Coach education is at the crossroads.

One thing is for certain, the way we have trained, educated and developed sports coaches in the past is not working. It has failed.

Let’s talk about a new approach in Coach Training, Education and Development: A Client Focused Approach.

Let’s talk about CoachT.E.D. (pronounced Coached): Coach Training, Education and Development.

And most importantly, let’s talk about training, educating and developing more coaches and better coaches: coaches who can provide every person involved in sport with the environment and the opportunity to develop a passion for sport, a life long love of physical fitness and activity and the chance to choose a path to realise their potential as athletes and human beings.

Coach Training Education and Development: hereafter known as COACHT.E.D. (Pronounced Coached)

The sporting world is desperately seeking two things:

1. More coaches;
2. Better coaches.

And, the world is also desperately seeking new and better ways of training, educating and developing those coaches.

As coach training, educating and developing takes too long to say, let’s adopt a new acronym – COACH-T.E.D. (pronounced Coached) – (note to coach educators everywhere – remember where you heard it first!).

What are the biggest five problems with CoachT.E.D. around the world right now?

1. Most people who coach or who are involved in some form of coaching do not even commence the COACH-TED pathway for that sport;
2. Coaches who do complete the first level of the COACH-TED pathway rarely complete all assessment tasks and the accreditation or licensing requirements;
3. Coaches who do complete all accreditation or licensing requirements rarely maintain their qualifications with updating requirements;
4. Coaches who do maintain their qualifications with updating requirements rarely move to the next level of accreditation, i.e. from “Level 1 to Level 2″;
5. Coaches rarely commit to ongoing learning and continuous improvement programs.

And what do we learn from these five problems?

It is pretty clear that what we are doing now is not working! The “levels” system has failed.

It’s a bit like saying, “We have a great restaurant, but not many people ever come and eat here. Those who do, don’t order dessert or stay for very long. Very few order some of the best things on the menu and almost no-one every comes back. But we have a great restaurant!!!!”

Well, it’s time to close the restaurant down for a while, change the decor, improve the menu, focus on customer service and make our “restaurant” the hottest ticket in town.

So what’s the solution?

There is solution…a client focused solution.

Here’s a five step plan to help you develop a Client Focused Approach to Coach-TED:

1. Clearly define and understand who your clients are: In most sports your clients are your athletes and their families.
2. Clearly understand what their needs are:  Importantly noting that not all athletes want or need to be placed on the performance pathway! Not every athlete wants or needs to be a world class athlete, a professional player or the next Grand Slam champion.
3. Ensure that your athlete development pathway reflects the needs of your clients: Importantly accepting that fact that there may be in fact two, three or more distinct and very different athlete development pathways depending on the needs of your clients, e.g. a Participation Pathway, a Performance Pathway and Peak Performance Pathway.
4. Create a Coach-TED pathway which supports and reflects the needs of your athlete development pathway: This is critical! It is essential that the sport’s athlete and coach pathways are heading in the same direction and at the same speed.
5. Align the athlete development pathway and the Coach-TED pathway: Noting that as the athlete development pathway is dynamic, is constantly changing and evolving based on the changes occurring in broader society, so too will the Coach-TED pathway be dynamic and in need of constant review and continuous improvement.

So why is this Client Focused Approach so important?

It’s simple when you stop and think about it.

Follow this logic trail….

• Governments, sporting organisations and coaches all over the world are trying to find new and better ways of attracting, developing and retaining “clients”, i.e. to get more people involved in sport and physical activity and keep them active for life. For governments this is about community health and well being. For sporting organisations it is about economic survival;
• Coaches are the front line - the ”face” of sport and the first (and sometime the only) point of contact with ”clients”;
• Therefore, for government programs to work and for sporting organisations to survive, it is imperative that coaches are trained, educated and developed to understand the sport’s clients, what their needs are and how to service them effectively.

In short, the future of sport as we know it may depend on our ability to adopt new and better ways of Coach-TED to ensure that sport’s “front-line soldiers” are equipped with the “weapons” they need to win the “war” against obesity, the societal trends towards inactivity and the shift away from organised sport.

Summary:

1. Time to face the facts…the “levels” system of coach accreditation is pretty much dead. We are just waiting for the formal burial. There has to be a better way, and there is.
2. The key to training, educating and developing (TED) great coaches is to ensure their training, education and development is relevant to then needs of the sport’s clients.
3. As coaches are often the “face” of the sport, (i.e. the front line of the sport which engages directly with the sport’s clients), it is vital that every coach is equipped with the skills, knowledge and abilities to play an effective role in servicing the needs of the sport’s clients and in doing so play a critical role in gaining, training and retaining more clients in physical activity and sporting programs.

For more information:

Any government sporting leaders or sporting organisations interested in discussing how they can develop a Client Focused Approach to Coach Training, Education and Development – COACH-TED should contact me directly on wayneATsportscoachingbrain.com
Wayne Goldsmith

Reminder that all posts on this blog are covered by Copyright laws. No posts may be republished or reproduced in part or in full without the expressed written consent of the author.

© 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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Recently I got an email from someone saying, “Hi Wayne. You seem to have a lot to say about what people are doing wrong in high performance sport. How about you “put your money where your mouth is” and post a list of things people can do to enhance the performance of their athletes, teams and programs.”

OK. I did.

1. Train harder;
2. Train smarter;
3. Train harder and smarter;
4. Improve your leadership skills;
5. Consistently out-prepare everyone in your competition;
6. Dream bigger;
7. Believe in yourself;
8. Back yourself;
9. Get up faster when you are knocked down or face adversity;
10. Get tougher mentally;
11. Never accept the first “no” from a sports administrator or bureaucrat - just fight harder;
12. Become outstanding at finding and retaining talented athletes;
13. Develop the most creative thinking skills in your sport: the best ideas win;
14. Be more passionate about success than anyone else in your sport;
15. Never become complacent: success is a moving target;
16. Enthusiasm, passion, desire and attitude are contagious diseases: are yours worth catching?
17. Use sports science intelligently, effectively and with intent;
18. Get to know your athletes better than they know themselves;
19. Collaborate with your athletes - don’t coach at them;
20. Listen;
21. Take care of your own health – physical, mental and spiritual;
22. Be committed to intelligent change and continuous improvement;
23. Make friends far more often than you make enemies;
24. Develop a network of coaches in other sports and speak with them regularly;
25. Leave your ego at the door - ego kills progress and limits creativity;
26. Read books by great leaders, great thinkers and great philosophers: there are lessons to be learnt everywhere;
27. Go back and read Number 1 on this list again – you have to work harder than anyone else;
28. There are no short cuts: anything promising double figure improvement (e.g. 10% or more) in high performance sport is more fictitious than Lord of the Rings and you aren’t a hobbit;
29. Develop a group of close friends outside of your sport and don’t talk to them about sport;
30. Sleep and eat well everyday;
31. Find a sports science network group who respect you, want to collaborate with you and will grow with you;
32. Adopt an integrated approach to identifying and developing talent: physical, mental, technical, tactical, cultural and genetic;
33. Teach one new lesson to every athlete every day;
34. Give and seek feedback often;
35. Hate losing – but learn from it, grow from it and improve as a consequence;
36. Take smart risks with your program, your ideas and your coaching;
37. See an athlete’s parents as partners in performance not as adversaries or just paying clients;
38. Create the culture you want to coach in: start with your own attitude then “infect” everyone around you;
39. Accelerate your learning faster than your opposition: from learning comes change, from change comes improvement, from improvement comes winning;
40. Take up another passion - i.e. other than your sport – to focus your mind and intelligence on;
41. Get to know the techniques, skills, rules and regulations of your sport better than anyone in the world;
42. Learn from the legend coaches of your sport - to see further than giants, you must stand upon their shoulders;
43. Keep records, refer back to them often and learn from them: those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them;
44. Find a mentor - someone whose skills, knowledge, experience, attitudes and philosophies are complimentary (i.e. different) to your own;
45. Find someone to mentor: nothing teaches like teaching;
46. Become a master of the Internet, social networking and all current forms of communication: communicate the way your athletes want to be communicated with;
47. Don’t think, speak or act in absolutes.…there is no such things as “always, “never”, “must” and “only” in high performance sport: challenge everything!
48. Learn enough about sports science, sports medicine, technology and strength and conditioning to look your staff in the eye and challenge them with a level of credibility and understanding;
49. Hire intelligently: hire on attitude and passion, then train the skills you need;
50. And number 50………an oldie but a goodie….never, ever give up. Persistence and perseverance usually beat talent, money, facilities and potential.

There you go.

What are your top 50? Let me know – let’s see if we can add another 500 to my list!

Note: The Sports Coaching Brain mentors many high performance coaches in professional and Olympic sports all over the world. YT

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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Having visited more than 30 countries in four continents in the past few years and spent time with sports leaders, coaches, athletes, sponsors, sports scientists, sports academics, sports medicine practitioners, sports administrators, government funding agencies and other sports professionals in many of the world’s leading sports systems,five world wide trends in society
(and by extension in sport) have become very clear and are screaming so loud that they can no longer be ignored.

Ignore them at your peril.

Getting Sport into Perspective:

First of all you have to get sport into perspective.

Imagine the world and everything in it was a bucket of sand: that’s all the people, the money, the institutions, governments, buildings, resources….everything.

Sport is roughly a teaspoon of sand in the bucket.

And we know, that if you look at sport as a whole across the entire world, the vast majority - over 80% - of that teaspoon is related to football (soccer).

And the other 20% of our single teaspoon of sand from our bucket is motor sport, basketball, the Olympic Games, golf, tennis, swimming, ice hockey, baseball, the NFL, the AFL, the NBL, the NHL, rugby, rugby league, cricket, netball, shooting, billiards, snooker………..everything else in the world of sport lives in that 20% of that teaspoon from our bucket.

So ignoring what’s happening in broader society is insanity. Making strategic decisions about your team, your sport, your national sports program without first taking into consideration the broader international social, political, economic, geographic and population trends is like wanting to go swimming but not wanting to get wet.

It’s different here:

Now quite often I will do a strategic planning presentation about this topic – about where sport actually fits in the world and how it is totally connected to and subject to all the broader social trends happening across the planet and there is always someone in the audience who will say, “That’s great Wayne, but you don’t understand it here. Our sport is different. Those things don’t apply to our sport. Our culture is unique“.

That’s like saying, “Look the rest of world might need oxygen to survive but we don’t – we don’t really live on this planet”.

The “Big Five”:

The following Five World Wide trends in sport apply to all sports, all athletes, all coaches, all sports managers, all government sporting bodies, all National Federations, all international Federations and every person who has any interest in any aspect of sport in any country in the world:

1. The demise of volunteerism.Volunteerism is dead. Stop throwing money at namby pamby programs to increase volunteerism. It is over. It is full time. Elvis has left the building. People in this century barely have enough time, money and energy to do the fundamentals of their own lives without giving up a lot of it to amateur sport for nothing. The extension of this is that many of the amateur sporting clubs around the world will collapse and fold within the next twenty years leaving many sports with a network of larger more professional and semi professional clubs to work with – i.e. the “Super Club” concept. Start planning for this fundamental change in the sporting landscape now!;
2. The “more with less” attitude of society. Think about this for a moment. Look at your own sport. Do you honestly believe that in the future athletes and parents will actually commit more time, money and energy to your sport? We can barely keep them engaged with the amount of training, preparation and competition we are demanding now. Where in society do you see people prepared to work harder for the same return? Not on this planet! Demanding more from athletes to achieve more will not work. And demanding more from athletes to sustain current levels of performance will not work. We will all have to find ways to enhance performance, improve athletes and teams but do it in less available time – we have to figure out how to achieve more with less;
3. The changing world of communication, connectivity and collaboration. Anyone on the planet can connect with anyone else on the planet and can learn anything, anytime, anywhere and for free. This means that your sport must be committed to open, honest, transparent, ethical standards and to the paradigms of integration, co-operation, communication, collaboration and partnerships. The old days of secrecy in sport are gone. The sports who will grow and flourish in the future will adopt an attitude of “we” and “us” and reject the ancient sporting philosophies of “me” and “I”;
4. The revolution/s in coaching. Coaching is one of most rapidly changing industries on the planet. The old ways of training coaches by forcing them to complete boring courses and workshops heavy with inappropriate content are over. So too are the old autocratic “do it my way or take the highway” methods of coaching. Coaching is about collaborating, partnering and  building sustainable, dynamic sporting environments with coaches, athletes and parents / partners working together as a team to achieve peak performance potential. The world is desperate for coaches who can thrive in this century and who are prepared to work with – as opposed to coaching at – athletes;
5. The changing demands on the sports marketplace from families and athletes. Families have no spare time: that’s a fact. So to say to a family, “If you want to play our sport, you must totally commit to 10 training sessions a week and give up 6-10 weekends a year for competition (and pay for the privilege of coaching and competition)” and expect them to buy in is lunacy. Within a few short years sports like swimming, gymnastics, diving, rowing and others with huge training and competition demands will either be forced to radically change the way they do things or they will perish.

So, what are you going to do about it?

Where will you sport be in 20 years? In 30? In 50?

And, more importantly, what are you going to do about it?

Without a genuine and urgent commitment to intelligent, strategic change many sports will not survive the next 20 years, let alone the next 90….your sport could be one of them.

You could go from making history to just being another part of it, lost in the trillions of pages of on line resource materials to be searched for and studied by your great great grandchild in 2110 to pass their school project on “ancient sports”.

Too often people yell and scream and demand that national governing bodies, international federations and governments take the lead in these broader issues: stop yelling, stop screaming and start acting.

You can’t change THE world but you can change YOUR world: start today with the “man (or woman) in the mirror”.

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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Motivation is something many coaches talk about.

Some read about it and try to learn the secrets of motivation in a bid to help their athletes achieve the impossible.

Others spend money on motivational speakers to try and motivate their athletes through a passionate team talk or an explosive, emotional pre-performance presentation.

Others attend courses, go to workshops and enrol in mental skills programs to learn the mysteries of motivation.

Coaches….don’t waste your time and money.

No one can motivate anyone to do anything.

You need to understand Motivation and Coaching.

Motivation and Coaching: Understanding Motivation.

Motivation is desire. It is the “fire” that fuels great performances, outstanding victories, persistence, perseverance, determination and drive.

It is the explanation for why some athletes have a winning “attitude”.

It is the rationale behind “mental-toughness”.

It is the strength and the character that allows athletes to overcome adversity, setbacks, disappointments, injuries and non-selections.

It is the seemingly endless energy driving athletes to complete even the toughest, most challenging and most exhausting workouts.

Motivation is the cornerstone of success for every great athlete and every great athletic achievement.

Coaches constantly seek the magic pill or the miracle ingredient or the breakthrough technique to motivate their athletes and it is all a waste of time: you can’t motivate anyone to do anything. And besides….motivation is not your job.

Motivation and Inspiration: There is a difference.

What most people think is motivation, i.e. the motivational speaker talking about money, power, success and glory is actually inspiration.

The two can work together, i.e. you can be inspired to change your behaviours to help you realise a dream, but there is a difference.

Inspiration is something that comes the outside: from listening to another person or being involved in an event or through observing something which triggers an emotional response.

Motivation, however, comes from within. Motivation is a fire: a fire which is ignited by a dream and discover their own motivation: to find their “fire”.

It is the coach’s role to inspire athletes to feel confident in themselves and to feel empowered to let their “fire” free.

Motivation is a powerful ally for coaches and an important aspect of successful coaching.

How do you help athletes find their Motivation?

Simply: do nothing.

Just watch. And listen. And observe.

Motivated athletes stand out like a street light at midnight in winter.

The athlete who arrives early to help set up the training environment.

The football player who stays behind to help clean up the gym.

The swimmer who, at the end of a hard training set asks the coach for more.

The field hockey player who encourages her team mates every time they try something new.

The basketballer who asks the facility manager to leave the lights on for another five minutes so they can practice 20 more free throws before they leave.

Motivation will, given the opportunity, express itself….if you allow it to.

Subtle Coaching: The path to Motivation.

Too many coaches over-coach in a bid to motivate their team. They believe that the key to motivation lies in constantly talking, “psyching-up” and providing a high energy, high enthusiasm coaching environment.

Motivation does not work like that: in fact, it’s just the opposite.

Try, giving your athletes some free time. Tell them, “Hey guys, you can do whatever you like for the next 30 minutes. Work on an aspect of your performance that you enjoy”. Then stand back and watch them.

People, by their nature, given free time, will do the things they love to do, which are for the most part, the things they are also good at: their strengths.

Watch what your athletes do during their free time. Chances are, they will go straight to their strengths and in doing so provide you with a doorway to their dreams and a window to their motivations.

Know thy Athletes.

Every coach needs to get to know his / her athletes.

Try scheduling a five minute one on one session with a member of your team before each training session and another five minute “one on one” with another athlete after each training session. Over a few weeks, you can arrange to spend some quality one on one time with everyone in your team. Talk with them about school, family, their life, their dreams, their concerns, their favourite movies – anything – just get to know them and to understand what it is that fuels their preparation and performance.

Because motivation comes from the inside, it is by nature a personal thing.

The key to better understanding what motivates your athletes is to get to know them as human beings.

Summary:

Motivation is like digging for gold: it can be difficult to find but if you persevere and persist until you find it, the rewards are immeasurable.

Coaches cannot motivate athletes: rather coaches must seek to provide the environment and opportunity for athletes to discover what it is that motivates them as individuals.

However, if coaches understand their athletes and what it is that motivates their athletes, great things are possible.

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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Got problems with your sporting team?

Things not going quite right?

Got issues with your culture? Your leadership? Your operations? Attitude? Performance? Preparation? Personality conflicts? Political squabbles?

Ever sit down and wish you could start all over again?

Ever dream about building a winning sporting team from the ground up or talk about how you would go about getting it right from the start?

Yes?

Then this article is for you.

People, People, People:

Before you do anything, make sure you have the right group of people to create and build your new team.

This “critical core” of people: the people with the vision, the passion, the determination and drive to build a successful sporting team are the catalyst – the “seed” from which all great things will grow.

The “critical core” can then go about putting in place the ten essentials for building a successful sporting team.

The Ten Essentials for Building a Successful Sporting Team.

Starting again step one: Have a clear reason for starting. Sounds pretty common sense but ask yourself “why”. Then listen to the answer. Then ask yourself again “why”. Once again listen to the reply. Then one more time challenge yourself “why”. Understanding clearly your motives for why you are starting down this road will underpin all the decisions, actions and strategies that are to come.

Starting again step two: Stand for something. What do you want the team to stand for? What will others know you as? What will your ”trademark” look like? This needs to be very clear and leave everyone who comes into contact with your team in no doubt about who you are and what you are trying to do.

Starting again step three: Hire people who enhance and sustain the core values, culture and vision of the team. Hire people who share your vision, who share a common belief in the potential of the team and who embrace the core values, beliefs and attitudes of the team.

Starting again step four: Do-not-compromise on the first three steps. Once you have established your vision, your values, your philosophies and your direction do not compromise on them. For example, when recruiting players, recruit not just on their talent but on their attitudes, their values, their professionalism and their capacity to lift overall preparation and playing standards through their personal example.

Starting again step five: Ensure long term financial stability, security and independence. Build a sustainable and robust financial model – one which ensures you have enough money to be competitive and one which provides stability and security.

Starting again step six: Be open, honest and transparent in all things at all times. Establish rules, policies and practices which are open, honest and transparent so that everyone inside and outside the team understands who you are, what you are trying to achieve and what is expected.

Starting again step seven: Be committed to continuous improvement, renewal, learning and change. Successful sporting organisations need to be dynamic, responsive to change and to be prepared to take the lead in the introduction of innovative new ideas to ensure success. Learn about the dangers of the Performance Clock…..and refuse to be yet another team who falls victim to it.

Starting again step eight: Put performance before popularity. In an ideal world, everyone working in sporting teams would get along as both friends and professional colleagues. However, in reality, the name of the game is winning and performance must come before popularity. Hire and retain people based on their performance, on their delivery of their key performance indicators and on their commitment to the overall vision and values of the team and not on their golf score or ability to drink heavily in social settings.

Starting again step nine: Live a ”we” not “me” philosophy. Ego is like a cancer in sporting teams. When individuals put self interest ahead of team interest, things begin to crumble.

Starting again step ten: Live excellence. Success comes when everyone in the organisation, lives excellence. For players this means excellence in preparation on field and off field, in social situations and in their personal lifetsyle management at all times. For coaches this means excellence in planning, preparation, communication and leadership at all times. For management this means professionalism in strategic planning, financial management and operations at all times.

Starting again is a nice dream, but for most of us, the reality is trying to bring about effective change in an existing sporting organisation: one which may not like or want change or even recognise that change is necessary.

The challenge for you is…in such an organisation, how can you make a difference?

Can you be the catalyst – the inspiration - for accelerating the rate of change in your team and with it ensure the team realises its potential for peak performance?

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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© 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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There are sporting kids.

There are sporting coaches.

But the critical people in the sporting equation are sporting parents.

This presentation helps every parent understand how to be a Gold Medal Sporting Parent and how to help their child realise their full potential.

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And don’t forget to contact us and ask about our Sporting Parents seminars…..a must for every parent.

© 2010 – 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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Congratulations Delhi. What an outstanding event!

After some initial controversy – wow – what a great job you did.

And Congratulations to the athletes, coaches, teams, managers, staff and families who celebrated such an outstanding sporting event.

OK - now that’s out of the way, no more Mr Nice Guy.

Let’s have a real look at the Medal Table for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi: Let’s look behind the fluff and spin.

First of all a quick reminder of the Top Six in the medal table in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne:

• Sports:  16
• Events: 247

Final Medal Table 2006 Commonwealth Games, Melbourne (taken from the official Melbourne 2006 Web site):

1. Australia – total medals 221: (84 Gold, 69 Silver, 68 Bronze);
2. England – total medals 110 (36 Gold, 40 Silver, 34 Bronze);
3. Canada – total medals 86 (26 Gold, 29 Silver, 31 Bronze);
4. India - total medals 50 (22 Gold, 17 Silver, 11 Bronze);
5. South Africa – total medals 38 (12 Gold, 13 Silver, 13 Bronze);
6. Scotland – total medals 29 (11 Gold, 7 Silver, 11 Bronze).

Now compare these to the results of the top six nations in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi:

• Sports: 17 (i.e. more sports than Melbourne);
• Events: 260 (i.e. more medal winning opportunities than Melbourne).

Final Medal Table 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi (taken from the official Delhi 2010 web site):

1. Australia - total medals 177 (74 Gold, 55 Silver, 48 Bronze);
2. India - total medals 101 ( 38 Gold, 27 Silver, 36 Bronze);
3. England – total medals 142 ( 37 Gold, 59 Silver, 46 Bronze);
4. Canada – total medals 75 (26 Gold, 17 Silver, 32 Bronze);
5. South Africa – total medals 33 ( 12 Gold, 11 Silver, 10 Bronze);
6. Kenya - total medals 32  (12 Gold, 11 Silver, 9 Bronze).

(Notable absentees from the Delhi list: Scotland, Northern Ireland and New Zealand!).

2006 vs 2010: (Yes, I know the conditions were different);

• Australia:  Total medals down by 44 (20%) – Gee, I wonder who predicted that?) . Total Gold medals down by 10 (12%);
• India: Total medals up by 51 (over 100% improvement – double their Melbourne tally!). Total Gold medals up by 16 (73%); 
• England : Total medals up by 32 (29%). Total Gold medals up by 1 (3%).
• Canada: Total medals down by 11 (13%). Total Gold medals same as 2006.
• South Africa: Total medals down by 5 (13%). Total Gold medals same as 2006.

So, the facts are:

1. Australia’s medal tally is down by over 20% – yes that’s 20% - on the number of medals won in Melbourne in 2006;
2. India took full advantage of having the “home-ground” with an outstanding performance – increasing their medal tally by just over 100% and their Gold medal score by an amazing 73%;
3. England’s total medal tally increased by 32 but their Gold medal count only increased by 1;
4. Canada’s overall medal tally was slightly down but their Gold medal count remained the same as it was in Melbourne 4 years ago;
5. South Africa’s overall medal tally was also down a little whilst their Gold medal count stayed at 12;
6. Every nation with what you might describe as a mature, advanced, well funded high performance sports system, e.g. Academies and Institutes of Sport, National Elite sports networks etc. is either going backwards or staying roughly the same on the Commonwealth Games Gold medal table – so the question is…..does money really = gold medals????;

And the critical question: Are the Commonwealth Games really about Peak Performance: Look behind the Medals: 

The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi was not a world class competition in many sports and events.

Just take two sports, swimming and track and field, for example:

• How many of the performances in swimming and track and field at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi would stand up against the best in the world?
• How many of the performances would have won medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games or the most recent world championships in both sports?
• How many world class (i.e. top 16) performances were there in Swimming? In Track and Field?

Here’s a little exercise for you:

Take an event – any event from swimming or track and field. Start with the men’s and women’s 100 metres on the track.

Write down the winning time for that event from the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Now Google “World records” in that sport (or try the IAAF Statistics guys)  or (the FINA Official site) and have a look at what the world standard is in that same event.

Then, Google “Olympic Games” in that sport and event (or try the IOC Official site) and have a look at what times won medals at the last two or three Olympic Games.

 Then let me know what you think.

And here come’s the spin!

I am not usually a betting man, but let’s have an imaginary wager on the following “spin-scripts” being the messages spruiked by some of the teams when they have to face their own national media in coming weeks:

1. Spin: “The conditions were really tough”. Fact: All nations had to face the same conditions and all nations had the same time available to prepare to overcome the conditions;
2. Spin: “Our real focus is the London 2012 Olympic Games”. Fact: How many nations, how many athletes, how many teams achieve great things in an Olympic Games after failing in the Commonwealth Games two years previously? Very, very, very few;
3. Spin: “Our results in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi demonstrate that we are on track to achieve our goals and targets in London 2012″. Fact: Apart from the Indian team, who can honestly say this? Remember that the most of the world’s sporting super-powers: USA, China, Japan, Brazil, Germany, France, Russia and Italy and many others were not represented in Delhi;
4. Spin: “We will conduct a detailed, comprehensive review of our performances in Delhi”. Fact: What this really means is we will have a meeting over coffee and cake and tell each other what a great job we are doing;
5. Spin:”We didn’t send our best team to Delhi”. Fact: By saying this you are admitting that the Commonwealth Games are of very little importance to your nation and your athletes.

Spin it anyway you like, the 2010 Commonwealth Games Delhi, were a substandard competition in many sports and the three leading Commonwealth sporting nations Australia, England and Canada all under-performed against expectations. Spin does not win!

And now the good news…..

The best news coming from the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi is that the 2012 London Olympic Games are still 2 years away and even better, the 2016 Rio Olympic Games are still six years off.

There is plenty of time to change the things that are not working and plenty of opportunity to get it right. But it will take the one thing that is in short supply around the world: honesty. Total, complete, uncompromising, “hit you in the face” honesty. 

Countries like Australia, England, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland and Northern Ireland need to take a good long look at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and accept it as a “kick in the backside” and a wake up call that all is not well in their high performance systems……. but they have time to do something about it.

Don’t “spin” the results to your politicians, people and press. Be honest about it and use the “kick in the pants” in Delhi to fight and argue for the need for change, reform and improvement”: Spin does not win!

So, what does it all mean? Ten Questions we should all be asking about the final Medal Table for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi:

1. Why did England, which has invested so much money, committed so many resources, hired so many high performance sports professionals and poured so much cash into sports science, sports medicine, research and innovation win only one Gold medal more than they did in 2006?. That works out at about 400 million pounds for that one medal – that’s a pretty expensive piece of metal!;
2. Is the performance of India merely a reflection of their capacity to deal with the conditions more effectively than the rest of the Commonwealth or are they at the beginning of becoming a super-power of world sport?;
3. Why did Australia’s medal tally drop by 20%?;
4. Why isn’t New Zealand improving in spite of having in place one of the smartest, most sophisticated high performance sports systems in the world?
5. Why didn’t Canada’s outstanding performance in the 2010 Winter Olympics reflect in any way in their performances in Delhi? i.e. how can they get it so right in the Winter Olympics but not improve in Summer sport at the Commonwealth Games in the same year?;
6. Why aren’t Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland improving in spite of the development of their own national high performance sports systems, academies / institutes of sport and the investment of millions of pounds (and Euros) in their high performance sports programs?;
7. If money =medals, why is there no correlation between money invested in high performance sport and Gold medals won at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010?;
8. What can be done to ensure the best athletes in the world continue to support the Commonwealth Games? Or should we make the Commonwealth Games a development competition for under 18 athletes only?;
9. Are the poor crowds in India and the poor television ratings reported in Australia, the UK and South Africa a sign that the Commonwealth Games have lost the support and interest of the general public?;
10. What is the real relevance of the Commonwealth Games? Most sports rate it third or fourth on their list of targeted international competitions behind the events like the Olympic Games, World Championships, European Championships and All Asian Games.

So, well done Delhi!

Congratulations to the athletes who overcame the tough conditions in Delhi and performed with distinction. You are the heroes of the Games.

Let’s recognise the outstanding achievements of so many talented athletes, hard working coaches and passionate administrators.

But, at the same time, let’s take an honest, objective, look at what really happened in India and where problems exist, let’s abandon the politics, the “fluff” and the “spin” and work harder than ever to ensure every athlete gets the best possible opportunity to perform to their full potential in London in two years time. 

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2010 – 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

Related posts:

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The Commonwealth Games  medal table is about to return to normal in Delhi.

And, unfortunately for Australia, this could mean a reduction in medals of up to 20% compared to results at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The Perfect (Medal) Storm which has existed since 1994 is at an end and it is time for normal viewing to return.

Dominating the Medal Table: More than just luck:

To win a medal tally at a major games like the Olympics, the World Championships, the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games you need a lot of very good athletes, teams and coaches to perform at their very best.

But to dominate a medal tally at a major games you need two things to happen simultaneously – the Perfect “Medal” Storm:

1. You need a lot of very good athletes, teams and coaches to perform at their very best and;
2. You need your opposition to perform very poorly.

The Commonwealth Games 1994-2006 is an example of the Perfect (Medal) Storm.

Australia’s domination of the Commonwealth Games medal tables during the period 1994-2006, winning more than double the number of Gold medals won by any other nation during that period, has to be attributed to something more than just good luck, great athletes, talented coaches and smart management.

In 1993, Australia, hot on the heels of the announcement of their winning bid to host the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, awoke from the high performance sports coma it had been in since the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and began to build what was at the time, the world’s best high performance sporting system. 

And simulateously traditional Commonwealth Games rivals Canada and England were at the low points of their respective high performance sporting powers.

The Perfect (Medal) Storm was beginning to form……..

Remember that in 1978, the Commonwealth Medal Table read:

1. Canada (just two years after they hosted the 1976 Montreal Olympics);
2. England:
3. Australia.

In 1982, Australia hosted the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane and the table looked like this:

1. Australia (only one Gold Medal ahead of)…;
2. England;
3. Canada.

Then in 1986, it was:

1. England;
2. Canada;
3. Australia.

In 1990, we saw:

1. Australia (with five more “Golds” than….);
2. England;
3. Canada. 

Then the “storm” gathered force…

In the 1990s, Australia was investing tens of millions of dollars into preparation for the Sydney 2000 Olympics: facilities, coaching, sports science, research, direct athlete payments, quality sports management, the Olympic Athlete Program, the AOC’s Innovations program…………

But for traditional Commonwealth Games rivals Canada and England, programs like “Own the Podium” and institutions such as the the UKSI, the EIS and Sport England were almost ten years away and both nations were languishing with high performance sports systems that even Charles Dickens would have described as anachronistic.

Delhi is different:

In Delhi, Australia faces an England with a mature high performance sports system, with well prepared and well funded athletes, talented, well educated coaches and professional sports management.

In Delhi, Australia faces a Canada whose “Own the Podium” program has already been so successful that they won the Gold Medal count at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver doubling their 2006 Turin Olympic Games gold medal tally in the process.

In Delhi, Australia also faces a passionate and increasingly competitive New Zealand (fourth on the all time Commonwealth Games medal table), a resurgent South Africa and several others nations who have invested heavily in high performance sport in recent years including Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Malaysia.

Add to that the sleeping giant of Commonwealth sport – the host nation India – who will have some significant advantages in the competition conditions and you have a vastly different Commonwealth Games environment to that of the past 16 years.

The Calm After the Storm:

After the Games, the “spin” will begin and the excuses for the Australian medal tally crash will be everywhere.

“Not enough money invested in high performance sport” – true.

“The conditions were really tough in Delhi” - again true but its the same for everyone.

“We are in the process of re-building our high performance sports system after the Crawford review“ – again true.

But excuses, rationalisations and “spin” are unnecessary. Times, as they say, have changed and the Performance Clock has turned.

The “storm” is over.

Time for other Commonwealth sporting nations to enjoy the sunshine for a while……..

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2010 – 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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With the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi so close, it’s time to look at the potential winners and losers, victors and failures, triumphs and tragedies of this colorful and exciting sporting event.

Ten Triumphs and Tragedies:

1. The continued rise of England as a world sporting power; You can’t throw that much money, recruit that many talented coaches and hire that many sports industry professionals, plus host a home Olympics and not be a powerful performer two years out from your major goal. For England not to dominate the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi would be a major embarrassment for their Government, their National Sporting Organisations and the leaders of their high performance sporting programs. They will be very strong and the Commonwealth should be prepared for their Dominance in Deli!;
2. The decline of Australia as a world sporting power; As a proud Australian myself, this is the last thing I would like to see but….the Australian Performance Clock is at 3 O’Clock and the future looks bleak. There will be the odd flashes of brilliance, a few medals in Swimming, Tennis looking strong, Netball, Hockey and Cycling will be as competitive as always but look for a huge decline in the number of “Golds” and a wipe-out in terms of the total number of medals won;
3. The re-emergence of Canada as a world sporting power; Following on from the great success of the “Own the Podium” Program and the outstanding results in the Winter Olympics earlier this year, watch for Canada to show some signs in the Summer sports that their focus and investment in high performance is starting to return real dividends;
4. Losers blaming the conditions in Delhi for their failure; Everyone has to face the same conditions in Delhi: the same challenges, the same traffic issues, the same food issues, the same climate issues….and every nation, team, coach and athlete knew exactly what these issues would be for the past four years. If you lose in Delhi, you just weren’t good enough - it is not Delhi’s fault – it’s yours;
5. At least one security scare; Sad, horrific and tragic but true – security will be a bigger issue than most people will admit. The modern Games environment is a security nightmare for everyone involved. Let’s hope that security is outstanding in Delhi and that every athlete, coach, manager, fan, supporter and member of the public safely enjoys what should be fantastic event without the added challenge of terrorism, political fear campaigns or religious based violence;
6. At least one doping offence in the sports of weightlifting and athletics; Get over it folks – the drug designers, the drug developers and the drug sellers have been a step ahead of WADA and the drug testing agencies for the past 40 years and it ain’t about to change. It is only a matter of which athlete and what sport will be the first to make headlines in Delhi; 
7. The miracle that is Jamaican Sprinting to continue; How a nation with such a small population and small land mass can continue to dominate world sprinting is a sporting miracle and it shows no signs of abating – with or without the Lightning Bolt; 
8. Several athletes who will perform poorly then proclaim “but I had a great time and really enjoyed the experience”; Sport at participation level is about fun, enjoyment, passion, health, fitness and all that warm, cuddly stuff but at Games level it is about one thing and one thing only….winning. Nations do not spend tens of millions of dollars preparing athletes to go to Delhi just so they can relax and enjoy a few Vindaloos and Poppadoms. You are there to win – or don’t go;
9. Numerous sports administrators and politicians will be asked “so do you believe the Commonwealth Games are relevant and important in this century“; The most predictable question for any journalist to ask a sporting administrator before, during and after the Delhi Games will be to justify the existence of the Commonwealth Games itself. And just as predictable will be the “spin” responses:“the Commonwealth Games is even more important now that it has ever been” and “The Commonwealth Games promotes international co-operation and world wide harmony through the glory of sport” blah blah blah – predictable answers to a very predictable question so why ask it in the first place?;
10. The home nation – India – will do better than at any previous Commonwealth Games; Hosting a major Games should give the host nation a significant advantage. Familiarity with climate, food and conditions, no need for international travel, surrounded by family and friends plus the performance enhancement impact of nationalism….a home Games is worth a minimum of an extra twenty Commonwealth Games medals to the host nation. But a word of warning to our Indian friends and colleagues…..hosting a Games can also increase the pressure and expectations on athletes, teams and coaches and under that pressure many will fail. To the athletes, teams and coaches who have prepared to perform well in Delhi, the weeks ahead will be full of some of the most wonderfully fulfilling moments of their lives.

So, gazing into your own Crystal Ball, Belly-button, Magic-beans or Tea leaves, what do you think will be the highlights and low-lights of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010?

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2010 – 2011, Wayne Goldsmith. All rights reserved.

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