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Posts Tagged ‘Tennis’

Message to the Sporting World - Do it your own way!

OK - the Olympics have finished.

Now comes the “GAMES”…………the junkets and fact finding missions the Sporting leaders from most countries are about to embark on to find out what the USA, Germany, Great Britain, South Korea, China and Australia are doing to be successful in the Olympics.

The logic seems simple enough.

“Our country didn’t win any medals at the Olympics” says the Minister for Sport.

“Country XYZ won lots of medals at the Olympics”, says the CEO of the Sports Commission.

“Therefore if we want medals and we copy them we will win medals”, thinks everyone in the room.

“Hooray!!!! Problem solved - let’s buy some air tickets”.

Seems like common sense.

Waste of time.

Waste of money.

Waste of energy.

If the past has taught us one thing it is that high performance systems, structures and models do not work outside of the culture that created them.

Read more

Beijing Blast Number Four: Beijing 2008 is already over - and London 2012 is closer than you think.

Well, let’s hope you enjoyed the spectacular Opening Ceremony because the Beijing 2008 Olympics is already over.

And London 2012 is closer than you think.

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Reverse Coaching - Coaching in Reverse.

Coaching is one thing.

But Reverse coaching?

What the heck is Reverse Coaching? Has this Sports Coaching Brain guy gone completely mental?

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What is High Performance?

One of the most commonly asked questions in this business is, “What Exactly is High Performance?”

People talk about, write about, think about sports science, sports medicine, exercise physiology, talent identification, performance psychology, biomechanics, skill acquisition, elite coach development, recovery, sports physiotherapy, sports massage, performance analysis and all the elements and components of high performance sport, but what is it? What is this thing called High Performance?

I can summarise it all in one word………Change.

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The Greatest Assistant Coaching Article Ever Written (i.e. because we think it’s the only one): 50 of the best Tips on how to be a World Class Assistant Coach.

By Lindsay Gaze, Michael Foley, Dave Claxton, Craig Tiley, Scott Johnson, Bill Sweetenham, Andrew Friend, Keith Davies, and Wayne Goldsmith

Foreword:

Leading international Rugby Coach, Head Coach of USA Rugby (and former Wallabies Assistant coach) Scott Johnson and I were exchanging emails about coaching. Scott said, “You read a lot about coaching and plenty about being a head coach, but where is there something written about being a great assistant coach”.

I accepted the challenge, contacted some coaching friends and colleagues and this is what we came up with.

Sincere thanks to Lindsay, Michael, Dave, Craig, Scott, Bill, Andrew and Keith for their ASSIST-ANCE.

WG

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Ten Tips for Keeping your Relationship Healthy when you work in High Performance Sport

The term “Sporting Widow” (or widower) is almost a cliche in high performance sport as many, many relationships have fallen apart in the industry due to the demands and pressures of travel, preparation, competition, training camps etc etc.

This article is for all my coaching, sports science, sports medicine and sports management colleagues (and their long suffering partners and families) written after many years chatting over beers and lamenting the challenges of working on the road, away from loved ones trying to balance success in high performance sport with a successful relationship.

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Ten Reasons Why Change is so Hard to Introduce in Sport

Change is one of the most talked about aspects of sport.

But change is also one of the hardest things to actually introduce successfully and sustain in any sporting environment.

Why?

Because people who introduce change are often seen as radicals or “ratbags” or people who know nothing about the sport or people who don’t understand the sport’s culture or similar negative label.

Change innovators in sport have to fight through three phases to make a real difference:

1. Ridicule - Real innovators, lateral thinkers and change drivers have to first face the conservative thinkers in the sport who will label their push to change as stupid, ill informed and ridiculous.
2. Resistance - If the idea gets through Phase 1, it then meets hard opposition from people who are benefiting from the current thinking and who will fight hard to resist new ideas and any challenge to their position and beliefs.
3. Acceptance - finally if you can get through the days, weeks, months or even years of fighting, political maneuvering, back stabbing and other obstacles you have to overcome, you can introduce real change and ensure the sport progresses.

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Hiring and Developing a COACHING / PERFORMANCE TEAM

Gone are the days of the “GURU” coaches.

Sure, the great names of coaching have all been “one man bands” - strong, decisive, authoritarian, leadership focused head coaches who controlled every aspect of the team’s performance.

However, elite sport has developed at an incredible rate over the past twenty years and the knowledge and skills required to win an elite sporting competition are greater than any one person can bring to the table.

Think of the advances in sports science, sports medicine, analysis, IT, nutrition, psychology and technology since the 1980s.

How can we expect that any one person can be THE expert in all performance areas plus coach the team, deal with the media, work with Club Board and Executive, recruit new players, talk to sponsors, meet the fans etc etc etc?

So - the Coaching Team and Performance Team concepts are born.

 

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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.

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Improve your Coaching by NOT Coaching

You read right - improve your coaching by NOT coaching.

Coaching improves performance.

But too much coaching - over coaching - can have a negative influence on performance.

Who OVER coaches?

Typically five types of coaches OVER coach:

1. Young, inexperienced coaches who are trying too hard;
2. Coaches who lack real belief in themselves and who try to make up for it by giving too much information. These coaches will often want to be liked - and feel the more coaching they do, the more the athletes will like them;
3. Coaches who lack belief in their athletes and feel the need to control every element of preparation and performance;
4. Coaches who are being evaluated or assessed and aim to impress by being SEEN to control every element of the training session, i.e. they believe that great coaching is talking more;
5. EGO driven coaches who see athletes / players as a vehicle to promote themselves and their reputations.

Read more

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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.

• Recent Posts

  • Message to the Sporting World - Do it your own way!
  • Beijing Blast Number Five: 10 things to include in your Beijing Review
  • Athletics in Australia - Time to Say what Everyone else is Thinking.
  • Beijing Blast Number Four: Beijing 2008 is already over - and London 2012 is closer than you think.
  • Beijing Blast Number Three: Why the London 2012 Olympics will be Tougher to win than the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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