Sports Science vs “X” factor

A coach friend who has trained with us to NZIM in the past and is now a gymnastics coach, sent me the article below.

It’s part of a larger article talking about how many countries in the world have “High Performance” programs in place. Governments around the world have spents millions of dollars on these programs to produce winners.

The winners still seem to come along by many different paths. The coach who has produced more triathlon World champions and Hawaii Ironman winners is not part of a “High Performance Program”.

It seems the relationship, the human side of coaching rather than the sports science side is what is producing the winners. I’m not saying there’s no place for sports science, there definitely is, it’s just not as the leader of the program.  

“Football teams and sporting organisations do the same thing by copying whoever won their competition last season – it’s about copying…it’s about copying…it’s about copying…it’s about copying…it’s about copying winners.

However, there is a huge difference between having the world’s best “tick the box”, high performance sport system and producing winners – i.e. producing athletes, coaches and teams who win at the highest level.

It is much easier to talk about having a great system and how you have all the high performance system elements in place than to talk about, think about and strive for winning.

The ten fundamental laws of winning in high performance sport are:

1. To be different;
2. To be unique;
3. To do things first;
4. To be more creative and more innovative than your competition;
5. To take risks;
6. To create and sustain a culture which is focused on winning – on being the best;
7. To fight hard and compete with total commitment;
8. To not accept anything but the best from everyone involved in your team: athletes, coaches, staff, management, Board – everyone must be committed to winning;
9. To see winning as not just a destination but an attitude that pervades every aspect of every thought and action within your team every day;
10. To not compromise on the consistent implementation of the first nine laws.

And this is the difference between a systems led approach and a winning focused approach. Having a great high performance sports system means having an outstanding high performance environment with all the programs, facilities, equipment and KPIs lined up and functioning: whereas winning means to come first.

Regardless of the nation, the team, the people, the geographical location, the size of the population, the money invested in the system, two clear and undeniable statements can be made:

1. Systems do not create winners. They produce consistency. They provide opportunity. They provide a measurable quality control framework. They provide high quality environments for training and competition but systems by themselves do not create winners;
2. The winners in all the high performance sports systems around the world for the past fifty years have been athletes, coaches, managers, teams, researchers, scientists and leaders who have thought and acted differently – who have been unique but who have had the good sense to tap into the opportunities provided by the high performance sport system.

So as you all head back to work in the new year, ask yourself this question, “Am I here to ensure my athletes, coaches, management and staff have the best possible system – one which provides them the opportunity to do their best – one which has all the elements one would expect to find in a high performance sports system” or “am I here to win?”

Because they are two completely different things.

• Are you encouraging difference?
• Are you embracing uniqueness?
• Are you celebrating creativity and innovation?

Or are you just another “audit bunny” sitting in an office ticking the boxes and kidding yourself you are driving the world’s best high performance sports system?”