About John Novak
Overview
John has 3 academic degrees (BA, MA, LLB) and a Dip. Counselling. He is an Elite Mindset Coach who is often described as the No. 1 Sports Mindset Guru. His vast experience spans corporate Speaking, the Author of several books and decades of presenting in the Media- TV, Radio and Podcasts.
Background
John ascribes to the adage of lifetime learning where he has completed BA and MA in Politics, Law Degree and Dip in health counselling. He attained a 3rd Dan black belt and famously once beat Dolph Lundgren.
He has extensive experience in media (TV, radio, podcasts) and produced a highly successful range of fitness videos.
John is an author and sort after keynote speaker working with a wide range of small to large companies.
No 1 Elite Sports Mindset Coaching
John is known as Australia’s No 1 Sports Mindset Coach. He has worked with 1000s of amateur, elite and professional athletes and teams in over 40 sports from kids (8 years) to mature athletes (50+ years). His athletes have achieved at national and international events, won premierships and Australian grand finals, Olympics and Commonwealth games medals.
John has delivered international conference presentations on his research at the Australia/NZ Sport Management Association Conferences and NRL Welfare Conferences.
National Teams
John has recently worked as the Mindset Coach for Sydney FC (A-League) (2021-2023) and Melbourne FC (AFL) 2023.
He was previously Head Mindset Coach at several National Rugby League (NRL) clubs: Manly Sea-Eagles (2019-2022), Canterbury Bulldogs (2012-2017), and Rooster (2009). Additionally, John was the Mindset Coach for a couple of seasons with Sydney Kinds (NBL) and the NSW Waratahs (Super Rugby).
1st Head Sports Mind Management
John was appointed the first full time head of mind management in any sport in Australia by Todd Greenberg, then CEO of Canterbury Bulldogs (current CEO NRL).
In his role, he worked extensively with the players, coaching staff, high performance and wellbeing staff. The team was crowned minor premiers, contesting the Grand final in 2012 and again in 2014, and made the semis finals every year.
During his time at the Bulldogs, he collaborated with the marketing, sponsorship and administration staff contributing to their positive culture, performance, resilience and motivation. Sponsors loved his mindset presentations on game day.
NRL Premiership Glory
In 2011, John worked closely with Manly’s first grade team on a multitude of Mindset strategies, motivation, positivity, team cohesion and best-self skills. This culminated in Manly winning the grand final against the Warriors.
Head of Sports Management at ICMS
From 2010-2012, John was the Sports Management Head of School. His roles included course content development, staff and student management, quality improvement and course evaluation, liaising with industry for work experience placements, lecturing and tutoring.
John created and implemented 2 new courses in the BA degree, Player and Performance Management and Innovation of Sport.
Corporate Speaking
For over 25 years, John has been a sort after Keynote and corporate speaker. His energetic and insightful presentations and workshop style help small to medium businesses and large companies reach the next level. He presents on a wide range of topics including sports mindset in business, positive business culture, staff motivation and productivity, leadership, team cohesion and positive wellbeing. Clients include: EO, YPO, KIA Motors, ANZ Bank, Campari, NSW Police Force, Ernst & Young, Pepsi, Telstra, Reebok, Alcon, MBF, Today FM, Munich Insurance, TAFE, National Heart Foundation, Quit For Life, Starlight Foundation, SIDS, Law Australia, Flight Centre, Hooker Real Estate, Commonwealth Bank, CEO Institute.
Extensive Media Experience
For over 2 decades, John has worked extensively in all forms of media. He has been featured on radio, TV, podcasts, newspapers and journal articles. He has regularly featured in and contributed sport mindset, fitness and health advice to publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Australian, Cleo, The Sun Herald, Vitality Magazine and The Daily Telegraph Mirror. He has been frequently interviewed on, and hosted Fitness radio segments on stations including ABC Radio, 2UE, 2GB, Triple J, Triple M.
Mindset & Wellbeing Expert
Currently he has a weekly radio segment on 2UE. He discusses Sports Mindset concepts and observations from the current sporting news items.
His work with The Boomerang Effect has seen John featured in mainstream media including Channel 9 News, Channel 7 News, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Mail and The Australian frequently.
John has been extensively interviewed on major television programs including Channel 9 News, Channel 7 News, A Current Affair, and featured on Good Morning Australia as a Wellbeing and fitness reporter and more recently featuring on Fox TV show, ‘Bill and Boz’.
Author
John is the author of 8 books and 7 workbooks. His books include Alive and Kicking co-authored with Shannon Dolan – a textbook used in Sports science courses; The answers lie within- a question book series and Golf Mind Game Card Deck. John and his partner, Theresa Novak, have teamed up to pen the Champion Sports Mindset series (Sports Mindset Book, Sports Assessment Tool and Sports Emotion Mastery Cards) and Champion Golf Mindset series- (Golf Mindset Book, Golf Assessment Tool and Golf Emotion Mastery Cards). Additionally, they have written 7 highly successful resilience workbooks for school students to promote positive mental health and wellbeing called Boomerang Effect: A resilient mind for health, wellbeing and success which includes 7 modules: 1. Positivity 2. Best Self and Motivation 3. Mindfulness 4. Emotion Management 5. Resilience Skills 6. World Skills 7. SOPS and Organisation.
Business Coach & Mentor
Armed with a law degree from Sydney University, Master’s degree in Politics from George Washington University (USA) and Dip. Health Counselling, John works innovatively with businesses and companies as a mentor, mindset coach and consultant. His broad consultancy work has included leadership, team cohesion, motivation, performance and productivity, innovation, creativity, wellbeing and stress reduction. He has been involved in training, business coaching, performance management, supervision, recruitment, retention, accountability and process review.
Philanthropy
John contributes to numerous charitable projects as MC for fundraising events for white ribbon, headspace, SIDS, the Royal Children’s Hospital, National Heart Foundation and Starlight Foundation. He participates in charitable cricket matches to help War Veterans re-engage with the community. He delivered an NRL support program for Indigenous HSC students in Western Sydney and Created ‘Fair Go’ campaign with partner Theresa to fundraise for underprivileged athletes for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.