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Charlie was born in Cambridge, UK and brought up on a farm in the Suffolk countryside. He had an early passion for sport which was probably influenced by his father, Jim Unwin, who played rugby for England and the British Lions (for whom he is the third highest try scorer of all time).
Having studied Psychology at Durham University, he went on to join the army as an officer. It was three days into his initial officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst when two planes flew into the Twin Towers, bringing into sharp focus the job that they were training for. He commissioned into the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and served in Iraq in 2004. As a 23-year-old platoon commander, Charlie was responsible for a leading counter-insurgency operations in the south of the country as well as helping to recruit and train the new Basra police force.
As an athlete in the sport of Modern Pentathlon, Charlie was inspired by one of his fellow athletes, Georgina Harland, who he watched win an Olympic medal on TV from his base in Iraq. There and then he set himself the goal of qualifying for the World Championships the following year, but in order to do so he would have to find a way of training in the desert for five very unique disciplines – shooting, fencing, swimming, running and show-jumping.
On one occasion he recalls being mortared in camp during one of his training session. Having managed to make it safely to cover one of the mortars hit the air-conditioning unit. With the temperature hitting 50 degrees Charlie’s only way to cool down was by climbing into the fridges in the kitchen!
On returning to the UK Charlie fulfilled his goal of representing TeamGB at the World Championships in 2015. In the same year he was also became National Champion in the sport.
It was during his time as an athlete that Charlie's passion for applied psychology flourished, believing this to be a fundamental contributor towards his achievements, not raw talent!
Whilst gaining a further MSc in Sport Psychology at Brunel University, Charlie won a national postgraduate award for his applied research into the mindset of elite performers. At the same time he was employed by Whitgift School in Croyden where he had the opportunity to practice sport psychology with their sport scholars, some of whom would go on to achieve the highest honours in their sport, including Elliot Daly (England and British Lions rugby), Dominic Sibley (England test cricketer) and Joe Choong (Olympic gold medallist).
Charlie started to formalise his approach and techniques for working with top athletes and in doing so had the opportunity to apply these principles into other industries. He worked as a Performance & Leadership Consultant with Lane4 where he designed and delivered award winning programmes for organisations such as Coca-Cola, Sainsburys and Lego.
Charlie has delivered training to UK Special Forces (SAS & SBS) and has also delivered masterclasses for organisations like the Bank of England and the Royal Household. In addition he has helped in the training of elite specialists including fighter pilots, surgeons, lawyers and nuclear scientists.
These experiences all reinforced his core belief that the basic principles of human performance are important to anyone who seeks excellence – no matter what they do.
In 2012 Charlie was offered the role of performance psychologist for the GB Skeleton team who went on to become Great Britain’s most successful Winter Olympic team of all time. He worked closely with Lizzy Yarnold OBE in her journey to becoming double Olympic Champion and GB’s most decorated Winter Olympic athlete.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Charlie worked with athletes across multiple sports who, between them, returned with an impressive haul of five gold medals, three silver and one bronze.
As a coach mentor Charlie works with Premier League clubs including Arsenal and West Ham. He has also worked with England Football on delivering results under pressure and developing the psychological resilience of players from an early age.
Charlie believes passionately that our understanding of human psychology in elite environments could also offer us some much-needed answers for a growing mental health crisis. He believes that we need to move beyond “first aid” in addressing the underlying factors that affect mental health, instead promoting a proactive approach to mental wellbeing and recognising that a happy and healthy mind is one that is challenged and tested routinely.
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