Our Team
Norman Brook
Owner & Lead Consultant
Norman trained as a secondary school teacher and taught for two years before returning to study sports coaching in Scotland and Canada.
In 1982 he was appointed as British National Athletics Coach and based in Northern Ireland. He held this position for ten years developing expertise in high performance sport and community sports development. He coached several individuals to international honours and was coach to Great Britain teams at most major athletics championships including the Olympic Games. In Northern Ireland he worked at a community level developing clubs, coaches and athletes.
In 1992 he worked for the Sport Council for Northern Ireland as a sports development officer.
From 1993 to 1997 he ran a successful consultancy business working nationally and internationally in the field of sports development and management with clients that included major corporates and regional, national and international sports organisations. His projects included the UK-South Africa Sports Initiative which aimed to assist the process of transformation in sport in South Africa and empower previously disadvantaged individuals to become involved in coaching, officiating and administering sport.
In 1997 Norman returned to work for UK Athletics to manage the World Class Performance Programmes for endurance based athletes. He worked with some of Great Britain's leading athletes and their personal coaches through to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
He returned from a successful Olympic Games to take up the position of Chief Executive Officer with the British Triathlon Federation a post he held until the end of 2007. Norman is widely acclaimed for his work in growing the sport of triathlon in the UK and establishing British Triathlon as a world leading triathlon nation.
Norman was a member of the British National Olympic Committee and served as a Board member of the National Coaching Foundation.
He relocated to Cape Town in 2008. In 2010 Norman joined Skillshare International as Southern Africa Coaching for Hope Programme Manager before going on to become the international charity's Regional Director.
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Since relocating to South Africa, Norman has worked with a range of organisations in the Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad, Tunisia, United Kingdom, and Zambia developing sport in different contexts.
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Norman was awarded an MBE for service to social development through sport, particularly in South Africa in the New Year's Honours List 2014.
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In 2016 Norman returned to full time consulting with Brook Sport Consulting.
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Norman is a member of the South Africa Institute for Drug Free Sport Tribunal, South African Sports Confederation & Olympic Committee's Sport Education, Culture & Values Commission, and the UNICEF International Safeguarding Children in Sport Working Group.
Lucy Mills
Associate Consultant
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Lucy Mills is a lifelong advocate of football (soccer), equality, and positivity! She has been committed to (re)designing football programs for physical and emotional wellbeing, equality and inclusion, and holistic talent development.
Lucy has been a player, volunteer, coach educator, project manager, researcher, mentor, and director in football and football for good. She lived in South Africa between 2008 - 2014 (during which time she worked on the 2010 FIFA Men's World Cup social legacy initiative) and since then has been based in Europe (UK, Denmark, now Spain). During that period she worked with Norman Brook on Skillshare International's Coaching for Hope programme.
For the past 4 years she been part of the International Programs team at FC Barcelona leading sport and social programs for children and youth worldwide.
Lucy recently stepped down from her full-time position at Barça to focus on building READY, which is an accumulation of her life journey, experience, and passions. READY offer education, consulting and advisory services on innovation and tech to supercharge women’s sport.
Additionally, in a consultant capacity, Lucy supports several sport-based initiatives with social impact strategy, women’ leadership development, and translation / adaptation of curricula and materials. She have recently been collaborating with Barça Foundation, Beyond Sport, International Olympic Committee, World Triathlon, ChildFund Rugby, Salford University, and Emlyon Business School.
Donny Jurgens
Associate Consultant
Donny Jurgens was an activist during apartheid in South Africa and a strong advocate for sport. He trained as a school teacher and taught from 1981 to 1990 in primary schools in South Africa.
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In 1990 he was appointed to the position of Senior Sports Administrator at the University of Cape Town. Donny was then appointed in 1995 as the Manager of Community Outreach Programmes at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa. In 1999 he joined the NGO – Sports Coaches Outreach (SCORE) as Director of Programmes/ Executive Director.
In 2004 Donny joined Pro-Active Project Management as a Project Manager, Trainer and Facilitator. He then was appointed in 2005 as Chief Executive Officer for the Special Pensions Act at the South Africa Office of the National Treasury. In 2009 he moved to work for the City of Cape Town in the Department of Sport, Recreation and Amenities as Manager for Specialised Operations.
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Donny left the City of Cape Town in 2015 to set up his own consulting business Donny Jurgens Development Services.
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Donny is an Executive Board member of the South African Golf Association and Vice Chairman of the South African Gymnastics Association. He was a founding member of the South African Sports Commission and has held several positions in sport at a provincial level including being Secretary and Chairman of National Sports Congress Western Province.
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Donny Jurgens first worked with Norman Brook in 1995 on the UK-South Africa Sports Initiative where they co-facilitated facilitator training for sports education and training tutors.
Mabel Sithole
Associate Consultant
Mabel Sithole is the daughter of diplomats who have worked with governments in Africa, the United Nations and the African Union for over 40 years. Her firsthand experience of their work ignited a passion to work with leaders in Africa in pursuit of a better continent for all people that call this beautiful place, home.
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She obtained her first degree in Politics and Administration from the University of Zimbabwe in 2007 where she also served as president of the Model United Nations Club. Following an internship with the International Committee of the Red Cross she was promoted to Communication Officer.
In 2009, she moved to Cape Town to pursue an Honours Degree in Public Policy and Administration. Her thesis analysed public opinion about the role of the police in protecting refugee rights in South Africa. In 2012 she graduated from UCT with an MPhil in Development Studies and has contributed to studies assessing the implementation of affirmative action and employment equity policies in South Africa’s tertiary education sector.
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Since graduating, she has worked with international and local NGOs in South Africa in the areas of finance, strategic planning, fundraising and monitoring & evaluation. Her current research interests focus on leadership and governance in Southern Africa.
Mabel Sithole first worked with Norman Brook at Skillshare International. She brings her expertise to Brook Sport Consulting as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning specialist.
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Alison Carney
Associate Consultant
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Alison Carney has spent over 10 years working as a consultant and researcher with international sport and development organizations. She has vast experience facilitating capacity building workshops on monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) for community organizations as well as international organizations and foundations.
In parallel, Alison delivers gender trainings and consultancy and works with organizations and foundations to reflect on and improve in gender equity, diversity and inclusivity both internally and in the projects and activities that they deliver.
Alison's work is based in a feminist and intersectional perspective and I use participatory processes to support social change.
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Alison worked on the global mentoring programme for the World Triathlon Federation for Brook Sports Consulting facilitating training and assessments in Spanish and French.
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Stephan Gilfillan
Associate Consultant
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Stephen Gilfillan is Tour Director at the Scottish based sports tour company MGR Sports Tours. He joined MGR Sports Tours at its inception and has played a major part in the growth of the organisation. He is responsible for the overall development of the soccer/football tour product as well as the implementation and delivery of their international travel program.
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Stephen has been involved in sport from a very early age and studied Sport & Exercise Science at Uni. In 2003 he moved to Scotland from England where he worked in the fitness industry for almost 5 years. During his time as an Instructor he developed fitness programmes for individuals and soccer teams. He worked with various soccer clubs from local boys clubs to Everton FC where he assisted in their pre-season fitness programs.
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He has vast experience in the soccer travel industry, from one tour of 25 people to over 1500 people travelling to a number of destinations all over the world annually. He played an integral role in the planning, coordination and delivery of the World Cup and Euro Tours in various different countries.
Stephen has played soccer from the age of seven. At the age of 13 he signed as a professional youth for Notts County FC in the English Football League. After 2 years at professional youth, his playing career was halted for a year due to a knee injury. At the age of 18 years he signed a semi professional contract with Gedling Town FC before moving onto non league team, Ilkeston Town FC. After moving to Scotland, Stephen played for 13 successful years for local side Cupar Hearts, where his highlight was playing at the National Stadium in the Scottish Amateur Cup Final.
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Norman Brook and Stephen Gilfillan collaborate on sports tours to Africa providing opportunities for young people to play soccer/football, experience different cultures and develop as global citizens.
Penny Crisfield
Associate Consultant
Penny Crisfield is a former lecturer, applied sport psychologist, international lacrosse player and GB/Scotland Coach, she then moved into coach education. She was inducted into the Coaching Hall of Fame in 2005, winning the Dyson Award for coach education. She brings extensive experience, passion, a belief that people have the potential to be excellent and a desire to help others achieve this.
Penny is the Chair of the International Council for Coach Education Teaching and Learning Working Group and is a specialist in coach developer training including facilitation skills, supporting coaches in practice and trainer training, E-module design and development, learning program design and development, resource development and executive coaching/mentoring.
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Penny Crisfield and Norman Brook worked together on facilitators through the then National Coaching Foundation which is now known as UK Coaching. More recently Penny helped Brook Sports Consulting to develop and deliver a global mentor training programme for the World Triathlon Federation.
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Kingsley Udo
Associate Consultant
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Kingsley Udo is Head of Programmes for Street Child Cameroon. In this role, he leads the humanitarian response programme for
Kingsley has over 18 years of work experience across the development and humanitarian response spectrum. He has evolved into an international expert in humanitarian and development work.
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Kingsley has worked in several African countries and recognised for his work in child safeguarding/protection including working in conflict zones
He has hands-on experience in multi sectoral programme areas that cut across: Livelihoods, WASH, General Protection, Child Protection in Emergencies, Inclusive Education, Education in Emergencies, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS.
Kingsley has held strategic leadership positions and has managed cross cultural teams.
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Norman Brook and Kingsley Udo both had roles in the delivery of the UK's International Citizen Service programme and have collaborated on several Safeguarding in Sport projects in Africa.