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July, 2010

Drugs, Alcohol and Elite sport: a real life approach

Every time a professional player or elite athlete tests positive to drugs or is caught abusing alcohol, you can guarantee three things will happen:

1. Newspapers and other media will over react and claim an isolated incident is evidence of an inherent drug and alcohol abuse culture in the club or sport (or all of sport);
2. The club or sport will over react and ensure a drugs and alcohol education program is put in place as soon as possible;
3. Everyone associated with the incident will over react, deny responsibility and blame someone else.

 What’s the reality?

Read more

Great Coaching – Great Coaches: How to Be the Best of the Best.

Whilst all great coaches are unique and very special individuals, there are some common factors – some common championship coaching characteristics that they all share:

1. A commitment to continuous improvement.
2. A belief that anything is possible.
3. An understanding of where your sport has been (history of the sport), where it is now and most importantly a vision for where it is going.
4. The confidence to be yourself – to be unique.
5. The energy to work hard consistently.
6. The strength and courage to not compromise.
7. Outstanding communication abilities.
8. An understanding of who you are, what you value and what motivates you.
9. A passion for winning – a desire to be the best.
10. The capacity to persevere and persist and continue to fight hard no matter what obstacles you face. Read more

The Accountability Myth – Why the current Leadership models in High Performance Sport are failing (badly).

Time to be honest about this whole Leadership concept in high performance sport – it is not working.

And why?

It’s not working because of the Accountability Myth: The Accountability Myth is the reason why the current Leadership models in High Performance Sport are failing (badly). Read more

The Psychology of Winning: How to Develop a Winning Attitude in High Performance Sport

World Cup Final Day.

The team gathers in the locker room.

This is an intense, high pressure environment that few experience and even fewer survive.

A former player – one of the nation’s greatest – walks into the change room. There is a respectful hush as he starts to speak.

He talks about pride.

He talks about spirit.

He talks about commitment – about attitude.

He talks about winning - the history of the nation at the world cup.

With tears in his eyes he begins to recite the names of the great players who have gone before.

He asks players to stand and link arms and to join him in the national anthem.

He has done a great motivational talk.

This is the perception many people have about the word motivation as it applies to high performance sport: a one off emotion charged lecture from a professional speaker or motivator or sports psychologist. Read more

Evolution of Coaching Rugby Teams – from Coaching the Team to Coaching Today

This morning I received an email from a Rugby coach in New Zealand about the evolution of leadership and coaching in rugby. Thought it would be of interest to everyone who coaches any football code – or any team sport for that matter:

Email to www.sportscoachingbrain.com

Hi Wayne,
 
I coach a 1st XV rugby side in New Zealand that has a history of finishing at the top. However in recent years we have come up short when the pressure has taken it toll on the side and I have been trying to find the point of difference to change this.
 
Thanks for this piece. We are at play-off time now and this is a good refresher going into the business end of the season.
 
Ownership for one’s self in all that he or she does is vital for young athletes in 2010. That is my summary of your last piece.
 
Regards
 

www.sportscoachingbrain.com response to the Coach:
 
Thanks for the email.

Basically in the old days we coached the whole team the same way.
Then we moved to coaching backs or forwards.
Then it became units - i.e. inside backs / outside backs, front three etc.
Then we moved to coaching each position – i.e. all wingers, all back rowers, all tight heads etc had their own program by position.
Now it is about the optimal preparation of each individual in the team and training each person to realise their own personal peak performance potential.
The evolution means that each individual player has to accept the responsibility for their own performance and be consistently as professional off field in all aspects of their life as they are when they train and play.
We don’t coach at players – we work with them collaboratively to achieve the possible and impossible.
 
Any rugby coach still coaching the whole team the same way with one big team program is 30 years behind the times and doomed to failure.

The future is about collaboration, sharing, growing, partnering and ensuring everyone in the organisation is working consistently to their full potential. Then…anything is possible.
 
Thanks,

WG

What’s all this Leadership by Empowerment stuff about?

Leadership groups, leadership teams, player leadership teams, team councils………

What’s going on here? Players making decisions? Players leading? Players taking ownership of their training and playing programs?

• What’s all this empowerment stuff about?
• What does engagement mean? Is someone getting married?
• And what the hell is a leadership group?

I thought coaches coached, managers managed, fans cheered, doctors doctored and players played.

All of sudden every AFL, rugby, football, cricket, netball and rugby league team has embraced a player empowerment leadership model. Five years ago, most of us couldn’t even spell it.

Let’s have closer look at what’s going on. Read more

Top Ten Talent I.D. Tips for High Performance Sport – The T.O.P. Approach

 

So much of the world’s high performance sports dollars (or Yens or Yuans or Euros or Pounds or Pesos or Rands depending on where you come from), time, energy, focus and attention is spent on three things:

1. Talent identification;
2. Talent recruitment;
3. Talent development.

Or if you like, find them, sign them, refine them.

And most of the world has still got it wrong. There is a better way. Read more

The Evolution of Leadership in Professional Sport: from coach to captain to collaboration.

Leadership?

Lots of people talk about where leadership in sport is now.

But where did our current thinking on leadership come from? How did leadership in professional sport evolve?

And more importantly, where is leadership in professional sport going?

Read more

Important Message to All South African Sports Coaching Brain fans

I will be in South Africa from November 15th – November 29th 2010.

Hope to catch up with all my friends, colleagues and Sports Coaching Brain fans while I am there.

Wayne Goldsmith

New Mobile Theme for Sports Coaching Brain.

Now you can access all your favourite Sports Coaching Brain articles from your Smartphone using our new Mobile Theme.

Try it now from your I-phone, Blackberry or Android phone.

The Sports Coaching Brain – anytime, anywhere and for anyone who is interested in sport, coaching, high performance and being the best.

WG

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• About this Blog

  Expert advice, ideas, innovation and inspiration for all sports coaches and team managers - from 'grass roots' through to elite and high performance levels. All posts are written by Wayne Goldsmith, AKA the "Sports Coaching Brain". If you have a question or comment about any post, please add it to the comments section.

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