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?
“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It’s time we let go of the outdated, simplistic single cause / single effect model of research and embraced a genuine integrated, multi disciplinary approach to solving performance problems.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…)
High Performance sport is founded on a relatively simple equation: you either win or you lose.
And when you lose, it is natural to look for the reasons “why” through performance reviews etc.
A critical aspect in understanding the “losing process” is to find the answer to this question….were you outplayed or out-talented? (more…)
Have a good look at these three guys…these are your clients…these guys and their families will determine whether you, your Club and your sport will survive in the next 20 years.
Do you know who they are?
Do you know what they want from sport?
Have you bothered to ask them? (more…)
Gone are the days of the “Guru” sports coaches: the “Super Coach” of the past has lost his powers to the kryptonite of modern sport – i.e. the increased complexity and sophistication of high performance sports environments.
Sure, the great names of coaching have all been “one man bands” – strong, decisive, authoritarian, personal leadership focused head coaches who controlled every aspect of the team’s performance.
However, high performance sport has developed at an incredible rate over the past twenty years and the knowledge and skills required to win a high performance sporting competition are greater than any one person can bring to the table.
Think of the advances in performance science, 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 High Performance Team concepts are born.