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wayne@waynegoldsmith.com
The Coaches “Box” – Good and Bad in the Hot Seat in Professional Sport.

They don’t call it the Hot Seat for nothing – the coaches’ box!

The coaches’ box is the place where the coaches sit during the game and make important decisions about tactical, strategic and technical issues that have the potential to impact on the momentum of the game and even change the end result.

Some coaches’ boxes work well.

Some coaches’ boxes don’t.

So what’s the difference?

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Ten Tips to Make Sure Your End of Season Re-view is a Pre-view for Success for Next Year
Ten Tips to Make Sure Your End of Season Re-view is a Pre-view for Success for Next Year

Typically the end of season means a well earned rest, a few quiet drinks with team mates, some time with family and then… the end of season review.

Every team does some kind of season reflection or review – in most cases motivated by one or more “P” – Performance, Politics, Pressure.

  • The Performance Review: is one motivated by a drive to improve the performance of the team – players, coaches and staff – for next season.
  • The Political Review: is a review often driven by the Board or Executive to achieve a political agenda or philosophical shift in the club.
  • The Pressure Review: is one forced on a team by media, fans, club, Board or other stakeholders as a result of a poor performance.

By far the most effective review is one that is deliberately and strategically placed in the team’s “performance cycle” each year and is embraced by coaches, players, staff, Management and Board as being an important and positive aspect of progressive performance from season to season.

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It’s not the head coaches fault……not all of the time that is.

Here’s a typical football Club scenario. Pick a club – any club – any code – it doesn’t matter.

The team loses a few games, has a couple of bad seasons and the decision is made to sack the head coach.

In fact, Legend AFL Coach David Parkin once said, “There are two types of head coaches. Ones who have been sacked and ones who will be sacked”.

So the club sacks the coach, goes through a search process, finds someone else to be head coach and prepares for the next season.

Next season the team loses a few games, has a bad season and surprise surprise – the Club starts looking for another head coach.

Some Clubs have recruited and sacked several coaches over the past ten years and have not had a change in their on field performance.

Many of these same Clubs have had the same Board, CEO and management team in place throughout that same ten years.

So what they are saying is, “we are doing everything right, we have all we need to win a title, we have a great culture and leadership – all we need is a great head coach and we will be back on track”.

Is it just me or is this a really silly way to run a business?

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The Culture Combination: 5 People and Positions You Must Get Right to Build a Winning High Performance Culture in Your Sporting Organisation
The Culture Combination: 5 People and Positions You Must Get Right to Build a Winning High Performance Culture in Your Sporting Organisation

There is no one thing that you can do which will guarantee success: no single change which, in isolation will create and sustain a winning culture in high performance sport.

There are however a combination of things that you can do to increase the likelihood of success: “The Culture Combination”: 5 People and Positions You Must Get Right to Build a Winning High Performance Culture in Your Sporting Organisation.

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The Facility Fallacy
The Facility Fallacy

 

Here’s how it goes.

Your club has had another poor season.

People looking for answers come up with a lot of ideas on how to improve next year.

The management team determine that what the Club needs is a new high performance facility: new stadium, new meeting rooms, new computer lab, new medical facilities, a new gym and of course the obligatory new recovery facility.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

This is the Facility Fallacy.

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Recovering from Recovery: Recovery in Perspective.
Recovering from Recovery: Recovery in Perspective.

The sporting world has gone Recovery mad: ice baths, Sports drinks, Gels, high-pressure showers, massage……..it has gotten to the point where some athletes and coaches are putting Recovery before Hard Training. So what is Recovery? Why is it important? And most importantly what is the role of Recovery in enhancing the competition performance of athletes?

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Positive Drug Tests in Sport: 6 Types of Drug Cheats and How to Recognise them.
Positive Drug Tests in Sport: 6 Types of Drug Cheats and How to Recognise them.

Positive Drug Tests in sport.

What sort of idiot trains hard for months or even years then:

  1. Takes performance enhancing or social drugs before, during or after competition?
  2. Takes performance enhancing or social drugs at any time?

That’s just it: they are idiots. Well most of them are anyway. Some are misguided. Some are lazy. Some just made a genuine mistake.

Positive Drug Tests in Sport: 6 Types of Drug Cheats and How to Recognise them.

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High Performance Sports Systems – The Non System System.
High Performance Sports Systems – The Non System System.

So Great Britain has an outstanding high performance sports system.

Australia had one a few years ago…and they hope to have it again.

The “Eastern Block” had some brilliant high performance sports systems – systems which influenced the development of high performance sport all over the world in the three decades since.

The Chinese have a huge one driven by State money and a very large population.

The French are doing some great things in theirs.

The US has a strong high performance system driven through the College system.

South Korea, Japan and India are growing theirs. Canada is re-building theirs.

The South Americans will be working hard to make their high performance systems the best in the world now that Rio has been announced as the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games.

South Africa is building one on the back of the Football World Cup.

Seems like every nation in the world has to have three thingsa flag, a carbon policy and a high performance sports system.

Here’s the thing…..none of them do what they are supposed to do….none of them actually produce winners.

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