This article was provided by Bjorn Galjaardt

Okay, a catchy phrase for something that might actually be a double pyramid model. However, time is of the essence and clubs, coaches, athletes, parents or caretakers and stakeholders can act now. The Sandglass Sport Success model is a blueprint that poses challenges of ‘participation’, ‘early specialisation’ and ‘high-performance’. In fact, in various sports, people find the same challenges and opportunities but may find friction in or from certain levels of the ‘sandglass’. The sandglass works from a broad FUNdamental base to a narrow high-performance climax, that eventually will mirror success. Interested? Let me take you through a journey of a blueprint in sport success.

First pyramid:
The first pyramid is based on the basics and needs of the participants. It is like a combination of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Balyi Long-Term-Development-Model, but then for all sport needs involved! From associations to clubs and from grassroots to high-performance interests. Active Start.

1. Statistics shown that most participants join an introduction program, whether it is through the school, club, association or similar. On average, globally, around the age of 8 years old. Some have gone through ‘mandatory’ programs (e.g. learn-to-swim), while others try sport based activities for the first time. Some will join at a later age as they may transition from other sports (e.g. swimming to water polo), like to try something new or it is part of a (curriculum) activity. Fun is the main driver: FUNdamentals

2. Other or the same participants either transition to the next phase or begin here. The second most important layer. In both layers, there could be some sort of competitive component involved, but the majority want to play the sport with friends, try something new or really want to learn more about the sport. Learn to train.

3. Phase 3 is where the ‘fun’ starts to form a different dimension. Training starts to get serious for some. Perhaps there is an appetite for more, perhaps the club has a history of being a more performance driven club, perhaps there are other reasons. The main idea is to offer multiple levels for multiple participants, which shall now be called players. This base layer of phase, or stage, 1, 2 a 3 is needed to provide adequate opportunities for all players involved. Whether it is a once in a week game with a BBQ after or 5 times a week training with an A division team. If we lose those crucial ‘hot’ levels (hence the colours red, orange and yellow), there will be no phases or stages after this. High-Performance is bound to those first 3 crucial levels. Train to Train.

4. As the pyramid layer shrinks, the level of players become thinner. Players shall now be called athletes, whether they are emerging or close to elite. They play representative and they want to continue to do well. Some are happy to already perform on this level, others want more. Most of them specialise into this sport alone, others may drop out and it is crucial to capture them and nurture them on the level that they feel valued and welcome. Some may have educational sponsorships or still depend on parents or stakeholders. Train to compete.

5. This is the level with the least athletes. The financial structure depends on professional sponsors or government support. The quality is assumed to be higher and for that matter, perhaps high key performance indicators are on stake. Train to win.

Second pyramid.
The reflection of the first pyramid, or better the expansion.

6. Coaches, athletes or coordinators and managers who have gone through phases or stages 3, 4 or 5 and are a current or past identified role models, could be utilised for those levels to inspire those that are close to that same level. Learn from their experiences and share their stories. Sure, when high stake medals were won this would leverage the strength of this phase. However, there are many examples of successful club programs and sponsor packages that others have never seen, just because it was not shared with the right people. Who in your club has a success story that people could learn from? Perhaps a community members’ father, who won the Football Premiers… Share to perform.

7. All members from all levels can inspire, not just your top performers. There are great coaches out there who never represented any country but touched many lives and build a club. Past players who actually never thought of doing something for the club or program, because they perhaps never been asked, therefore never had considered it. Who in your club or program knows a person that perhaps has an interest to inspire a current or next generation? Teachers can introduce water polo into schools or schools into your water polo program. Share to inspire.

8. People who currently play or have transitioned from playing and are in roles that could have a positive influence on your sport. Health and wellbeing is a hot item currently with more attention to it than a few decades ago. Develop a think tank with administrators in the sport area to evaluate competition, programs for clubs and schools and see what you can offer them. This may as well open connections and create transparency, perhaps there is even a need that was not identified before. Now maybe financial benefits are mutual! Inspire to develop.

9. By showcasing the sport there needs to be mutual benefits as mentioned in phase 8. This can be done by a combination of previous phases. Some benefits may run short term, other long term. To establish improvement a holistic approach needs to be considered. Created to be improve for the next few years if not for the next generations. Inspire to improve.

10. Once all stages or phases have been experienced, the reach to the community will be the foundation stage for the outreach of the sport. The sandglass can be built on again with stage or phase 1. New or current participants will become players, athletes and hopefully stay involved for life. Becoming new administrators, coaches, referees, sponsors and passionate supporters. Leaving a legacy. Active for Life.

SUMMARY: THE SUNGLASS SPORT SUCCESS MODEL

As time slips by, we would hope that the levels of support and interest in your sport will always continue. The reality is that time seems to runs out. New rules, organisational structures, players moving clubs, athletes dropping out and participants choosing different sports. What if we could improve the current structure and leverage of what we are doing now? Often the perception is that this comes at a price, e.g. winning medals, attracting good players, etc. This is not necessary the truth. What we need to do is stop early specialisation, keep pushing youngsters to limits that only others would like to see of them, and stop pointing fingers to above and below. Use what we have to keep a sport we all love. That does not mean that we cannot be competitive; we just do not need (the same level of) competition for everyone. We do not need to specialise and train 20 plus hours a week in an early stage of life. We only need to provide the right opportunity. There are many factors like different maturity ages, social-economic impact, etc. and some of these factors can be used to benefit and support the first pyramid effects.

What we need to do is leverage what we have done; evaluate, anticipate and generate in order to execute. This means a shared responsibility, ownership of tasks and goals as well as transparency and working together. This starts within the capacity and placing of your phase or stage in the pyramid. High-performance cannot be sustainable on it is own, but without high-performance we also miss the pathways and need for the few who can be role models and use our sport as a promotion. Adapt to trends in sport, but with a feel what the community wants and what the sport needs. Let us use the Sandglass Sport Success model in order to keep building and improve our sport. Leave a legacy and turn the sandglass with the ease.

AUTHOR

Bjorn Galjaardt (B.ed) studying Master of Sports Coaching with 12+ years coaching and managing experience from grassroots to elite level. Held roles in program management and currently delivering online and in person performance services at Blended Performances.

This article is contributed by Bjorn Galjaardt

Does coaching means to achieve results and reach set targets? Coaching to win! However, this is only one perceived idea on coaching. True, there are goals that need to be achieved. The reality is that most coaches view coaching as a complex process that contributes to multiple facets of the individual and thus team.

Filled with curiosity about the concept of coaching, I picked the brains of seven highly regarded coaches from various backgrounds and industries. Posing the difficult question: ‘Can you describe in a few sentences what coaching means to you’?

Mrs. Gonny Farley-Reijnen. Lecturer Sport Institute CIOS | Culture Coach Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Association. Coaching for me is creating a positive performance culture. One in which everyone knows their tasks and responsibilities. A coach is there to lead everyone to the right behaviour, ensuring that they continue to grow, have the freedom to succeed and have relationships that they value. This applies to the individual as well for the team. Embrace the process!

Mr. Jay Ellis. Sports Performance / Business Academic | Academic Lecturer Australian College of Physical Education | High-Performance Consultant. My single thought: Coaching for me is all about people skills. Understanding the athlete is vital! Our job as coaches should be to develop the person before the athlete (the second will come).

Mr. Simon Daley. Head Water Polo Coach | Founder of Academy Water Polo & Goggle Project. It is the ‘self-felt joy’ of being given an opportunity of unlocking a player’s potential, so as to maximise their own performance towards success. This not only involves their on-field skill requirements but having a guide to their off-field achievements post their sporting career.

Ms. Martine Tobe. Director at Children’s Perspective Foundation | Founder Lifebook for You(th) | Board member FICE Netherlands. For me coaching is especially focussed and designed to provide a perspective for the future. Asking questions and providing a mirror to allow for self-reflection. Using positive psychology and recognising traits together to further develop. The coaching basis is providing attention to ‘growth’ possibilities. I like to focus on the qualities and contribute to a positive feeling in doing so.

Mr. Grant Jenkins. Performance Coach | Presenter | Educator | Coaching Athletes | Accelerating careers | Developing businesses. To improve the mindset of the person I am working with so they can achieve their long-term goals in life.

Mr. Bob Beusekom. Executive Director at The Executive Nomad | CFO Bright Zebra | Board member True (Family Planning Queensland). “Beat your yester self”. My view is that coaching style leaders do not only focus on the role performance of their staff. They also aim to develop their staff’s ‘self’, ideally considering the whole person, in a safe environment, on a plate of trust and respect, with a sauce of authenticity and vulnerability. Through coaching, as a leader, you can help reduce blind spots and self-limiting beliefs, giving your staff confidence and insight in their ‘selves’, purpose, and roles in life.

Mrs. Anna Wood. Women’s High-Performance Coach Australian Canoeing | Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapist. As a HP coach I need to know my athletes’ goals, dreams and beliefs, their doubts and fears, basically what makes them tick… Between coach – athlete – team we strive for a foundation of trust and respect with room for individuality. If this foundation is firmly embedded into our culture, we are able to provide honest and constructive feedback, achieve full commitment of every team member and hold each other accountable. I believe this is the pathway to success.

SUMMARY:

Coaching as described by the business, education and sports coaches above is focused on ‘the person beyond the player’. Goals are merely milestones to provide an indication in the process of coaching performance. Whether it is improvement in one context, say technical aspects, there are other contexts like life skills, study/work balance and so on. Coaching is a meticulous process that is continuously managed and reviewed. A portfolio of this perspective on coaching will include a range of foundational strategies. For example, focus on personal development, growth mindset, and creativity. Furthermore, allowing room for self-reflection, mutual respect and understanding. Coaching comprises an arsenal of believes, methods and strategies to create a culture of trust and commitment for people to flourish. Coaching the person, equals coaching the process: ‘Fuelling the engine for optimised coaching’.

Special thanks goes out to the contributing coaches for this article.

AUTHOR

Bjorn Galjaardt (B.ed) studying a Master of Sports Coaching with a focus on Olympic education. He has 12+ years coaching and management experience from grassroots to elite sports level. Currently delivering online and in person performance services at Blended Performances.

This article was provided Coaches Network

By Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, CIC

In my senior year of college, I interviewed for several prospective teaching positions. At the end of each interview, the person conducting the session—usually an assistant superintendent or principal—asked if I had any questions. I always did: “What are the chances of coaching at your school?”

When I heard that one school needed coaches in every sport, I immediately accepted its job offer. Initially, I coached the freshman basketball team. The following year I moved into the junior varsity position. Halfway through my first j.v. season, the head coach asked me, “Where would you like to be in 15 years?”

At 23 years old, the thought had never occurred to me, and I stuttered, “I coach soccer, I’m your j.v. basketball coach, in the spring I coach tennis, and I teach five classes a day. I love it. I’m extremely happy.”

He responded. “I didn’t ask if you were happy. I asked where you would like to be professionally in 15 years. See, in order to reach a goal or career objective, you have to take concrete steps to build credentials in order to get to your desired position. It doesn’t happen by accident. So, where would you like to be?”

Since I didn’t have a ready answer, the head coach dropped the subject. However, a few weeks later he repeated the question. This time, I muddled out, “I might like to be a head men’s basketball coach on the college level one day.”

“Good,” he replied. “Now, what steps are you going to take to get there? Being my j.v. coach isn’t going to get you to your goal.”

This was my first exposure to a mentor. I had no idea what the concept involved prior to that interaction. As I went through my career, I had two additional, extremely helpful individuals serve as mentors. They were invaluable to my professional growth.

While some mentors may simply “appear” in your life, there may be others whom you have to seek out. The following thoughts should help you find your next career guide.

Keep your eyes open. Learn to spot the coaches or teachers in your school or in neighboring districts who have a wealth of knowledge, experience, and wisdom. These individuals are usually very easy to recognize. They may not have a title, but everyone gravitates to them and seeks their subtle, sound advice. Get in line and ask them to help you.

Be open minded. Stay receptive to ideas and advice. While it is good to have your own ideas, you can learn a lot by listening. You don’t always have to follow the advice you receive, but at least be willing to consider ideas and suggestions. Take advantage of the experience and perspective of others and, in doing so, you may proceed more quickly and without encountering as many obstacles.

Look beyond your circle. Venture outside your specific sport for advice and help. For ideas on sport-specific skills, drills, and practice organization, coaches within your sport can be extremely helpful and should be consulted. But on a broader topic like your professional career, reaching beyond your individual sport makes sense because you will be expanding the number of potential mentors.

Increase your odds. Join professional organizations, such as your state coaches’ association, and attend their annual conferences. When you do, you will come into contact with others in your sport and in athletics in general who may be able to point you in the right direction. Your next mentor may be the individual sitting next to you at a session or someone you meet at lunch.

Show gratitude. Always thank anyone who is willing to help you determine and move toward your career goals. This person has his or her own life and responsibilities. By giving time and energy to help you with your future, a mentor is providing a gift and making a sacrifice.

And of course, as you progress in your career, don’t forget to reach out and be a mentor to the next batch of new, inexperienced coaches. Giving back is a privilege and an important part of the job for any professional.

David Hoch retired in 2010 after a 41-year career as a high school athletic director and coach. In 2009, Dr. Hoch was honored as the Eastern District Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. He was also presented with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Distinguished Service Award, and in 2000 he was named the Maryland State Athletic Director Association’s Athletic Director of the Year. Dr. Hoch has authored over 460 professional articles and made more than 70 presentations around the country. He welcomes comments and questions and can be reached at: davidhochretad@gmail.com.

This article was provided by Busy.Coach, a great source of ideas for the coach that want to improve their productivity

By Mandy Green

So as you are headed back to work after the holiday break, hopefully you have already set up your plan of attack.  Are you ready to have the best year, best month, best week, and best day ever with your program, recruiting, and career as a coach?

If your response to that sentence was, “yeah right, I wish,” I imagine that last school year was filled with people, texts, emails, and voice messages begging for your time, attention, and energy.

As you look back over this past year, would you say that you had more wins or losses for you each day work wise?  By winning, I mean did walk into your office with a plan and then you dominated your day by actually getting your most important work done?  I would consider the day a loss if you found yourself giving your time, attention, and energy away freely to anybody who asked for it.  And then before you knew it, your days were gone and you had no sense of accomplishment or progress.

If you are finding that more often than not, your days were on the frustrating side because you didn’t feel like you made any significant progress towards your vision and goals, it goes back at some point to how you are prioritizing things during those days.

How have you been doing in this department? Really think about it. Do you feel like you are proactive and in control of your days or do you just wake up and respond to everybody all day? Obviously as coaches, we have to be available to our team, staff, administration, and recruits, but not as much as you may think or are currently doing.

Today I want to teach you one new way to think about your prioritization. When you do a better job of prioritizing things, I know that you will find that you will start having more wins than losses day by day.

Stop prioritizing the easy.  You know if you are guilty of prioritizing easy if your day feels like there is a whole lot of busy work but you don’t feel as if you’re spending a significant amount of time on work that can make your program better.  I’m sure that you probably intended to do a significant amount of high priority work before you got in the office.  But you think that to get a great start to the day and to build some momentum, you will just get some of the easy things off of your to-list. And then what tends to happen is that you never ever really get around to doing work that will really move the needle for your program.

Coach, you set up your day.  You can choose to do things first that will make a real difference in your program and could change your program for the better in a significant way.  Sure, those other things need to get done.  But choose to do them only after you have spent at least 90 minutes on high priority things.

Stop prioritizing easy, “prioritize progress”.  Things that matter to your program. When you are planning your day, ask yourself, what 3 things must happen today that will get me some real movement forward? I want you to take on something hard every single day. If you do that you will start to find yourself getting a little bit more confident, more momentum, and more into that space where you’ll feel like you are doing things you were meant to do.

For more great ideas to improve your productivity visit Busy.Coach

This article is also posted on The Coaches Toolbox

The BIG TIME is not a place; it’s the state of your heart. It’s not something you get; it’s something you become.

Book Notes by Bert DeSalvo

Each one of the concepts is like a game piece, and when we move them with a purpose, THE BIG TIME will suddenly appear. Just knowing about them has no real pay value. The key is in understanding and believing in them, for this is what motivates us to put them all together and use them.

**The BIG TIME is not something you get – it’s something you become.

The put-up game, just like a football game, takes practice – the right kind of practice. Put-ups, just like anything else, have to be learned; they have to become habit – they don’t just happen. Can be verbal, thumbs up, high five, hug, nod, smile, notes, etc. Put-downs are all around us and we can become involved in them just by association. This game actually reflects a person’s own self-centeredness and inadequacies without his even being aware of it. It can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy: By putting others down, we end up putting ourselves down. Criticism and negative put-downs become steel habits which can turn into cynicism.

It starts with those innermost feeling in your heart that actually transforms your mind. This in turn affects your actions, and it makes all the difference in the world in the way you live each day of your life, regardless of your passion.

The BIG TIME is not a place; it’s the state of your heart. It’s not something you get; it’s something you become.

Many people in our society get caught up in “#1 or No One” mindset

“A mindset of this type sees only the outcome as important – the process has to be endured.”
– Compare themselves to others
– Always have to prove themselves superior to feel secure and successful
– Tension and pressure are often present
– Fear of failure is their primary motivator

If all we do is endure or tolerate the trip to a so-called destination, we’ve really missed the boat. A better way to put it is: We’re on the boat, but we are seasick most of the time.

Potential – ‘ I can be’ zone
Performance – ‘I am’ zone

DO THESE TO CLOSE THE “GAP”!
G = Goal-sets that motivate and challenge us
A = Attitude which is our self-fulfilling prophecy for whether we think we can or think we can’t, we’re usually right
P = Perseverance which develops mental toughness and builds our character

True fulfillment of the competitive experience: bringing out the best in ourselves and others. That’s what MTBTWYA is all about.

Three-Sided Coin
The EDGE is what makes the difference in your performance in any walk of life.

Side 1 – “Best”
– Being the best
– Comparison game,
– Lose ‘the edge’ on this side

Side 2 – “Doing our best”
– Focus on ourselves
– Not concerned with winning,
– “Aim before we fire”

Side 3 – “Giving it our best shot”

– When we concentrate on giving it our best shot, we just reload and keep aiming and firing, while adjusting and adapting ourselves to each changing situation. “When we really learn to enjoy the process of giving it our BEST SHOT in all that we do – we raise the chances of DOING OUR BEST more often. This can directly result in our BEING THE BEST some of the time. That’s what the three-sided coin is all about.

Success Road is based on the trip and the quality of living, not on the destination. It doesn’t focus on the regrets of yesterday or the fears of tomorrow but on the moment-by-moment, day-by-day trip that exposes the excitement and joy in the natural highs of many ordinary things in our daily life.

IMPORTANT TO HAVE GOALS, BUT CAN CHANGE THEM DURING THE TRIP

The goal is not at the end of the story: the goal is the road.

ADJUSTING – ADAPTING – ADVENTURING
HAVE A GOOD DAY – Thermometer – Affected by external changes no control
LEARN TO ‘MAKE IT A GOOD DAY – Thermostat – We set the dial We control it!

This shows what happens when you feel good about yourself – you are willing to take some risks and give it your best shot in all that you do.”

Baseball hitting percentage analogy:
.250 vs. .330 just a 1 hit difference per week for 162 games
The longer they play, the bigger that gap gets.

With concentrated focus we can get that one one extra effort, one extra struggle, one extra anything – and up goes our average.

Sharing pride vs. Selfish pride

Sharing pride – “It’s a special quality that brings out that inner drive and motivates us to give the extra effort to make things happen. This creates an atmosphere of confidence that is contagious.

MAGIC – “Make a Greater Individual Commitment”

Character: Our Best Piece of Equipment

3 forms of Motivation

1. Fear – “The floggings will continue until morale improves.”
a. Produces quick results but soon loses its effectiveness
b. Motivates from outside rather than from withing

2. Incentive – “Carrot on the stick”
a. Produces but eventually mediocrity will set in when people are doing
the right things for the wrong reasons

3. Love – Strongest form of motivation; Genuine unselfish love; No fear – Brings out the best in ourselves. The true joy of having is in SHARING.

When you do Make The Big Time Where You Are – IT’S NOT A PLACE, IT’S NOT THE STATE OF YOUR MIND – IT’S THE STATE OF YOUR HEART.”