Adapt or die

It came as quite a shock to many seeing the demise of yet another South African sports coach yesterday. The successful Mickey Arthur is now a thing of the past, and who knows what the future will bring for the Prtoeas cricket side. The reasons for his demise are unclear as yet, but it appears the administrators have grown impatient with a number of things, most notably the lack of continual success in various series and tournaments, as well as lack of players of colour in the starting XI.

This all however shows to me the importance of adapting to change in sport, in fact in any aspect of life for that matter. Most things in life operate along what is called a growth curve. Using a coach coming in with a team as an example this is what happens. Initially, results gained from the effort put in are minimal as a group finds its feet and forms together. Then as the team begins to form and find out the specific strengths and weaknesses it begins to perform. Then as it reaches the peak of its powers, with the environment changing and opponents wising up to the teams strengths and weaknesses, the performances begin to plateau and then eventually decline. Many things operate along a similar path, be they a new product on the shelves of a supermarket, or an individual who takes up gymming to get stronger, there is always a need to go through the tough times, then enjoy the performing times, but then be aware of the need for change. Mickey Arthur in his 4 and a half year reign certainly did take some time to get going, then seemingly peaked in England and Australia in 08/09. However, it then appears that the top of the curve was hit and perhaps the real problem came in that he failed to adapt and begin on a new curve with the Proteas team. Sometimes if you continually do the same things, even if they worked in the past, they become less effective.

I personally believe the mantra, 'If it's not broken, don't fix it', is incorrect in many cases, as so often we rest on what worked before only for the external environment to change (opponents, venues, rules etc) and the team gets left behind. The England rugby team is a perfect example of a side that peaked in 2003 and then were slow to adapt and have never really reached any great heights since.

So perhaps, despite the timing being odd, Mickey Arthur had reached his peak and was just unable to find a way of reinventing the curve or adapting to the necessary changes. Perhaps the players now need new challenges, new methods of motivation and new apporaches to training. This may begin a new curve and may mean an initial period of sub-par performance but it could well spell a new beginning and be just the tonic that the side needs to take them to even greater heights. But a lesson is surely learned - we need to adapt in sport, seek new challenges and change constantly as it is a dynamic environment that requires this if continued success is to occur. You need to constantly be searching for innovation, evaluating your performance, and exploring new challenges to remain at the forefront of the harsh sporting world!