Coach and Player

Rowden April 2019

Coach

• Hate everyone who says you can’t do something or it can’t be done

• Don’t talk, listen and watch, most people don’t use eyes and ears effectively
• Two ways to observe, small details and big picture; stand back and watch, you see more, vision wider, see moods, energy and habits of players
• Watch with own eyes, don’t get swayed by the views of others
• Just get on with it, don’t feel the need to prove you’re smarter than others
• Instil conviction into your players
• The best players are ambitious, have commitment, enthusiasm, a positive attitude, personal courage and demonstrate thinking skills in action
• As the coach put yourself into the shoes of the player
• The coach is like the conductor of an orchestra, controlling harmony, tempo, timing and rhythm till the player can do this alone
• If coaches only think about short-term results players will never reach full potential
• Set high standards, help players believe they can do things they don’t think they are capable of and to understand the impossible is possible
• If I need to be with my players all the time even when they’re up against opponents they’ve already beaten, then there’s something wrong with them

Player

• Hate everyone who says you can’t do something or it can’t be done
• Size up opponents
• There is a time to be conservative and a time to attack, pick the right one. Don’t rush take time to decide
• Ignore discipline, goodbye to success
• Success comes from not getting carried away or trying to do too much
• Don’t fritter away natural talents because you’re not prepared to put the hours in
• Get satisfaction from knowing you’re doing your best and that this will pay off in the long run. Tell yourself you’re doing the right thing and it’s going to be okay
• Tell yourself you’re so strong and fast that no-one will ever be able to keep up with you
• Even the average player can be an outstanding athlete through hard work and application
• The best have an inbuilt desire to excel and improve and have to be dragged away from training
• Your talent is wasted if you’re short on grit and desire
• Drive is more important than talent, the willingness to work hard, to have emotional strength, the power of concentration and the refusal to accept defeat
• Never doubt yourself, have inner conviction and don’t allow your confidence to be shaken
• Personal organisation and direction (knowing where you’re going and how you will develop) are crucial aspects. All training and sparring should support and strengthen the way you play and your own style
• Preparation is important and training is where the real work is done; there should be no bad sessions, only intensity, concentration and commitment
• The desire and need to win needs to be tempered by a cool head. Like life, games are all about taking your chances when they occur, wait for the right opportunity
• Adapt to changing circumstances and always look to opponent’s weaknesses, look for signs of uncertainty, confusion, panic and giving up
• Excellence is about balance, movement, always in position for the next ball, economy of shot. Also generally it’s about self-discipline, fitness and how you handle this, nutrition and sleep, attitude to training and overall consistency
• Winning needs a series of small steps, not one big leap
• Guard against complacency, one point at a time to win
• In moments of pressure, tell yourself that you’re better than this and you know it
• Understand as you get older that an hour wasted is never recovered. Be better at using time, young people think they have all the time in the world
• Cannot achieve massive success without sacrifice in life. Shut out rest of world, spend time on improving talent and organisation
• Don’t play the occasion, play the game on hand. In the big game, isolate yourself in your own mental cocoon and focus on what you have to do
• Failure paralyses some and motivates others. The manner you react to defeat is an essential part of being a winner, learn from defeat
• Defeat can be the result of what you fail to do, not what the opponent does
• Never give up, always keep thinking and changing something in your game. Face losing by digging in and fighting
• If you want to be a top player don’t moan and groan, get on with the job and grow up
• Three things the top player needs, preparation, perseverance, patience, only one thing, then consistency
• That extra 5% difference is what stands between gold and silver
• Real success always comes from inside you – it’s never defined by what the opposition does. Focus on what you control and what you can do
• Aim for perfection in every session