Musings on Sport

I recently returned from London, having been in the iconic city during the first week of the Olympics Games.

Through the good fortune of great leaders in my network, I was invited to attend the Global Coaches House, held in the heart of London at the unique campus of Limkokwing University.

The Global Coaches House was designed to achieve a few important yet diverse objectives;

• Provide a venue where coaches could congregate, relax, network and discuss the Games
• Provide opportunities for coaches to learn from guest speakers from around the world, including coaches and athletes from the Games
• Provide a specialized opportunity for future Olympic team leaders to learn from those who have been in these positions across multiple Olympic Games. Legendary UK Athletics coach Frank Dick summed it up…. “the objective is to share all the things I wish I had known before taking on my first Olympic team leader role”.

I found the week in London inspiring. London was vibrant and energized with the influx of international Olympic sports fans and the great job the organizing committee did to integrate many aspects of the Games into the heart of London. Despite the dire forecasts by many leading into the Games, I can honestly say that it would be very hard to come up with a better organized or welcoming atmosphere.

Some highlights from the conference;

“Learning faster than your competitors is the only sustainable competitive advantage in an environment of rapid change and innovation” Arie de Geus

Learn more about Arie de Geus at http://www.ariedegeus.com/

As heard on the tube each day in London ….. “Mind the gap”

• What gaps do we have in our personal and professional lives?
• Are we minding these gaps or ignoring them?
• How are we reminding ourselves of these gaps?
• Action: record 3-5 things that you notice each day, and any thoughts/learning/questions that come from those things

Marlon Devonish – member of the UK Athletics team for 17 years. Gold medalist 4x100m at Atlanta Olympic Games

• Coaching is about partnering with your athletes, empowering them to be successful
• Educated athletes can make better informed decisions; they can use external and internal inputs to determine the best course of action
• When developing your selection criteria for the Games, be sure to consider the impact of leaders and previous Games experience within a team environment.

Craig Hanford – UK Volleyball

• Coaching will always be an art…. the interaction of science and technology is only useful if it makes the coach a better artist

Vin Walsh – Professor of Human Brain Research at University College London

• Quality sleep is the most important factor to faster learning, improved performance
• Importance of afternoon nap
• The brain can learn to manage stress such as the Olympics by being put into stressful environments with as many similar qualities beforehand…. sounds simple – often neglected.
• Priming for learning … there are activities that prepare the brain and body for optimal learning
• Visualization is most effective when the imagery is close to current competency and realistic with actual timing
• When skills are executed correctly – STOP – allow the brain a break to consolidate the new learning. The brain needs rest and recovery time to consolidate learning. However, the brain does not know what is ‘good’ practice and what is ‘poor’ practice… so we must be careful to leave the brain with ‘good’ memories to consolidate.

Relevant research of interest to those attending the Games, “Inside the brain of an elite athlete: the neural processes that support high achievement in sports” Kielan Yarrow, Peter Brown and John W. Krakauer

Frank Dick – Former British Athletics Federation’s Director of Coaching

• You only have one chance to live this day
• Plan quiet time, learn the art of reflection and mindfulness
• You are unique and if that is not fulfilled, then something is lost
• Life is a journey; know your destination, find someone who has been there before, have a current map, enjoy the journey!
• GROWL
  • Goal (specific)
  • Reality (now)
  • Options (many)
  • Will (which option to choose)
  • Learning (what was learned?)

Miscellaneous notes

• Say just enough to get it through
• Don’t train out the creativity
• Own, Plan, Do, Review

Vern Gambetta – founding father of Functional Sports Training

• Information overload – without philosophy we get distracted by data & information
• Excellence is not an act but rather a habit
• Coaching is not what you do, it is who you are
• Focus on possibilities
• Know how to to ask the right question
• 3 C’s – connect, convey, convince
• If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough!
• Create a disciplined environment based on a culture of self-discipline and personal accountability

Jim Radcliffe – University of Oregon

• Determine a competitive advantage you want your athletes to have
• Develop a program that addresses the specific requirements of that competitive advantage
• Find athletes who will be able to handle your program, and who will best apply your competitive advantage
• No traditional approach is safe – determine what is needed and make it happen!
• The best form of instruction is demonstration – get yourself in a position to do what you are asking your athletes to do!

More to come….

Andrew