My name is Paul and you are listening to The Great Coaches podcast.
Where we explore Leadership through the lens of high performance sport, by interviewing great coaches from around the world to try and find ideas to help all of us lead our teams better.
We started this podcast because we wanted to have better conversations with our families around the dinner table.
In a social media world, where the goal is often to be the star of the show; we wanted to change the conversation, and talk more about selflessness, leadership and responsibility.
And the people we knew who best exhibited these qualities were Great Sports Coaches.
As the podcast has grown, the Great Coaches we have interviewed have shared so much insight and wisdom that we decided to create episodes dedicated entirely to the lessons that have resonated with us the most.
Today’s episode is on the topic of Coaching Self Belief , and it features audio quotes from a selection of coaches that we have interviewed from around the world.
10_02_Oxtoby
Tanya Oxtoby 00:00
And we want that we want players that look at themselves first think about what they can change what they could have done better. What they did really well. And were then looking to add to that because as coaches we should be doing the same thing we should be looking. I know when we don't perform well or we lose a game. First thing I do is think Oh, what did I do wrong there? Did I set us up right did I? Did I get the opposition analysis wrong straightaway, you should be looking at yourself first and then start to look outwardly
02_3.2_Sweetenham
Bill Sweetenham 00:00
When every athlete retires, I go in and look in the mirror and ask myself, did I get the best out of that athlete? No excuses. I can't say that I get the best out of that athlete to anytime six sessions a week. But I get the best out of the athlete who really didn't draw her. I can't do that. I can't rationalize that. I have to go in and look in the mirror and prove to us have a 50 years of experience and so did I achieve without rationalization without excuses without compromise? Get that athlete their best result? And if I can't do that, then I'd file whether the highest talent in the pool of the least talent provided they're both committed to the training system that you've asked them to do. So whenever I fall short, it hurts it leaves a scar
02_03_Clark-Heard
Michelle Clarke-Heard 00:00
There's always individuals and people sometimes that don't know how to express themselves or they sometimes have a fear of like just wanting to be who they are. And I just really love letting people understand and know that it's okay to be different. It's okay to have who you are. But let's just find that common space where we both can be who we are. And I always tell my players all the time, I look at myself in the mirror first, you have to be very vulnerable, and you have to get them to understand that and just a lot of backstories
02_03_Brondello
Sandy Brondello 00:00
But that's why I told you is like, oh, it's not about I don't blame other players always blame myself on my hardest critic. There's things I could have done better. I don't point the finger on what can I do better. So that's why I look at it and like, Okay, I need to be better. And it's, you know, continue, you're not going to win every single game. But there's always lessons to be learned every single game. And that's what I do as I reflect, and then I learn and then I move on to the next game and hopefully I can be better. And that's why when I was a player every single day, I went to work to be the best I could be. I wasn't trying to be, you know, someone else on my team beat them out. It's no different as a coach. I want to make sure I'm learning from those experiences and making sure I do a better job next time. It's and I try and pass it on to my kids, because you know, they just want things to come too easy. You know, you're not going to get satisfaction if things are too easy in life.
02_03.2_Prunty
Joe Prunty 00:00
I think one of the biggest things regardless of how you leave a team is can you look yourself in the mirror and say you did the best that you could while you were there? And did you do the best that you could with the things that you were presented at that time? So I think that's a huge part of it is looking yourself in the mirror and knowing that you did what you could
02_03.2_Wade
James Wade 00:00
Self accountability. The easiest thing for a coach to do is after a game is to go look at the stat sheet or look at video and say, hey, look, we didn't do this, write this, write this, write this, write this write. The first thing I do after, again, whether we win or lose, it's okay, what could I have done better? I look at myself first and foremost in the mirror. When we go back to the locker room, before I go talk to the coaches, I say, Okay, I didn't do this, I was bad at this tonight, I can do this better. And then I approached the team say, hey, look, as a group, we can do this better, whether it be our energy, or whether it be attention to detail and in schemes or whatever it may be, whether it be us playing together, I'll hold them to that, but I also hold myself accountable in front of them as well. Because I make a lot of mistakes. I think we get this false sense of the coach is always right all the time. And if you're not always right, I mean, you're not a good coach, and I'm self aware of who I am. I'm self aware of my shortcomings. And I don't mind talking about them, because I know that an ever evolving person and so I'm trying to get it right
10_02.1_Priestman
Bev Priestman 00:00
So in that pandemic, I locked myself in a room. I developed like who I am as a person, what are my values? What will my culture look like? How do I want to play? And so I articulated this and became really, really clear about who I am what I was going to be about, should that first senior head coaching position come up and obviously candidate that came calling from a previous time there and I felt really ready, refreshed and clear to take on that position.
10_02.1_Jones
Eddie Jones 00:02
It's almost like the whole world's been taken back to the base. And teams are literally in plays and literally is starting again. So there's this great opportunity this moment to really evolve what you're doing as a team in terms of your training, in terms of the game in terms of the way you operate. And that relates to coaches too. You've got to you've got to keep thinking about right how can I evolve myself as a coach, how can I keep getting better as a coach, and unless you do that you are going to die?
01_01.6_Alexander
Lisa Alexander 00:00
I'm a educator. So I'm always optimistic that people can learn this. And I think it goes back to that the writing the journal is actually writing down those issues or experiences that have been tough and really examining them instead of not facing them. I've often written down my challenges and the things that have really confronted me and what I needed to do, which has been very helpful. So it's sort of like having your own copilot that sort of helps you to navigate the tough times
10_02_TimWalsh
Tim Walsh 00:00
But ultimately, this is a probably the biggest personal development I'm ever going to have is trying to navigate an Olympic program through a pandemic, you sort of like you get so many different issues finances and mental health and performance and relationships and and everything like so. Yeah, initially just went hot out it talking to different people and how they're doing what they're doing and in stories and watching and reading and then just sort of really Yeah, take a moment and realize, yeah, handling this is going to be the probably the biggest challenge you will feel I will come up to up against as a coach. So focus on that mental health and the stability of the of the team and the players is the imperative and stuff as opposed to my personal development because that is personal development is how you going to look after this group of players.
10_02_Dick
Frank Dick 00:00
So believe it or not, at the ages of 16 and 17, I was actually writing coaching programs and schedules for some of my mates at school, because I really wanted to understand more. And maybe well, that's something that all athletes and performers out there have to understand. If you're not a serious, dedicated student of your event, you're not going to go very far. You got to actively engage with your own development as early as possible. And to do that, you must really understand almost as much as the coach does, because one day you will know more than the coach
10_02_Chapman
Pokey Chatman 00:00
There's one, there's a commitment to the individual development of every person slash player slash staff in your organization. And what happens, we have these pockets of commitment to player development, we have these pockets of commitment to sending staff off to a seminar to get better, that needs to be second nature and in your DNA, that needs to be a formula for getting better because we abandoned them, then we come back to them when we need them. And I think specifically about a basketball team is so simple. We committed just 20 minutes every day to the individual, slowly individual development of each player. And what that means is some player might need video, some players might need conversation, some players might need reps. And I think if you take the time and energy to figure out exactly what those people need, and then extend that to everyone in the organization, you can't help would improve or you give yourself the best chance, I think is that commitment to that development of not just the people on the court, but the people around them, I think is just a recipe for something really, really good.
10_02.1_Chatman
Pokey Chatman 00:09
starting tomorrow? Listen, it's not rocket science, there's one, there's a commitment to that individual development of every person slash player slash staff in your organization. And what happens, we have these pockets of commitment to player development, we have these pockets of commitment to sending a staff off to a seminar to get better, that needs to be second nature and in your DNA, that needs to be a formula for getting better because we abandoned them, then we come back to them when we need them. And I think specifically about a basketball team. It's so simple. We committed just 20 minutes every day to the individual, solely individual development of each player. And what that means is some player might need video, some players might need conversation, some players might need reps. And I think if you take the time and energy to figure out exactly what those people need, and then extend that to everyone in the organization, you can't help but improve or you give yourself the best chance, I think is that commitment to that development of not just the people on the court, but the people around them, I think is just a recipe for something really, really good.
10_02.2_Sharp
00:00
CPD is something that I think is really important for all coaches and these labs will go out and grab all those experiences and talk to others communicate with others get the best from others they'll relate that back to their group
10_02_Oxtoby
Tanya Oxtoby 00:00
And we want that we want players that look at themselves first think about what they can change what they could have done better. What they did really well. And were then looking to add to that because as coaches we should be doing the same thing we should be looking. I know when we don't perform well or we lose a game. First thing I do is think Oh, what did I do wrong there? Did I set us up right did I? Did I get the opposition analysis wrong straightaway, you should be looking at yourself first and then start to look outwardly
01_01_Briggs
Salliann Briggs 00:00
It's great coaches, I guess all great leaders, but the ones that I've seen that have had great relationship and with players but also develop talent and therefore had successful performance level are the ones that I would say I've got a very good self awareness and very strong awareness of others. They've got a great balance between support and challenge. I think they're able to create some really good learning environments that have high support and high challenge. And they don't seem to have too many roles, but they're very aware that they need to treat every single person differently. So I would say they treat people fairly but they don't treat them the same.