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High Performance Coaching
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
July 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Tags: AFL, American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, High Performance, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer
A New Head Coach is No Longer the Solution in High Performance Sport.
There was a time when a new head was the solution to all problems in a high performance sports team.
Team not winning - get a new head coach.
Team’s culture not right – get a new head coach.
Team’s attitude and commitment flagging – get a new head coach.
Times have changed.
A new head coach is no longer the solution in high performance sport. Read more
June 29, 2010 | 2 Comments
Tags: AFL, American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Coach education, Coaching, Cricket, Cycling, Diving, Gymnastics, High Performance, Hockey, Netball, Olympics, Performance Science, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, sport, Sports Management, sports science, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Triathlon
The Passion to Prepare = or > The Potential to Perform
What are we all chasing in high performance sport?
What is high performance coaching seeking to achieve?
Why do we focus so much on player leadership?
Why do we spend so much time talking about professionalism, standards, attitudes, commitment and passion?
Because we want to achieve one thing: we want to create an environment where our athletes’ Passion to Prepare is equal to or greater than their Potential to Perform. Read more
March 3, 2010 | 2 Comments
Tags: AFL, American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Coaching, Cricket, Football, High Performance, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Swimming, Training
Creative Coaching: Teaching coaches to be Creative and Innovative.
Quick.
Write down your own list of the top ten skills of quality coaching. What does it look like? Something like this?
- Communication skills;
- Passion;
- Empathy with athletes;
- The ability to engage with athletes and inspire athletes to fully engage with the program;
- Enthusiasm;
- Technical knowledge;
- An understanding of the relevant principles of sports science and sports medicine;
- Energy;
- Curiosity (which inspires a passion for learning);
- A commitment to continuous improvement and accelerated learning.
You could add hundreds of skills to this list: experience, drive, initiative, the will to win, attention to detail, commitment, vision, determination, a strong work ethic…………there are as many desirable coaching skills as there are coaches.
But, in this century, there is one coaching skill to rule them all – creativity: creative coaching.
The question is…...can you teach coaches to be creative?
February 15, 2010 | 2 Comments
Tags: Coach development, Coach education, Coaching, High Performance, sport, Sports coaching, UCNISS
Coaching = Engagement.
We have all done it.
We have all been involved in debates, discussions and deliberations about what coaching is.
Some people say it is about teaching and learning skills. Others say it’s about sports science and applying a scientific method approach to planning and periodisation. Others say it’s about communication and caring. Still others believe coaching is about emotions like passion or it’s about values like commitment, honesty, integrity, humility, courage and discipline.
To add to the confusion, you get the coaching “zealots” who are promoting one type of coaching philosophy over another (in an effort to create a commercial success from their theories about coaching) who are convinced coaching is about the ABC Technique of Coaching or Homer Simpson’s Guide to Effective Coaching or some whiz bang made up word like Coaching Readiness for Accelerated Performance (I hope you spotted the acronym)!
Coaching is about one thing above all others…engagement. Read more
November 7, 2009 | Comments Off
Tags: AFL, American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Basketball, Coach education, Cricket, Cycling, Diving, Football, Gymnastics, High Performance, Hockey, Netball, Performance Science, potential, Rugby, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Training, Triathlon, UCNISS
