” and recognising the value of reflection, connection and asking for help.
Authentic leadership
Creating cultures in which people can perform, develop and contribute without feeling forced to hide the person behind the role.
A visual record
Inside the engagement
Why this work matters
Performance should not come at the expense of wellbeing.
Conversations like this help challenge the belief that pressure, isolation and silence are simply part of pursuing success.
Why Not I uses lived experience to make difficult subjects feel human, relevant and possible to discuss. The aim is not only to inspire people in the room, but to encourage reflection, honest conversation and practical movement towards healthier cultures—in sport, education, work and the wider community.
The wider movement
From inspiration to action
This engagement reflects the wider Why Not I approach: helping people see possibility, choose a direction, take a practical step and create change that can inspire someone else.
Every engagement is part of a broader mission to use inspiration, aspiration and honest conversations about mental health as starting points for meaningful action.
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