Why can’t we all just get along?

“The best thing about being involved in the Coach Accelerate Project is having the opportunity to learn from coaches of other sports”. This was a quote from Steve Hansen, the current All Black coach, speaking about being involved in the Sport NZ Coach Accelerate Project. I had the chance a few months ago to sit down and listen to Alex McKenzie speak about this project and while the whole project sounds exceptional, this one idea stood out for me. That is a pretty powerful statement. Arguably the highest profile coach in this country stating that he can AND HAS learnt from coaches in other sports. If he can acknowledge he’s learnt from coaches in other sports, why can’t coaches at levels below high performance do similar? But what is there to learn from coaches from other ‘rival’ codes? The majority of skills that a rugby coach needs to be effective are the same as a football, squash, triathlon, water polo, cricket, sailing coach and you can add any other sport out there. This is backed up by numerous coaches’ philosophies. For example, Ernie Merrick’s (current Wellington Phoenix coach) philosophy is “I don’t coach players, I coach people”. Wayne Smith and the All Blacks philosophy that guided them to the World Cup victory two years ago was “Better people make better All Blacks”. If both these coaches highlight that they are first and foremost coaches of people there must be some similarities in the required skills. Generic skills that all coaches need to develop are (but not limited to): Communication Questioning Feedback Team management Conflict management Skill acquisition Leadership Creating and maintaining a strong team culture Planning Goal setting Motivation If these are just a few of the hundreds of skills that coaches need to develop to become an effective coach, coach educators have a tough job on their hands. How can you develop your coaches to be skilled in the list above coupled with the specific tactical and technical requirements of your sport to become great coaches? Steve Hanson’s comment could hold the key. Why don’t we actively encourage our coaches to network with other coaches, regardless of what sport they coach? I know some of the best conversations I have had regarding coaching have come from coaches that aren’t involved in the same sport I am. Picture this . . .  A Monday night at a local sports club. Inside is a group of coaches, 1 from Rugby, 1 from Squash, 1 from the local primary school who coaches a miniball team, 2 from Netball and 2 swimming coaches from the community swimming pool. The theme for the night is engaging athletes in a training session. Each coach is going to have their own experiences and techniques to call on when the discussion is taking place so there will be 7 different ideas those coaches can take away and try if they like. Another strategy that can be used to encourage the sharing of ideas is coach mentoring or coach buddies. Having another coach that works with you to give you feedback and advice is a powerful learning tool (see the list on this link to see all the high performance coaches that have used a mentor). Again though, the opportunity to align with a coach from another coach will give you a completely different perspective on coaching. Those thoughts can prove invaluable. My challenges to you whether you are a coach or a coach educator is make a link with other coaches from other codes to enhance your own practice. Whether it is through some sort of networking club, a coach mentor or your own idea see what you can learn from them as you will be pleasantly surprised. I would love to hear from you if you do take up this challenge, or if you already are learning from other coaches regardless of their code. Coincidently, Steve Hansen is currently a mentor for Dayle Cheatley, the New Zealand track cycling team coach for the 2012 London Olympics. If it is working at high performance level there is no reason this cannot be transposed to community coaches.