The Olympic Medal Count is a much talked about aspect of every Olympic Games. But what does it really mean? And does it really give an indication of the performance of athletes, coaches, teams and nations at the Olympic Games? This article looks behind the Olympic medal table and asks is performance at the Olympic Games more than just the medals?
Winning in sport is tough. Winning again is even tougher. This article looks at the challenges and difficulties of repeating success in the most challenging sporting environment of them all….the Olympic Games.
Pressure – and the athlete’s ability to perform under pressure when it really matters – will play a major role in the outcome of every Olympic event: every sport, every race, every match, every game, every fight, every lift, and every throw … pressure has more influence over who wins Olympic medals than any other factor.
Leadership in sport has changed. It’s no longer about the head coach or team captain standing and demanding winning behaviours and successful standards. It’s about engaging with everyone in the team, inspiring them to be committed to the team goals and to empowering them to be all they can be as individuals within the team environment. This article challenges coaches to look at the traditional leadership model in sporting teams from a new angle.
“In short science has its limitations. Western science is characterised by
reductionist principles; but we reach a point at which the reduction becomes
disassociated from the phenomena it is trying to explain” P.Jones 1998
It’s time.
It’s time for the Sports science industry to seriously change the way we do business.
It’s time we let go of the outdated, simplistic single cause / single effect model of research and embraced a genuine integrated, multi disciplinary approach to solving performance problems.
It’s time for Performance Science to come of age. (more…)
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?
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. (more…)