Business Coaching skills for Sports Coaches

I was very pleased to take part in the first UKA Coach Share Conference in October 2012 and have posted the transcript of my talk here. There were about 30 of us who all had 6 minutes to share our thoughts, views or specific techniques for other coaches and these are all available on the UKA Coach Share website for UKA Coaches.


Business Coaching skills for Sports Coaches

Good morning, my name is Annie Page and I am a Sports and Business Coach who works with individuals and teams on achieving their goals and I am here to talk to you about utilising business coaching skills as sports coaches.

 Before I start I would like you to think of a time when you struggled as a coach (or athlete) and what would have been the one piece of advice that would have been useful to you at that time. Take a moment to share it with the person next to you.... we will be coming back to this later.

Ok - I know from my own sports coaching experience how much more effective I can be working with athletes not just on their performance and technical ability but also with their beliefs about who they are and what they can do. Working with their own self talk and making sure I coach them from their point of view not mine.

The beliefs we hold are hugely impactful on what we do and how we do it - I'm sure you've all heard the quote by Henry Ford:

'Whether you think you can or you think you can't, either way you will be right'

 As coaches we need to work with athletes so they can move away from their own internal unhelpful self talk and be able to harness their strengths - which will help shift their thinking in order to be the best they can as individuals to give their best performance in competition through practice and training. So that we as coaches are being athlete centred not just around performance, but around their inner self talk and beliefs. When we do this we will see athletes who understand their own self talk, who they are as an athlete, what beliefs they hold that will help them and how to take control and change those that hinder them. We will hear ourselves communicating effectively, talking to athletes in their own way and utilising language as a powerful tool.

For example a runner I was working with kept stopping on the same hill - her technique was fine and the difference was what she was saying to herself, 'don't stop, don't stop' - our brain ignores the negative 'don't' and focuses on 'stop' the body does what its told and stops! We worked together and looked at what she did wanted to do - 'get to the top' - and changed the inner self talk to 'to the top, to the top' and now she runs that hill every time. She is also able to take that learning into other areas of her performance.

Athletes can feel the difference in a great performance compared to a good one and by working with them and their internal feelings of what 'great' means we can recreate those feelings before they go out into the field of play and they can go into the competition in 'great' mode.

When an athlete is in competition we need them to be in control and responsible for their performance. We all saw in the Olympics what can happen when a coach has too much responsibility for the performance - Holly Bleasdale being a great example of that. This can lead to people losing trust in themselves as an athlete and in us as a coach.

As coaches we have to manage ourselves in those moments and work with the athlete in practice and training so they can manage their own inner selves. The athlete is still the one who has to perform - they are the ones who need to understand how they can be in the best place mentally at that moment in time and we as coaches need to help them understand how they can do that.

What I'm saying is not that all coaches have to go through Business Coaching training, but to take from it the areas that we can utilise about how the mind can enhance or detract from performance and add it to the technique and performance coaching training that we do. To do this I believe it does need to become part of what we learn as we go through the coaching levels. In this way we will learn how to deliver our sessions for the athlete.

We also need to take responsibility for our learning and in the same way we plan and monitor our sessions we need to have reflective time about how we delivered it. In this way we can become coaches in the fullest meaning of the word, delivering training to enhance performance of the mind and the body.

In British cycling they looked at performance and thought that having 100% ability was only 80% of the performance - the other 20% came from Belief, Commitment and Focus and how these areas work for each individual athlete is where we need to develop as coaches in order to develop our athletes - understanding what is the difference that makes the difference.

Now take a moment to think back to the start and that one piece of advice that would have helped - how much of it is about how you feel and therefore how your mind reacts to it... Thank you for your time and attention. this morning and remember next time you think ' I don't want....' change it to think about what you 'do want....' and see what difference this can bring you.

Sports Coaches Conference Talk

Recently I was asked to do a talk about 'The basics of coaching effectively by recognising different learning styles' for a sports coaches conference organised by SMART Way Forward and held at Bisham Abbey - one of Sport Englands National Sports Centres. I had an amazing day meeting and networking with the other speakers and attendees who ranged from those who had Olympic medal success to those just starting on their sports coaching careers. My actual talk was an interactive session and lasted about an hour - Here I have put in just the main points and it takes just under 10 minutes!

How having a winning sports mindset can work in your business

The London 2012 Olympics was the first major sporting competition that I can recall that actually looked at how the mind can effect sports performance and talked about it so openly.  I thought this was great as coaching the mind is not just for when you have an issue it is very much about enhancing performance.  There were some great pieces on Sports Psychology and some great quotes from those that have been there and done it!

So what can we learn from these beliefs held by elite athletes that we can take into our own sporting or business arena.

'I don't own winning, I wanted to win' - Carl Lewis

'Top athletes perceive pressure as a privilege' - Tom Bates

'...pressure so high at that point, all things being equal it's the person who handles that moment and the pressure at that particular time best, that's going to have their best performance' - Michael Johnson

'I'm about to go to battle' - Michael Johnson

'Four years preparation for a few moments of action' - Matthew Syed

'Control the controllables' - Sir Matthew Pinsent

'You can only control how you perform' - Michael Johnson

'Thoughts become things and what we think affects the way we feel and the way we feel ultimately affects the way that we behave and ultimately in the sporting context - performance' - Tom Bates

'Find something that works for you' - Jonathan Edwards

'That minute difference between victory and defeat on the biggest stage of all is often to be found not in skill or effort but in the recesses of the mind' - Matthew Syed

Take a moment to think about a situation or activity you have coming up where you want to be at your best.  Pick a quote and think about your situation as if you hold that thought to be true - what does it tell you now about how you see and feel about the situation - what will you do differently?  What will you do the same?

Whether you are an athlete or in business, competing in any arena you needs to have mind and body working together and mental coaching techniques will help you achieve your goals and perform in the most competitive of environments.

The model below I use with athletes so they can see the different areas that coaching can work with - these are as relevant for business as they are for sport.

Now you may think overcoming injury is not very relevant to business but if someone feels injured this can have as devastating an effect on their work as an athlete being physically injured.

So what sports winning mentality will you have today?

How to Turn Inspiration into Participation....

With so many people feeling inspired by the Olympics you may be wondering where to start, so here is an extract from my e-book 'How to get off the Sofa and Start Running'.

Getting your mind in your run

"There are people who have no bodies, only heads. And many athletes have no heads, only bodies. A champion is a man who has trained his body and his mind"

- Coach Sam Dee The Olympian

However much your body might want to go for a run, if your mind isn’t interested it’s unlikely that you will get out the door.

We can be very good at talking ourselves out of doing something and so when you first start running it’s really good to think of some outcomes that you want to achieve.

You can break these down from your long term outcome and then smaller ones in order to keep you on track.

For instance a long term outcome maybe to take part in a race, do a particular time, fit into a particular pair of jeans.

Your short term outcomes can then be to run 3 times a week, to do a certain amount of mileage in a week, or spend a certain amount of time running each week.

Our brains work really well when it knows what we want to achieve and so if you have a good outcome in place this can help on those days it seems more tricky to get out the door!

To create a great outcome think about what you want to achieve and then build up a movie of it in your mind, what can you see happening when you have this outcome, what can you hear and how do you feel.  The more detail you can put into this visualisation the more compelling it becomes and the more likely you are to achieve it.

By building this vision at the beginning it can mean that on those odd days when you can’t be bothered you can bring this vision to the fore and it will help you get out the door.

I have a philosophy that on any given day running can be 10% physical and 90% mental.  If you are going to spend time training your body to do what you want it to do, surely the same thinking goes for training your brain!

And that’s not just for running…..

If you want to read the whole book which includes a 12 week plan you can order through:-

 Amazon -  http://amzn.to/howtogetoffthesofa or

The Endless Bookcase - http://www.theendlessbookcase.com/shop/products-page/ebooklet/how-to-get-off-the-sofa-and-start-running/

5 top tips for being mentally prepared when endurance cycling

Northampton Road Cycling Club have 6 members taking on the challenge of cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End over 9 days in August 2012 - here are 5 top tips I put together for them to prepare themselves mentally.

1. Before you start each day together or individually visualise the days cycling ahead - what will you

 - See

- Hear (both inside your head as well as externally i.e. what will you be saying to yourself)

- Feel (again both internally and externally)

and imagine how you will feel when you have accomplished that days cycling.

2. Acknowledge that there will be easy times and tough times.  Remember to enjoy the easy parts and knowing that there will be tough times means you can prepare mentally for them and they won't come as a big shock to the system!

3. Be careful of using the word don't.  i.e. 'don't stop' - our brain deletes the negative 'don't' and just understands the 'stopping' this is what it tells the body to do and you end up stopping!  Give yourself a positive mantra to repeat instead.

4. As cyclists you physically work as a team - make sure you also mentally work as a team.  Take it in turns to be navigator, cheerleader, the one who points out the amazing places you're cycling past!

5. Give yourself a pat on the back both mentally and physically at the end of each day - have a reward.

Most of all enjoy it!

If you want to find out more about their challenge then check out their website Northampton Road Cycling Club

Leadership Lessons from another perspective...

On LinkedIn recently they have picked up a series of 5 Leadership Lessons from The Godfather, Star Trek and Hans Solo (my personal favourite but I was always more Star Wars than Star Trek!)

So I thought were else can we learn from, and while looking up for inspiration stumbled over the cat! So here are my 5 top Leadership Lessons from the Cat.

1 - Take the pill with the cheese

If you or your team have got something unpalatable you need to do then make sure you plan in a reward for once it's done

2 - Continually paw owner in face until they get up and feed you.

While I'm not advocating any sort of violence - persistence is key. If you believe in something then keep going, you only fail if you stop - Think Edison and 1000 ways not to invent the light bulb!

3 - Stare at owner until you have eye contact then immediately stare at bowl that requires fresh food (even if what's there has only been in the bowl for 10 mins...)

Communicate your message in a way that works for the person you are working with so that it makes sense to them.

4 - Stare randomly into space

Give yourself space to think - if you're stuck with a problem then let it go from your conscious mind and you'll be surprised how easily and quickly the answer you're looking for will come to you

5 - Press random combinations of keys while walking across the laptop

You'll be amazed at what short cuts there are to your programs and what different combinations can do - then finding out how they work is a great learning process and once done not forgotten - so what are your short cut keys?

Hope you enjoyed this bit of fun before Easter and have a great few days off.

Networking on the Move

It's always great when you have an idea and other people like it! And so it was with Networking on the Move. After a conversation at a Business Beacon networking meeting with Pam Woods we both decided that getting people together for a walk and gentle easy exercises (for those that wanted) is a great way to start the day and Energise peoples bodies, brains and business.

Our muscles need oxygen rich blood to really work properly and the brain is no different. Getting outside and moving means that everyone gets to talk and really start to get to know each other in a much more powerful way than just hearing a one minute pitch! It means we can understand each other and our businesses on a completely different level and therefore it's not about what we can sell to each other but how we can help promote and build relationships with each other - and people buy from people!

What is also important to me is that people also get to find out how to keep fit and healthy in an easy way, no need for lots of expensive equipment or gym fees and feel really invigorated for the day . Good health = Good Business - but that's a blog for another day!

And so the first Networking on the move was launched on 21st March at Bedford Priory Marina. We meet every third Wednesday of the month at 8.00am for the walk, exercises and business discussions which is then followed by some light refreshment in the Beefeater, finishing about 9.30am

Remember to book on by following the link http://goo.gl/JtYi9

Graham Childs Michael Darvell, Pam Woods, John Guinn, Me

'Networking on the move is an excellent innovation. It was good to be out in the fresh air with plenty of opportunity to chat and gain useful pointers from Annie to stay fit in simple ways. The walk left me feeling energised for the day ahead but was by no means too strenuous - even for someone like me who doesn't go near the gym!'

Michael Darvell of Darvell Consultancy Ltd