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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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Hiring and Developing a Winning Coaching Team
Hiring and Developing a Winning Coaching Team

The Coaching 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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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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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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The Rugby Union and Rugby League Guaranteed to Succeed Game Plan
The Rugby Union and Rugby League Guaranteed to Succeed Game Plan

Is it just me or does it seem like every coach involved in rugby league and rugby union has the same game plan?

With all the money spent on coaching, analysis, technology, video, training programs, performance enhancement, player development, facilities, equipment, ball technology, strength training, conditioning, wrestling, leadership development, boots, nutrition, psychology, protein supplements etc etc you would think that rugby league and rugby union would be havens for innovation, creativity and genius.

So why does it seem like every team, every coach and every player is reading from the same play book when it comes to game plans?

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The W – Word: Winning.
The W – Word: Winning.

I am getting so sick of people talking about high performance environments, about following a process, about systems, about structures, about programs, about initiatives, about workshops and about strategies.

The name of the game is Winning – oops – there I said it.

Winning. Winning. Winning. There, I said it again.

That felt great. I’ll say it some more. Winning. Winning. Winning. Winning.

That felt so good I’ll do it again. Winning!! Winning!!!! Winning!!!!!

The W Word: Winning.

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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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