Some schools thoughts

Over the last few weeks, I’ve followed the schools rugby scene with interest, taking in festivals at KES and St Stithians, and then at Wynberg Boys this weekend. I have also followed results at other festivals. It is always great to see the boys going hammer and tongs at each other to collect the spoils, and is very refreshing to see that in schoolboy rugby, there is no such thing as a ‘dead rubber’, and every result matters! What got me thinking however, is how often is the result determined before the game has even kicked off? How much of a stranglehold do some schools have on others psychologically?

Being more up to speed with the Western Cape schools scene, there is no doubt in my mind that a slightly different rugby culture and psyche exists between the big rugby schools down here. At risk of offending the schools I’ll keep my opinions down to a minimum, but I have no doubt that, and I have witnessed it, some teams are scared off by the thought of playing another team before they’ve even run on the field, just through sheer weight of the school’s reputation. The Southern Suburbs schools often talk about the ‘N1 syndrome’, referring to playing the schools from the Northern Suburbs, and recent results, where the Southern suburbs schools have won 1 or 2 games across the school on a Saturday suggests that this ‘syndrome’ is alive and well.

I recently coached a side at UCT, where I had 9 Rondebosch Old Boys, 8 from Bishops, and a few others from other boys schools, and I could definitely see a marked difference in the approaches and psyche of the guys based on the way they brought up from a rugby perspective. Now this culture at a school is built up over the years, but often is one that is very entrenched. In fact to change a rugby culture at a school, for better or worse, takes a major shift in behaviours and communication over a protracted period of time. This is identical to the reputation that a school builds up- a school will maintain a certain reputation until, for a protracted period of time, their results begin to change and the ‘talk’ around the school begins to turn.

I have no doubt, and I believe we will see it unfold this season, that certain schools have pre-conceived ideas of how other teams play and how good they are, based often only on reputation and perception. With very few games being televised this is fuelled, as information on opponents is hard to come by. I found myself guilty of this myself, having watched St Stithians up in Jo’burg, and thinking they really were a formidable outfit based on what I had seen and their school name, but obviously I had not taken into account other factors, as they were both soundly beaten by Cape schools over the weekend. This pre-conception of a school’s ability can be very harmful for sides, as they miss out on potential wins due to being fearful of a team due to their reputation, or on the flip side are complacent due to a negative perception of their opponents.

What needs to be guarded against, is the fact that the perceptions created in the mind of a school/team based on reputation can harm motivation, game-plan adherence, enjoyment and intensity. What needs to be emphasized is the fact that reputation is often not based on facts, and that what is most important is to focus on your specific game and not the reputation of others.

I will talk more about the actual culture that schools have built up for themselves internally in my next article, but remember that often what exists internally at a school is different to what you may perceive from the outside.

Some pearlers for your leisure!!

some of the more interesting team talks I've seen. Not for sensitive ears though.

Exploring the Dark side

A superb article written by Rowan Belchers, a consultant to organisations on a number of topics around optimizing performance, and a fellow sports nut. I think there is some great insight here, so enjoy the read!

Gary Kirsten couldn’t play the short ball until he admitted to himself that he was scared of it. As soon as he acknowledged his own fear he was able to develop a technique that helped him get on top if it. Or under it, more appropriately…

That’s not the kind of admission you hear from professional sportsmen a lot, is it? Broadly generalizing a bit here, but the dialogue around pro sports is more likely to offer up self-praise, bravado, and threats. And quite possibly rightly so – the heat of the battle has rarely rewarded the humble or faint of heart, so this self-confidence is both understandable and necessary on some level.

But what else might there be to this? In the “system” of sports performance and the dynamics that take place in the human mind, is there anything else that might be worth exploring around other outlooks or attitudes? For starters, might there be something to learn from Gary in taking a look at fallibility and weakness?

A question of that nature would probably make the Blue Bulls coaches from the mid-80’s spin in their graves. Watching the old Currie Cup games from the early 90’s on ESPN Classic (the greatest sports channel in the history of mankind, I might add …) I was amazed to see these guys sitting on the sidelines, short collared shirt, club tie, one cigarette after another being sucked in – it struck me how things had changed so completely in a pretty short space of time and how things have come along from a professional standpoint so fast. But, getting back to my original question: would the coaches of today have found it any easier to acknowledge (let along work with) the concept of fear than the chain-smoking amateur coaches of 15 years ago? I think not.

Rather than judge, let’s explore. There is a term that is used in psychology called the ‘shadow’. In clinical terms it means what we ‘hide, repress or deny’. In real terms, shadow refers to the parts of ourselves that we’d rather not look at or face up to. It’s easier not to because looking at our shadow might mean acknowledging something about ourselves that we’d rather not. The good parts of ourselves sit more easily with our ego than the bad parts – so affirmation comes a lot easier than criticism.

But what might be the impact of not looking at our shadow? In diagrammatic terms, think of the shadow as a force that is out of view and thus beyond our control. We are then affected by it, rather than being able to control it. So, the theory is to bring shadow out in front of you where it can be controlled, rather than have it behind you where it controls you.

Getting away from the theory for a moment, let’s consider an example. It took 6 visits from Jos Vantsiphout to Ernie Els (and quite a bit of confrontation and upset too, apparently) before Ernie admitted that there were things he was doing that weren’t helping him. I don’t know this for sure, but the story is that Ernie’s shadow is around enjoying a few too many cold beers and glasses of red wine, and too little dedication to physical fitness. As soon as he started working with Jos (and I’m completing my own picture here, so forgive the armchair psychology) he admitted this, dedicated himself to a different approach and promptly won two majors. Retief Gooden apparently had a similar experience before winning his two majors.

There are other examples to consider who might have benfitted from working with their shadow: Jean Alesi, one of the most talented drivers of all time but with an inability to make sensible driving decisions in favour of out-and-out speed; Marat Safin, a preposterously talented tennis player but unable to control his moods swings; John Daly, in mental terms, a little boy who’s never been challenged about his lack of maturity and inability to hold himself accountable.

In local terms – and I’m possibly sticking my neck out too far here as I have close friends on the coaching staff who I don’t want to offend – but I’ve wondered if there aren’t some shadowy dynamics around UCT rugby and their inability to win at Stellenbosch? Just a thought and no judgment here, but it’s an area I’d love to explore.

Anyway, hope that makes sense. Summary thought: from a psychology point of view, if people (myself included) were more able to work with their weakness, fears and destructive tendencies, they might unlock latent potential in the form of better performance and better results.

The Challenge Culture

If you read my earlier article about ‘vibe’, you would have seen that I believe a good team spirit and ‘mate-ship’ in the team is important. This mate-ship is something the Australian cricket side speak about when asked about the bond that exists within their team. This spirit, as indicated before, is very important. But another factor, which can be somewhat contradictory, is ensuring that the team members create a culture of challenge within the team. A culture where the people within the team are pushing each other to the limits of their potential, a culture where good is accepted but great is truly sought after. Like the great saying goes, “ A loser says,’ I’m better than a lot of other people’, whilst a winner says, ‘ I’m not as good as I ought to be”. This could display a true culture of challenge.

I have just read a fascinating study on people who climbed Mount Everest. They looked to identify the key things that these people did to conquer this mammoth task. Key things came up, such as visual preparation, small goals, confidence and belief, but one that was of interest to me was their need to challenge themselves in training to a)toughen themselves mentally for future tasks, an b)to give them the belief that they can conquer what’s put in front of them. I feel this can translate to many team sports as well. Without a culture of challenge your teams will not develop their mental capabilities well enough.

Support of team mates and making friends is a vital ingredient of team work, but this should never be at the expense of achieving what you want to/can do. One of the Everest climbers spoke of how there was one person in his group that he really disliked, however there came a stage when he had had enough and wanted to turn around, and this particular guy with whom has did not get on, was the one who actually managed to lift him and re-direct him on the path upwards. This is an example where conflict was translated into success later on. Conflict is often not always the worst thing to have in a team, as it can often do short-term damage but then lead to long-term betterment of the team make-up. Just like a muscle that gets broken down in the gym and then re-strengthened, a team when challenged with issues or conflict that are then resolved can grow enormously. The key is not however to try and create conflict, but rather to let it be known that challenging each other within an environment is the norm and not the exception. It should not be seen as rocking the boat, or being disruptive if a team member begins to challenge ineffective behaviours, or the status quo, in fact sometimes this is exactly what a team needs as its internal method to ensure that the correct intensity is kept up.

As a coach, or captain, or even just as a player, you should be examining all your processes, practice techniques and methods to see whether you in fact are creating a challenge culture, and pushing people to their limits. I once heard it said, that sports teams should get ‘comfortable being uncomfortable’ as essentially the pressure of sport is not a comfortable situation. Building this philosophy into your team, is more than likely (if and I mean only if, proper evaluation is done after a specific challenge) to build up a mental toughness within the set up. Obviously competition for places is always a great way of keeping a challenge culture in place, but there are plenty of other, less obvious ways of doing things as well to ensure that all are continually being challenged, pushed and subsequently strengthened. Vibe is important but not at the expense of excellence!
Enjoy and Good luck

A quick recommendation

RugbyIq.com is a fantastic rugby website for coaches and players alike. It shows tips on all aspects of the game, including mental toughness. Tim Goodenough, author of the book, In the Zone, is the writer and his recent article about what to do when your coach tells you that you are not good enough, is well worth a read. Check it out!