Photo Credit GB Rowing
What a pleasure to present at the GB Rowing National Coaching Conference at The University of Birmingham on 25th/26th January. As I drove up the M5 on Sunday morning, gently cursing myself for having agreed to present at a weekend conference, I realised I was rather apprehensive! GB Rowing has cultivated a world-renowned name for high-performance, and the calibre of presenter and delegate reflected this reputation. I also wondered how interested people would be in my work around relationship building in coaching – would these high performers only have a thirst for technical, physiological insights about rowing, or would they be open to ideas that on the surface might seem rather obvious?
Think of others, be willing to learn, understand yourself… these are well-worn concepts in coach education, would there be appetite to engage again? But, the thirst was there from the beginning and the message was clear as Andrew Randell, (Women’s Olympic Head Coach) delivered his keynote on how he’d fostered the culture amongst his squads. Some of the highlights for me were, that attitude is everything, that we need behaviours built on values, that high-performance does not need to come at the expense of enjoyment. Andrew talked of the All Black culture and the importance of balancing engaging in hard, gritty activity whilst at the same loving those around you. This person-centred sentiment flowed through the rest of the day, and although there were quite rightly some high-quality rowing specific sessions, most of the conversations I found myself in revolved around how we care for people.
Coaching the person rather than coaching the sport is a line that is easy to roll out, but sometimes more difficult to deliver. Following my break-out session the conversation amongst my revealed a passion for the people involved in their sport, not just the athletes but the coaches too. The conversation was nuanced and insightful, and has I hope triggered small but significant changes in practice. It felt like people were minded to be more intentional in their coaching practice; to plan time with athletes for non-sport related conversations (chairlift time!), to think about the purpose and impact of humour in their sessions, to consider the level of structure required to support autonomy in their athletes.
As a coach there is a stairway that we need to climb if we are to support high performance, if we are to help athletes change. It starts with a relationship, if done well then this leads to trust. Without trust we have not really earned the right to give advice, we might do so by defaulting to the power of our position, but it’s unlikely to land. Trust is required for sustainable learning; we have to help people risk failure and then we’re moving forwards. The work of Sarah Harris and her coach development team is impressive, it feels like GB Rowing has a healthy culture that goes right to the very top of the sport.
P.F.Garner@bham.ac.uk