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Sporting Careers and Excecutive Performance Coaching

11-08-2009

The Nature of Sport

The past 50 years has been a time for dramatic changes in the place sport has played in human culture. Sitting in the background of this is the very essence of what sport is about: Competition. People compete with others, with nature or battle their own demons, no matter how it is dressed up.

The quaint notion of sports being about “how you play the game” (ie. a test of good manners and fairness) still remains in some peoples’ minds (“it is only a game, after all”), but most contact sports have specific rules about what is and isn’t an acceptable level of violence. In other words, violence is accepted as a part of these games.

Some sports, eg. polo, modern pentathlon and martial arts, were developed as defacto training for war. War is, after all, the ultimate human “competition”. In many ways some sports have become an attenuated version of war, usually shorter-lived and with an immediate result.

Sport as Entertainment

Many sports fit comfortably into the global entertainment picture. This needs some factors to be in place to make it occur. The sophistication of satellite technology has made it possible for television images of major sporting events to find their way into every corner of the globe. This massive potential audience facilitates the next process: Sponsorship. Advertisers become intoxicated by the exposure associated with major sporting events.

This relationship between advertising/sponsorship and global television has produced the era of “professionalism” which now determines the nature of some sports as “big bucks” entertainment.

Sport and Politics

Given that sport can be a “civilized” symbolic way for nations to flex their muscles, it is no surprise that political conflicts have often been played out in the sporting arena.

Most of us have seen the images from the Berlin Olympics of 1936 when the Nazi Party was in power in Germany. Jessie Owens spoiled the argument about Arian supremacy, but the whole event was metaphor for Germany’s imminent push for world domination.

The Olympic Games during the Cold War presented opportunities for Communist powers to demonstrate their superiority over the West. It seemed they were prepared to go to great lengths to assure success. The drug scandals were evidence of this, but the “Eastern Block” has not been alone in this. More about drugs later.

In another way, hosting the Olympics or any of the other major “world cups” is seen as an opportunity to showcase a country and its culture. This has major repercussions for the tourism dollar. It is also a means of sending messages to the world about issues such as prestige, organisation and economic success.

Sport and Tribalism

At a more parochial level, people usually “follow” a particular team. The tribal nature of this phenomenon is exemplified by the Aussie rules fan in Melbourne. When asked which team he barracked for he replied “Essendon and any team playing against Collingwood”. Teams are usually based on geography and hence come to represent a particular social group or sub-culture. Soccer games in Sydney and Melbourne in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s often resulted in crowd violence. Long standing racial animosity surfaced there.

From the club’s perspective, the fans are big business. Bums on seats. Money through the pokies.

A supporter comes to identify with the team. The successes or failures of the team can mirror or substitute what is going on in their own lives. They dress in the club’s colours for game day. They have an encyclopedic knowledge of players, club history and the referees/umpires short comings.

Sport as a Career

Most professional sporting codes have “talent recognition programs”. The elite of many sports declare themselves at a young age. Female gymnastics was transformed when Eastern Block countries realised that peri-pubescent girls possessed the ideal power to weight ratio for this sport. Their slender bodies also presented aesthetic benefits.

Many countries have “institutes” where young people with potential are gathered for specialised, intensive development of their skills. They are usually government-funded and this indicates the importance placed on elite sports by some countries. Australia is prominent in this area.

Objections to such specialisation, too early, are counted by the career/financial benefits of success in sport at the elite level.

A career in sport is different from the traditional one, mainly in the sense that it is time and performance limited. No matter how naturally gifted the sports person, without financial support they won’t make it in a competitive world. No matter how good the financial support, any athlete is one career-ending injury away from obscurity.

There are very few elite sports where high level performance goes much further than the early to mid-thirties. This gives a career span of somewhere between 10 and 15 years. This leaves people at the “end” of their careers when most people’s careers would be 5-10 years away from their peak decades.

The implications are clear. The first is to maximise financial gain “while the going is good”. Enter stage left, the manager. Sports people tend to rely on the advice and guidance of these figures, especially during their early years. Parents sometimes perform this role, which has a significant mentoring component.

The next implication is that some thought should be given to “life after sport”. However, the mind-set of most sports people is focused on the so-called “positive”. This is really about rehearsing success rather than failure. This mind-set does not welcome such notions as “what happens when I am no longer amongst the best”. Remember, most of these people are in their 20’s and not particularly concerned with the future. The guidance of influential figures becomes crucial in this context.

Sports People as Role Models, but Humans.

The media exposure of elite sport makes its stars into celebrities. This makes them attractive to sponsors, which makes them (and/or their club, if it is a team sport) lots of money. The down side is the associated media scrutiny.

When people are used as an advertising medium the message is “here is a much-admired person endorsing this product. It must be good. If you use it, you can have something in common with him/her”.

Underlying this phenomenon is the “idealised” version of that person; young, fit, dedicated, attractive, decent, honest, in the prime of his/her life.

When this idealised version is tainted by some misdemeanor it induces anger in those who idealised them. The media thrive on the prospect of cutting down a tall poppy. The sponsors are upset, not wanting their product associated with such an image. The personal price for young athletes in this situation is high.

We get a bit confused here; the sponsors want their products endorsed by saints. The saints happen to be human beings, prone to the foibles of celebrity and life in your 20’s. The saints also like the money. They also have the same genetic propensity for drug and alcohol and other psychological problems as the rest of the community.

Australians especially admire their sporting heroes. It is about being part of a large island community, a long way from the centres of western civilisation. Our white culture was grafted onto this place under dubious circumstances. A national identity then had to be forged from basics. Our climate allowed white people to have a decent diet and the ability to train all year round. Eventually the original residents of the country became involved in sport also. Sport became one area where we could “show those Poms and Yanks a thing or two”. Sports people loom large in our sense of who we are and what relatively short heritage white people have here.

Drugs in Sport

In the 1980’s a questionnaire was put to elite college athletes (both genders) in the USA. The question was “you are offered a drug which would improve your performance to the point where you could win an Olympic gold medal. However it would result in your death within 5 years of that. Would you take it?” 85% said “yes”.

No sport, it seems, is immune to the temptations of some form of artificial performance enhancement. The problem is that this behaviour is powerfully rewarded (success, money). The power of the reward often overcomes any consideration of physical or legal repercussions.

There is now a well established, sophisticated system for the detection of performance enhancing and other substances in sport. One wonders whether even this is enough to deter people whose very existence is dedicated to the full time pursuit of athletic success.

The Coach

The professional team coach of 21st century is effectively the CEO, head of HR and head of Public Relations in a medium sized enterprise. He/she gathers around a supporting cast who deals with a lot of the detail and supplies the coach with raw statistical information that he/she needs. The coach then makes the strategic calls. Coaches are well paid, but like his charges, is subject to performance scrutiny. Not uncommonly team coaches are sacked mid-season. They become the brunt of the enterprise’s disappointment and shame at the team’s poor performance. Tough call.

The coach also performs an important mentoring role, especially where the athletes are younger. The wiser coaches understand that appreciating the details of what makes individuals tick is important in helping them set realistic goals.

The Role of Executive Coaching in Sport

Team environments can be tense, anxious places. At the same time as being loyal to team success there is an inherent competition for positions in that team (especially when contract negotiations are on the line). Someone outside the system can provide confidential support over a wide variety of situations.
In more individual sports the relationship with coach/mentor can get a bit stale, especially after a few seasons. An outside person can often be the one to provide that other ‘view” of things.
Executive coaches are good at clearly defining what the problems are and using various tactics to move quickly towards solutions.
They help people with goal setting to make it very effective and also help with measuring progress. This takes into account the person’s long term aspirations.
Executive coaches will have a view of sport as a particular “career”, but also as part of the bigger picture of a balance between work and non work.
Coaches in this area can also help in dealing with difficult personalities around the elite athlete.