sports-skills

Winning Ugly: Win When No One Expects You To.

Sometimes you win. Occasionally you win easily. But most of the time you win when it’s difficult, challenging and when things go wrong…winning ugly.

Winning.

Sometimes you win.

Very rarely do you win easily when everything goes the way you planned it to go in training.

Sometimes winning is about winning ugly.

So what is winning ugly?

Question:

How may times do you actually go out on the field with all of your best players 100% fit and healthy and in the best form of their lives?

Answer:

a. Sometimes

b. Often

c. All the time

d. Never.

If you answered d. Never – give yourself a round of applause.

The aim of the game is to win. In a perfect world the “football-fairy” appears and magically transforms your team into a perfect performance powerhouse that seemingly wins with ease.

In the real world, there is no “football-fairy” and you’ve got to win when you’re tired, when you’re fatigued, when you’re not feeling great – you gotta find ways of winning ugly.

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By Wayne Goldsmith, ago

Exploding the Home and Away Myth

The Home and Away philosophy is the cornerstone of all professional sporting competitons around the world. But it is a myth. For the well prepared player and the uncompromising coach, the Home and Away concept is nothing but a sham and a remnant of the “old-days” when sport was unprofessional, coaches uninformed and players uneducated. Now, there are no longer Home and Away Games…there are just Games: Games to be fought and won by the best prepared players and the most uncompromising coaches.

By Wayne Goldsmith, ago

The Secret to Coaching Success: How Long is a Piece of String?

One of the most commonly used expressions around the world is “how long is a piece of string?”. People use this phrase when they want to illustrate a point about a question that ostensibly has no answer. Yet, there is an answer to this question – it is just too obvious for most people to see. Coaches often go looking for complicated answers to questions or want someone else to provide them with the answers for free – instantly. This article discusses the “piece of string” concept in sports coaching and presents a case that for all sports coaches – there are no coaching secrets – the answers they seek are right in front of them.

By Wayne Goldsmith, ago

Finding the Right Head Coach: Leader, Visionary, Coach.

A head coach can be the catalyst: the driving force who inspires excellence and creates a successful winning culture in a sporting organisation. Knowing this, it is surprising that many sporting Clubs and organisations – even those in professional sport – will often select a new head coach based on anecdote, personality and rumour and not on the outcomes of a rigorous, systematic recruitment process. Many sporting organisations make the most fundamental of all recruiting errors…they themselves are not sure what attributes, qualities and experience they need from a head coach. This article discuss the issue of finding and recruiting a head coach and presents a simple but effective process of ensuring you get your man (or woman).

By Wayne Goldsmith, ago