tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79788376571446437822024-03-13T00:22:53.118+00:00crouch, touch, pause, engagePhil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-45092872505319411152014-05-08T17:40:00.001+01:002014-05-09T00:09:04.746+01:00Confidence to Perform ConsistentlyFor a few years now, I've been watching an emerging rugby team play. They have been ranked very highly over recent seasons in 15 a-side rugby and 7s. Yet for some reason, this season, their potential hasn't been realised. The team lost a number of games to teams they had previously beaten and heads went down. They hit a poor run of form that they couldn't shake off.<br />
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It's hard to put a finger on what actually caused the sudden downturn in form. A couple of players out with injuries? Other teams being physically larger this season? A tougher fixture list? Not really. Surely a good team doesn't become a poor team overnight?<br />
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I've reflected on what I witnessed and I came to the conclusion that the reason for the slide in performance was a loss of confidence. This then drove a lack of self belief. Over a period of time, you could see it becoming contagious.<br />
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Subsequently, I talked over this loss of form with a number of coaches, managers, educators and mentors in a number of fields outside of rugby to get as a wide a view as possible. A theme emerged from my conversations: one of the biggest performance killers is a lack of self belief which manifests itself in low confidence. That lack of confidence stops so many from getting back up and running or even making an attempt in the first place. I decided to investigate confidence.<br />
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I have to point out here I'm not advocating the development of hugely inflated egos - there are enough of those around in all walks of life. No, I am talking about the "objective understanding of ability and personal qualities" that enable people in all walks of life to take a step forward - often, as it were, to take a step of faith - in order to achieve something or attempt something different.<br />
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I thought long and hard about confidence in a sporting context and specifically about what are the "abilities and qualities" that drive performance. I concluded that essentially there are four key areas: technical ability, creativity, cognition and spatial awareness. They seemed to be common to most sports.<br />
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Technically, an athlete has to know how to perform core components competently: pass, tackle, kick, catch - all have to be worked at. This is true in any walk of life be it sport, a job, an area of service and even in relationships - we need to know how to treat people, how to communicate, how to listen. There are things we have to work at.<br />
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Creative thinking is that ability that allows you to think outside of the box. In a sporting sense it's the ability to play what is in front of you, responding to what you see in a constructive rather than destructive way. This way of thinking and processing real time game information is linked to cognitive ability - that is the ability to take information in, process it and replay the information in the form of problem solving using what you have worked on in training, your experience and the way the game is panning out.<br />
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Spatial awareness is the ability to see objects or people in relation to each other in space and time. It's that sense you have before you make a pass, knowing that the ball will reach the other person because you have the ability to judge space and speed. It's understanding your location on the field of play in relation to player with the ball and the timing of a tackle or when to pass or make a break.<br />
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Sports psychologists tell us that the ability to focus and get refocussed are the keys to staying on track and sustaining performance. Doing what we know we can do and doing it to the best of our ability breeds confidence. Confidence enables us to do more of what we know we can do and sustains performance. They identify "distraction" as the trigger that so often hits confidence, suggesting internal and external reference points as a means of getting back on track and refocussing. Often a coach will have worked on a key phrase or word or an image to help a player regain composure. They are mental reminders of what the player knows but has been distracted from. Sadly, we have all seen the alternative when confidence collapses - the inevitable slide into overthinking and under performing - even for world class athletes. Its true when we experience life set backs too.<br />
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Now we all know that there are times in sport when we do actually lose a game because we meet opponents who are simply better than us. Those are the experiences from which we learn and go on to develop our own skill levels. The same is true of course in every walk of life. Unless we grab hold of the development opportunity that we are presented with in a difficult challenge or in a defeat, we are destined to produce repeat performances.<br />
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How we respond in any situation will have a big influence on what happens next. If we allow ourselves to be defined by circumstances, by what just happened, it will not only impact what happens next, but will begin to influence who we are. We start to become responders, rather than initiators. Who wants to go through life simply reacting to everyone and everything we encounter.<br />
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The bible has an interesting observation on confidence, when it states: "don't throw your confidence away". Its context is a passage talking about what impacts our definition as men.<br />
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How <i>are</i> we defined? By postcode, by job, by ethnicity, by salary, by competency, by our circumstances? Our true definition is not external. Sure, we stand in and operate from our circumstance, but they don't actually define us.<br />
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If in life as in sport, confidence is linked to our four key areas, then:<br />
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<li>technically we have to work on being the very best version of who we can be. </li>
<li>creatively, we can develop a sense that there is life outside of the box of the usual or routine way of thinking. </li>
<li>we can begin to appreciate that what is in front of us can be overcome, that, we can find solutions. </li>
<li>we can take a step back or pause momentarily to assess objectively where we are spatially in relation to others and what is going on around us. </li>
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These are the abilities and qualities that help us to understand how we fit into the dynamics of a game, our jobs, a service or ministry area and relationally.<br />
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Confidence need not fly away with a poor result or outcome. Technical ability doesn't suddenly drain away overnight after we have lost a match. Our ability to read a game and creatively problem solve when confronted with a difficult situation doesn't disappear. What we have worked on, developed, become competent at hasn't been surgically removed without us noticing.<br />
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Sure there is room for improvement - that is called growth. But, we need to become skilled at identifying reference points to help us re-engage with our self belief and maintain or regain confidence.<br />
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The great thinker and writer Paul helps us with by looking at confidence from a different angle. He noted... "I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it" - in other words, we can have confidence in foundational things and specifically in the foundational relationship we can have with the man's man Jesus Christ. Our confidence can develop as we recognise he doesn't go back on the ground we've covered together. He doesn't quit on us when it gets tough.<br />
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Two things mark out the man who can face most things that are thrown at him:<br />
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<li>the confidence he has in the abilities and qualities he carries from his personal experience and training and they can't be taken from him - that's self belief. </li>
<li>the confidence he can have in knowing that he has a source of help that transcends the circumstance, the game, the situation- that's faith;</li>
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faith in the man's man Jesus Christ to deliver on his commitment to us. So let's not throw our confidence away. Lets work at the things <i>we</i> can work on <i>and</i> commit to Jesus Christ through faith, so that win, draw or lose we have a confidence that isn't disposable.<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-89784396717423472482014-03-13T11:10:00.002+00:002014-03-13T11:10:20.237+00:00Cakes, cement and rugbyIt was with a sense of anticipation that I was travelling to the English town of Rugby. My excuse was a business meeting. That was a front, I was on a mission.<br />
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I've always had an interest in where or how things started. Things that we take for granted. Things that are now part our everyday lives. Everything starts somewhere.<br />
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I had a mental picture of what I was going to experience. I wanted to take in the atmosphere, the sense of history. I would be inspired to come up with some motivational one liners, to inspire the lads back home. I was going to the birthplace of the great sport of rugby.<br />
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Driving along, I imagined William Webb-Ellis playing on the fields of the famous Rugby school. I could hear the lads and the master in charge shouting "What do you think you're doing boy?" Catching the ball and in defiance of the rules, Webb-Ellis ran off down the field with ball in hand. The rest as they say is history.<br />
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I didn't get to see the famous school. In fact, all I saw was the Rugby Cement factory and a traffic roundabout advertising the fact that "Mr Kipling" makes his "exceedingly nice cakes" in Rugby. A fact that didn't go unnoticed. Rugby, cement and cherry bakewell tarts. I am pleased to note that Mr Kipling cakes website has a "cookies policy".<br />
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The only reference to the great, global, sport of rugby was a roadside sign letting me know when to turn for the Webb Ellis Industrial Estate.<br />
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Like most of urban Britain, the town centre was a mixture of familiar retail chains, independent local stores, charity shops and people going about their business. They were totally oblivious of my quest to find the birth-place of a significant sport. I didn't even see a rugby pitch.<br />
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Standing in a car park looking at the back of the local bank and a small parade of shops, it was hard to imagine anything originating here - let alone the global phenomenon that is rugby. The remarkable thing is it did. Here in this small town in the middle of England. The truth of the matter is: everything starts somewhere.<br />
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The bible notes something about a town very similar to Rugby. It records a conversation between two men. They were talking about a man one of them had just met. The town: Nazareth. The man: Jesus Christ. "Where was he from? Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?" There was a familiarity about it. Jesus? Isn't he the carpenter? Rugby? Isn't that where they make cakes and cement?<br />
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The man's man Jesus lived in Nazareth. He had spent 30 years learning his trade and working as a carpenter. But his job, his town, his family circumstances didn't stop him taking his "catch the ball and run down the field" moment. His decision, to face whatever it would take to make us better men for knowing him, was world changing.<br />
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What decisions are we facing today? Don't let familiarity or circumstances prevent us from making choices that will change someone's world for the better; including perhaps our own. The ball is in the air. What will we do when we catch it?<br />
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It was strange to think that there, in Rugby, an ordinary town with ordinary people, something happened that changed the sporting world. Rugby has brought challenge, excitement, camaraderie and enjoyment to so many. Everything starts somewhere. And it's here, in the ordinary places, places with cement and cake factories, amongst the shops, banks, public car parks and yes the place where the great sport of rugby started, that the man's man Jesus challenges us to catch and run.Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-26110672075730471432013-10-17T12:42:00.000+01:002013-10-17T12:43:50.026+01:00The Inevitability of ImpactRugby is a full contact physical sport. Anyone watching the game for the first time could be excused for wincing at the sheer force of the impacts. With the advances in training and fitness regimes, the modern player is also faster and more mobile than ever before. The harnessing of speed and force make for a dramatic spectacle, but also combine to create the shuddering impacts synonymous with the modern game.<br />
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Whilst researching the physical implications for players, particularly in youth sport or in development squads, I came across a fascinating article outlining a study in New Zealand looking at identifying signs of concussive injury. I was drawn to some of the statistics produced in the study. By using sensors attached to players and built into mouth guards, the researchers were able to accurately measure the number of impacts in a game and the G-force exerted in the impact. The results were revealing.<br />
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In one game, there were over 3000 impacts. The average impact was 22g. Given a fighter pilot can experience a force of around 9g, admittedly over a more prolonged period of time, the individual impacts in rugby are nonetheless quite remarkable. One recorded hit was over 200g. It almost seems impossible that players are regularly encountering physical forces that would normally be experienced in road traffic accidents. The remarkable thing is the physical resilience of players and for the record, how few concussions there actually were. Now that's not to minimise the importance of looking for this type of injury and being aware for the sake of player safety. But it set me thinking. One thing is inevitable if you play rugby. You will experience knocks and have to take the impact.<br />
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Some of those impacts will take you down. Some will cause you pain. Others will require you to simply put your head down and press on, using all of your strength and stamina. Sound familiar?<br />
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There is another arena in which there is an inevitability that we will encounter impacts. Life. But as with the great sport if rugby, how we react to life's knocks will often determine the outcome of the passage of life we're experiencing. Some things take us down. Some things cause us pain. Others call for every reserve of strength or staying power for us to press through. Our response can be critical to how things turn out. When we get knocked down, we have a choice - to stay down or get back up regardless of what took us down. We may be different as a result of the impact, but we can chose to stay down or stand again. We may experience pain, but ours is the choice to let that pain forever define us or to allow it to become something that helps strengthen us for the next challenge. We may feel totally exhausted but ours is the choice to live depleted of our reserves or to shift our thinking to recognise that resilience, resistance work and recovery are essential elements for building strength and endurance.<br />
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The bible has an interesting observation, made by the man's man Jesus Christ. He had observed life over an extended period: working in a carpentry business, with all the demands of hitting deadlines, keeping customers satisfied, financing projects. He carried the social stigma of living in a small, rough town, that few people admired. He lived under harsh government regulation, with a though tax regime. He was the oldest in the family he was born into and carried the responsibility. When he set out to make a difference for people, he was looked on with a familiarity that was driven by envy and contempt for his lack of formal religious preparation. No wonder he said to his team "in this world"(the one we have described, the one we live in), "you will have trouble". It's as inevitable as the impacts in rugby. However, he followed that statement up with one that was as astonishing as his previous comment was inevitable: "I have overcome the world." In other words, I have a way of getting through this. A way of getting through these impacts. Whilst there is the undeniable forward look to his destiny at the cross, this man's man was saying there is a way to overcome the world and what it throws at you - by simply not letting it define who you are. You are not defined by your current circumstance, your background, ethnicity, perceived economic value - your definition is not external, it develops internally. Through the relationships that we build. Through the kind of men we become. Through the faith we extend beyond our own limitations. The man's man blew away the final limitation, opening up a way for all men to meet and be comfortable in the presence of their maker.<br />
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Whatever, life is throwing at us, has thrown or will ever throw - should never truly define us and therefore ever truly defeat us. Experiences good, bad and ugly shape us, but true definition is forged through a faith with the friend of all men, who has taken the ultimate hit for us.<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-29515459246490484602013-08-26T08:55:00.000+01:002013-08-26T08:55:35.633+01:00preparing for a new season?Whatever level a team plays at, the run-in to the new season always feels like a shock to the system. From the end of season to the point at which pre-season training starts, I think there has to be a specialised course that coaches and fitness trainers go on to discover the latest physical punishment techniques. Every pre-season seems to get worse, or is it something to do with the ageing process catching up!!<br />
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The physical demands of the sport of rugby are punishing in game situations, but the level of pain in training seems to increase year on year. It's not as if we have suddenly become unfit from the end of the last season is it? Pre-season is a time for preparation and, as the saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail.</div>
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The period before the start of a season is also a time of change and often a time of uncertainty. New players are coming in. Some of your old team mates have gone or retired. The coaching staff may have changed and you could be facing playing a completely different style of game. There could be new sponsors, different kit, even different facilities. You will certainly be facing new teams following promotions and relegations even if you are in the same league. Nothing stays the same. Everything changes. Even the rules of the sport change from time to time. Change is inevitable. It's how we respond to change that prepares us for what comes next.</div>
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Making assumptions about the next season or about our place in the team or our going uninjured for the whole year can be a big mistake. I can remember the very first competitive game we played. A brand new team. Our opponents arrived and swaggered off their bus, buoyed by their teams results in previous years. We on the other hand had been kept firmly in place by our coach and had approached the game not knowing the team until the day before the match. We destroyed them 70-0 and that was in the days when a try was worth fewer points. It was a hard act to follow and the temptation to assume every match would be as easy was difficult to avoid. </div>
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Toward the end of the pre-season, there is a sense of just wanting to get on with the campaign. But there is another hurdle to get over before the season can begin in earnest. Trials. Even though you have played for a team for a long time, you still have to go through the same process. New, fresh, younger up and coming players may have arrived on the scene. Everyone faces trials before the next season begins. The trials precede selection for the next season. </div>
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It's tempting to want the start of a new season to simply roll on from the end of the last, but the new season will also have new challenges.</div>
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Life can be the same - physically and mentally demanding, change and uncertainty, making assumptions about what lies around the corner and well, full of trials. Life is also made up of seasons and those seasons do change and bring with them new challenges. A very wise man wrote in the bible in a book called Ecclesiastes - there is a time for everything, a season, everything fits in its place in its right season. How we respond determines what happens as those seasons turn. How we approach the trials will determine how we fare in the next season. </div>
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Another great writer observed in a letter to a group of men called the Hebrews that there is one thing that doesn't change. In fact he was describing a person. The man's man Jesus Christ. Of him it was written: Jesus Christ - the same yesterday, today, forever. In other words in the middle of the demanding, the changing, the uncertain, the trials - he remains consistent in his approach and attitude towards us as men. What a great example of maintaining his composure as a man in the middle of change. Change is difficult to accept sometimes, particularly if the impact of the change means we have to adapt or stop something to start something new. But as we approach a new season - in sport or in life, lets remember there is one who we can rely on to be totally consistent as a role model, as a mentor, but especially as a friend. The man's man Jesus Christ. </div>
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As we face the challenge of a new season, lets meet the demands, the change, the uncertainty head on, not shying away from trial, but willing to press on in the knowledge that the trails qualify us for the next season and that we do not move forward alone. The man's man has already been there and wants to walk with us through to the other side.</div>
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Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-59778084896540544792013-07-15T14:31:00.002+01:002023-10-15T14:29:54.333+01:00On being an honorary Fijian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Recently I had the honour of standing with these guys. Have a listen to them first and then read how I became an honorary Fijian for a few days.</div>
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Over a few days in July 2013 it was my privilege to be involved with the Rugby League Festival of World Cups. What you might say was a rugby union man doing being involved in a league tournament? I had the honour of being invited to be a chaplain to the various Police teams playing in the tournament. Making contact with the team liaison made it possible for me to be alongside the Fijian Police Rugby League team as they trained and played matches at the grounds of Featherstone Rovers, Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos. During those few days I was also able to speak to a number of the GB Police Rugby League lads, many of who work in my own county of West Yorkshire - good on you.<br />
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The thing that struck me about all of the lads and the staff - playing or talking about their day jobs, was how down to earth they were and the camaraderie amongst them. Being a serving police officer in what are very contrasting geographical locations - Fiji or West Yorkshire is a demanding task and so I commend these guys for their commitment to the job and serving their communities.<br />
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To be alongside both teams when they played against each other and against the Aussies was a fascinating insight into the teams, the highs of being selected and competing and the lows of missing out on selection and sadly the impact of serious injury on players, the squad and their watching families. It was an honour to be there and be involved.<br />
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I was impressed with the way that all of the teams approached the tournament and I know from talking with the teams, coaches and players that some of the lads may be returning to the UK later in 2013 for the full Rugby League World Cup. Thanks must go to the sponsors, the Rugby League, their home an host Police Federations, to the players and their respective forces for releasing them to compete. For the Fijians they would want me to add, for sure, thanks to God - for as men of strength, courage, commitment, skill, speed and agility as all players in all of the squads were - many were also men of faith. At the close of every training session and at the end of the games; win, draw of loss, the Fijians create a huddle on the pitch and unaccompanied, sing their thanks to God. You can click on the link above and below to hear some their songs. <br />
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It is my belief that when the voices of men are raised, not in anger or threat, but in unity of purpose, in faith, in serving the community as all of the squads do in their day jobs - then the impact on those around them is evident - drawing people in to engage with them, drawing people in to join with them and stand with them, drawing people in to listen and respond to what is being said.<br />
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Many men have raised voices today - some in anger, some in protest, some in pain, some in desperation. Others feel they have no voice or cannot be heard and need others to raise a voice for them. The man's man Jesus Christ once said this; "if I am lifted up, I will draw men to me" - he was referring to the cross - lifted up to die as a substitute for all men. He was speaking of the honour of being given a place in the lives of men - through relationship being lifted past a remote impersonal entity, to an ever present friend, brother, supporter, coach, guide, leader and mentor.<br />
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When men come together to lift up Jesus Christ through their lives - other men are drawn to the reality that they both hear and see.What are our voices saying today? What sound are our lives giving off to those around us?<br />
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Enjoy these few clips and lets determine to lift our voices together and lift up and honour the cause of the man's man Jesus Christ - for the sake of others.<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-1771212251509098922013-06-24T12:24:00.001+01:002013-06-24T12:24:26.333+01:00Let me have a go at that!Every now and then someone comes along that seems to strike a chord with the public mood or has the ability to capture the collective imagination of a nation. Sporting heroes transcend the arena and in a way, become public property.<br />
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Everyone has a view or an opinion about them, they're talked about in the column inches of newspapers, they're discussed in the bars and pubs up and down the land, they enter into the public psyche and become legends of their particular sport. They become the subject of quiz questions and enter the record books. Of them, it is often said; they are inspirational.<br />
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When the New Zealand All Black Sonny Bill Williams used his one handed, out the back of his hand offload to devastating effect, every school boy rugby player wanted to "do a Sonny Bill." England's Chris Ashton's try scoring dives have also found their way onto the muddied skid pans of school rugby pitches. There will be countless other examples form every sport - from kids "slam dunkin" hoops to bending a soccer ball around a defensive wall at a free kick. There are people who just seem to make us all want to have a go.<br />
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In his book "Invictus" (previously titled Playing the Enemy) John Carlin outlines how Nelson Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to engage the entire nation of South Africa as part of his plan to birth a nation against the background of division resulting from the legacy of apartheid. Francois Pienaar the Springbok rugby captain was invited to meet with Mandela. From that meeting grew an amazing story.<br />
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The genesis of Mandela's plan, was also the birthplace of a relationship between the two men that has transcended sport. The impact of that meeting with Mandela was inspirational. Pictures of President Mandela wearing the green and gold colours of the Springboks have taken on iconic status. The brief dialogue of the two men as Pienaar received the Webb Ellis trophy from Mandela is equally inspiring: Mandela to Pienaar "Francois, thank you very much for what you have done for our country", Pienaar to Mandela "No, Mr President thank you for what you have done for our country".<br />
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Of the man's man Jesus Christ, the bible records in his day, people from all walks of life wanted to go check him out. He was talked about in village inns, religious meetings, army barracks, the infirmaries of the day, on the street and by every level in society. Thousands gathered on hillsides or followed him lakeside. The crowds were so overwhelming, he had to get into a boat to speak to them.<br />
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When people saw some of the amazing things he did and heard the things he said, my guess is, many youngsters and even adults gave more than a passing thought to - "doing a Jesus". Who wouldn't want to do something special or say something inspiring. Who wouldn't want the acclaim of a crowd? Then came an event that changed everything. The cross. Wonder who was willing to "do a Jesus" now? The truth of the matter is, as men, we are expected to do just that - to "do a Jesus" to put self secondary to the greater good of others.<br />
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The reality behind the inspiring actions, speeches, shots on goals, try scoring and yes, even performing the miraculous is a lifetime of working behind the scenes when no one else is watching. Developing character in the obscurity of the every day. The man's man Jesus put self aside for the good of all mankind.<br />
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When we see the greats, when we feel inspired to "have a go", re-tweet or post on social media a famous quote or inspirational "on-liner", lets go for it and remember too, that there are somethings we as individuals must all have a go at - there is a higher purpose; the purpose that puts self aside for the sake of others.<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-1865989058838645242013-04-22T22:36:00.000+01:002013-04-22T22:36:47.012+01:00When your game plan falls apartI recently went to watch a rugby match in a local county league. The match had significance for a number of reasons:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> it would potentially secure promotion for one of the teams</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I knew a couple of the guys playing in the match</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it was the first time in years I had watched minor league sport</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The team I went to watch won the match and were promoted. However, as a spectacle, it was poor in quality and certainly wasn't a great advert for the game. Despite their clear technical and physical superiority, the promotion seekers somehow lost their focus. They spent large parts of the game commenting on the demerits of the referee and complaining. Once they had lost focus, their standards started to slide. The rapidly deteriorating quality of their decision making, made their opponents seem more competent. This boosted opposition confidence, which compounded the title chasers problems and led to handling errors and mistakes. In the end, the team were arguing amongst themselves. Despite the scoreline, they were behaving like losers.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now, you could rightly argue "they won". But for me, this game became an illustration of the importance of focusing on the right things and, doing those "right things" right. Despite the win, it was a shambolic game that could have been so much better. In short, it wasn't a very good advert for the game and had the potential to dissuade the neutral from engaging with the sport. How often do we allow our standards to slip and descend into a caricature of what we should be? How do others perceive the faith we profess based on what they see of us?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As they lost focus, the volume of handling errors and poor decision making increased alarmingly. When we lose sight of the main thing, we begin to bring into sight things that either don't matter, are peripheral or are simply wrong.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Despite the team being capable of blowing the opposition away, the match started to slip away from them. However, there was a pivotal moment that altered the outcome. The game needed someone to refocus. Someone had to take it back by the scruff of the neck. Someone had to ignore the crowd decrying every refereeing decision. Someone had to get the team playing the right game in the right areas of the field. Just as the game was about to descend into a farce, one player took things into his own hands and stepped up to take responsibility. His intervention made the difference. He refocused and changed the outcome of the game. In the end, the team ran out comfortable winners, but, it was a poor game and one that deserves to be forgotten.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I'm sure there are times we have just scraped through or have felt our approach has been poor. It's worth analysing what goes on when we take our eyes of the main thing. What causes us to shift focus? Offence? Decisions going against us? Jibes from the sidelines, even from people who are supposed to be supporting us? The intervention of other people into "our space"? Things not going to our exact game plan? We can be so easily distracted And we've seen what loss of focus can do.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At those times, its worth remembering that we can refocus. The bible has some great advice: Run with perseverance the course marked out for you, keeping your eyes focused on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for joy set before him, endured.. In other words; if we have decided to be a follower, a disciple, one who runs after Jesus the trailblazer of our faith, we need to keep our eyes firmly fixed on him as our focus. Science has belatedly discovered that what we focus our minds on has a strong physiological impact. The object of our focus impacts the neural pathways in our brains and actually influences our motor functioning ability. Putting it a different way, if we focus on the wrong things, then our game will fall apart! Conversely, focusing on the right thing and following the right lead...</span>Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-50549835127049798862013-02-21T15:15:00.002+00:002014-01-08T18:20:47.361+00:00Singing for the Unsung HeroIn every team, in every club, in almost any organisation, there are always people who come to be known as "stalwarts". It's a bit of an ugly sounding word, but its meaning is far from ugly. A stalwart is someone who is loyal, particularly over a long period of time, and is able to be trusted. These are the people who can be counted on in terms of reliability and hard work. Often, they are the people who have been there the longest and have seen out the highs and the lows and remain resolute supporters. Others journey through a club, for example as emerging talent, flourishing around the club stalwarts, then move on to higher and greater things. These are the lads who donate their shirts to the club, framed and with a signature. To find the stalwarts, you often have to consult the club's record books. <br />
<br />
I always like to have a look at the photographs in club houses as I've travelled to different grounds. I look for two groups of people. The stars who have emerged from humble beginnings and those who are the club record holders - those who feature in every team photograph over a prolonged period. They are the foundations around which teams and clubs are built. Often, they are the unsung heroes, known only to those who they have helped or supported, coached or mentored.<br />
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Every team needs stalwarts who are the central spine around which teams are built and around which the emerging talent flourishes. <br />
<br />
Recently, I decided to have a look at the number of appearances some longstanding players had made for particular rugby clubs. Starting with my old club, I discovered that there was one stand out player who had made a staggering 571 appearances. That has to be some kind of record. Unless the team were desperate for players or unless he was the chairman and held the purse strings - there has to be no other reason than total consistency for a player to sustain a position in a team for that long. It is remarkable. A stalwart. <br />
<br />
Yet the most remarkable thing about this particular player is, outside of the club and perhaps the immediate local community, nobody would recognise his name. Yet for me he is one of a band of stalwarts that are the unsung heroes of the sporting world. But we should celebrate the unsung hero. Without them, lack of continuity would undermine cohesion and eventually the culture. In many large organisations, the movement of people across the business operates at pace and is seen as a way of hot-housing or fast tracking key people. With such rapid turnover, few stay around long enough to establish process and to carry the accountability that attaches to responsibility. Often, accountability is left to the stalwarts. Those people often seen as the overlooked or the plodders. These are the people who need to be celebrated. <br />
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The headline in a New York Times article at the turn of the last century said this "the unsung heroes of the engine room". The article went on to describe how the stokers and the engineers of a large, stricken passenger vessel kept the boilers at full capacity and the power supply on, whilst the vessel was engaged in a rescue mission. Eventually they capitulated to the power of the sea, but without them others would have perished. Unsung heroes. Stalwarts who could be counted on for their reliability and hard work. The great writer of much of the Bible's new testament, Paul observed in his letter to a group of people in a province called Galatia "if we don't become weary in doing good, not giving up or quitting, we will bring in a great crop just at the right time" - Paul was encouraging people to keep going, to be and to become the stalwarts in their community, in the group of people that were gathering. The same is true in family, in serving other people, in businesses and in churches.<br />
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Everyone is looking for success in whatever sphere they are operating. Without the unsung heroes, they may have success for a period, but the presence of stalwarts, those whose names may never be know or whose shirts are never framed and hung on the wall - is one of the key ingredients of moving from being a successful club, team, business, church to being one of significance. Stalwarts are the carriers. Not just of the ball up the middle of the park, but of the vision and the drive. Sure, look for the portraits, the photographs, the signed shirts and representative honours and lets celebrate, but lets also give a big shout out and have a song ready for the men who make 571 appearances.Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-35496614698205278832013-01-31T15:12:00.001+00:002013-01-31T15:12:31.588+00:00The Front Row UnionIn which sport can you call someone a hooker without them taking offence? In which sport can you describe a man as being a loose head or a tight head? In which other sport does the weight and force of momentum generated by 16 men travel through the body and shoulders of 6 men locked together head to head? <br />
<br />
In what has euphemistically been called the Front Row Union, prop forwards and hookers (the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in a rugby union team) are assigned to a unique band of men, who's task in life is to bring stability, strength and structure to set plays (scrummaging and lineouts) and who are expected to display courage, commitment and contact in open play (rucks, mauls, tackling).<br />
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Some consider the union to be a self-preservation society. A protective group for those who have been known to stray on the right side of the law occasionally. A safe haven for those practising the dark arts of worming, twisting, wheeling and boring, alongside the more conventional requirements of engaging, binding and driving. Some say the "union" is merely the creation of those who cannot comprehend these men mountains - weaker souls, who consign the front row to a corner of the training ground far from the self declared fleet of foot, who wear clean shorts and un-muddied jerseys. But with nick names like Raging Bull and the Beast who amongst us would argue a point?<br />
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Ask a cartoonist to draw a picture of a rugby player and almost without fail, they will sketch out a thick set, Neanderthal looking specimen. Said Neanderthal would be sporting mishapen ears and/or nose, possibly accompanied by facial scars and invariably a large overhanging stomach. Away from the enlightened, perception is king. In previous decades, in which there was a healthy ignorance of the techniques employed by the members of the front row union, a young player would often be consigned to the front row if his shape looked odd alongside those who could pass out of both hands or sidestep. You became a prop if you were on the slightly large side and slow. You were a hooker if you were half decent at throwing in straight or if there were too many flankers.<br />
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However, with rule changes that have been introduced to make the scrum a place of relative safety and that have for many years permitted the lifting of lineout jumpers - the shape and pace of the modern front row forward has evolved, far from the cartoonists image. In the modern game, front row forwards have to be athletes, whose strength and stamina are unquestionable and who provide both the stability to secure possession and the prowess to regain it.<br />
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If the old adage is true: forwards win games and the backs decide by how many, then to allow the free flow of play, you must have possession. So, regardless of the decade and arguments about the greatest sides ever assembled - the requirement for front row forwards is undeniable.As long as there are scrums, rucks, mauls, lineouts - in fact rugby - who wouldn't want men of strength, courage, physicality and technical ability on their side?<br />
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The bible records a battle involving an Israeli army. The account points out that the ageing spiritual and political leader, chief justice and strategist Moses, had set out the plan for the battle. Not unlike a tactical game plan. To support the effort on the ground, he was to keep his arms raised, with his staff held high - as a symbol, illustrating the victory that would come. The fighting was intense. The battle wore on. Though he was a great leader, Moses tired physically. His arms eventual gave way to fatigue. Without the symbol to inspire them, the battle started to slip in favour of the opposition who sensed their opportunity - until, two men came alongside Moses, to physically prop up his arms and raise again the symbol for victory - evidence of Props bringing stability and strength and re-establishing the platform for victory. Needless to say the Israeli army prevailed - because of the props.<br />
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Unless we want to retreat and leave the field of play, life requires us to engage and do battle with it. Its a fact. To advance, to make a mark for good, to secure possession of what is of value to us and prevent it being snatched away by circumstance or neglect, requires commitment and courage. Sometimes life demands that we seek out the help of others or perhaps more poignantly we see the need of others. <br />
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The battle was secured by the Israeli army because strong men stood alongside leadership to provide their support and momentum. How frequently in business, in the service of others, in the church and especially in family life, is there a need for a special breed of men to step forward. Men who will raise a hand to be counted in. Men who will provide support, strength and stability. <br />
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The front row union is not a closed shop. It is not a collection of <span style="background-color: yellow;">mis-fits.</span> It is not a secret brotherhood. It is a band of men who will stand in the front row, who are prepared to bind together and engage directly with opposition and give everything they've got for the greater good or the bigger goal. Businesses, communities, churches and families all need support to drive through positive change for the good of all - are we ready to engage? If our rugby cartoonist was to sketch out the man that I am, would I appear as a caricature or would he be compelled to sketch out strength, stability and stature?<br />
<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-3251881890332670672012-09-26T23:36:00.003+01:002014-01-08T18:21:51.298+00:00The Wisdom of the GateThe first time a rugby referee pinged me for not entering a phase of play "through the gate" totally confused me as a young player. I was playing in a match in the south west of England - a place noted for its countryside and farming communities. I knew I had been offside - that was why he'd blown the whistle. But as I retreated the 10 yards for conceeded a penalty, I thought to myself "bit odd refering to a gate, we're playing out in the open here."<br />
<br />
After a few coaching sessions and starting to understand the laws of the game, I realised he was referring to the area at the back of a ruck where players have to be aware of an imaginary line. This line, denotes the point beyond which if you are not already in ruck you are offside. Its usually marked by the back foot of the player furthest back in the ruck. The offside line runs at right angles to another imaginary line which forms a rectangle around the group of players competing for the ball. <br />
<br />
The gate to which my rural referee was referring is the part of the offside line, between the two sides of the rectangle or box. Ah ha, so now, there's a box on the pitch? Confused? Effectively imagine a rectagle on the pitch with players inside it, touching the sides and the ends - the end of the box is the only area through which a player can join the play. The gate.<br />
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No wonder the breakdown area is seen as one of the games grey areas. It is ususally the zone in which mose penalties are conceeded. It's because the phases of play represent the "margins" of a game. Here players are right at the edge of a phase of play or following a tackle are at the formative stages of a new phase of play. Getting to grips with abstract concepts, imaginary lines and boxes can be the difference between retaining and conceeding possession.<br />
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I guess life has its margins too. The times when we are at the conclusion of something, or we are just starting out on a new venture. We follow similar patterns as we form or develop relationships. There are crucial points at every stage of our experience at which if we get it right we can build momentum. If we get it wrong, it can take us a long time to regain the ground we may have conceeded. It takes a lot longer to rebuild trust than the moments it takes to break it. There is it seems a great deal of wisdom in the concept of the gate - the right way to enter a conversation, a meeting, a relationship.<br />
<br />
Using the gate to enter a ruck is not just a technical inconvenience - there are positive advantages to playing correctly:<br />
<ul>
<li>you can without hinderance or penalty add your weight and momentum to a forward drive</li>
<li>you can do the same to halt an advancing drive by the opposition</li>
<li>you can actually drive opposition players off the ball and back beyond the gain line to take ground</li>
<li>your presence prevents opposition players "coming around the side" of the ruck once the ball is about to enter a new phase of play</li>
</ul>
Doing things the right way really does make a difference. Who wouldnt want to have momentum in business or in serving people or in a friendship or relationship?<br />
<br />
I'm reminded of the man's man Jesus Christ when he said to the team gathered around him, "anyone who doesnt enter through the gate but climbs in some other way is up to no good". He was using the illustration of a gated pen, where the farming community kept the sheep, their livelihood safe.<br />
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But he wasn't only referring to protecting the livelihood of farmers. He went on to point out the importance of protecting what is valuable to us as individuals; having security for our thoughts, our emotions, the real you, the real me. He then said something unusual - "I am the gate" - whoever uses me as a gate in life, will be safe. Who wouldn't want to safeguard their thinking and actions - oh how often I let my thoughts run riot and then let them motivate my actions. I for one am glad that the man's man offers us a right way to enter life. <br />
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I think my rural referee was spot on with his call: you can only enter life properly through "the" gate. Maybe there is some merit in learning the wisdom of the gate?<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-10133013568231980372012-08-22T08:39:00.001+01:002012-08-22T12:13:22.610+01:00The Up and UnderIn most sports, there are moments in a match that can best be described as "transition moments". <br />
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A transition moment can last a few seconds - like the timing of a pass or the flight of a ball to touch, or they can be in a set play such as a scrum or a lineout, lasting over a more prolonged period. <br />
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At these moments in a game, the ball is moving, but its ultimate destination may vary from its anticipated destination - in other words, there are risks attached to transition moments. A pass may be intercepted, a ball may not bounce before it reaches touch or a scrum or lineout may be taken by the opposition. But without the inherent risk in transition moments, there would be no game. There would be no excitment.<br />
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The "up and under" or the "bomb" in rugby league, or in Irish rugby the "Garryowen" (named after the famous club from Limerick who used it to great effect) is another example of a "transition moment" in rugby. <br />
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The "up and under" is a very high kick, played by a team intent on putting thier opponents under pressure from a fast falling, high ball. The pressure comes as they attempt to make a catch with attackers advancing on them at speed. It's often used to relieve pressure when a team has been defending for lengthy periods - in other words it is both an attacking option and a breakout or breakthrough option. <br />
<br />
When a ball is hoisted high into the air, its interesting to watch the kicking players next move - free from ball carrying, the player charges forward, unimpeded as the ball is in flight. His goal, to catch the ball again and press on, or make a thumping tackle on the catcher before he can get a pass or kick away. One thing to notice about this transitional moment is the difference in the forward progress of a player without the ball - whilst the ball is in the air and the kicker is on the move, no player can touch him or tackle him. This is in stark contrast to making progress with the ball, when the player would be fair game to any opposition tackler.<br />
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Reflecting after watching a recent game in which this play was executed to great effect, I concluded there are some useful insights we can capture from the "up and under" for sport, life, service and business:<br />
<ul>
<li>you have to let go sometimes in order to gain ground</li>
<li>when you release something you have to start to move in the direction of whats anticipated next</li>
<li>when we send what we've been carrying upwards we can move forward unimpeded</li>
</ul>
As a man with faith, this latter point is important to me as I know I can trust the upward glance of committing things to God through prayer. I may not be certain at that point of how it will bounce back to me. It may not be as I anticipate, but I know that I can move forward unimpeded whilst what I commit to God is with him and when the ball lands so to speak, I will know what to do when I need to do it.<br />
<br />
But rememering that there are risks to all transition moments, to use the play to maximum effect requires:<br />
<ul>
<li>an awareness of your position on the field of play in realtion to your team mates and the opposition</li>
<li>an understanding that relieving pressure has purpose - the creation of a breakthrough moment</li>
<li>an appreciation of the need to be prepared to adjust quickly if the outcome isn't what you had originally intended or anticipated and</li>
<li>the moment the ball comes back to ground, you may be called on to catch what you have released or to make the tackle that gets it back</li>
</ul>
Thinking about business or serving or even in developing and growing strong relationships, all of these factors are important in knowing exactly where we are:in relation to others around us, the challenge of opposition and the need to have a plan but with an adaptive mindset as we move and flow with how the game pans out. <br />
<br />
Remember what goes up must come down and so standing still is not an option. If we launch an up and under, we must be prepared to move, recognising that we have to take risks sometimes to create transition moments and that those transition moments can lead to breakthroughs...<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-14353629673719945502012-08-15T23:48:00.003+01:002012-08-15T23:51:16.546+01:00What's your back story?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am constantly amazed at how frequently those who achieve at the highest level have had to overcome the most difficult of challenges. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watching the London 2012 Olympic Games was no exception. The memorable image of a young "judoko" looking to the heavens and mouthing "I love you Mum" - her mother having succombed to cancer when the girl was 17. The young diver who pressed through to claim a bronze medal after the tragic death of his father. Another young diver who overcame a previous diving accident that resulted in a ruptured spleen to compete at the Olympics. Another young judoko who had been abused by her former coach but summoned up the courage to speak out and with determination and personal integrity stepped up, continued fighting and ultimately won gold. The incredibly inspiring participation of the amputee running alongside the fastest men in the world - the "blade runner" in the men's 400m semi-final. But, its not only tragedy or hardship that has driven people. Others have had to fight for funding to compete. Others have had to battle for recognition against higher profile sports. Others have fled their homelands to be free from tyranny. Many have battled the elements, training, pushing their bodies to the limit of physical and mental endurance. Truly the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" - Faster, Higher, Stronger is as relevant to the back story of so many individuals as it is to their performance in the arena.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The combination of an outstanding performance and knowing something of the back story of a competitor is an inspiring mix of invincibility and vulnerability. It's the powerful composite of competitive prowess and the almost touchable affinity, that allows us to identify with those who have risen, from among us to achieve sporting greatness - the young boy of 8 emulating his hero on a bike (who among us hasn't tried to be our hero) rising to become one of the greats in cycling world, yet at the same time retains and grows his stature as a true gentleman. In the global village that has been created by social media and the personal scrutiny driven by the global media giants, the modern sportsman and sportswoman are the subject of social media posts and worldwide trending tweets, projecting them not only into our living rooms, but in our hands as we interact with each other via our mobile devices. We live in an age of intrusion and personal examination, but equally, it's an age where the power of influence has never been greater.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The motto of the London 2012 Olympics was "Inspiring a Generation" - in retrospect the London games were inspirational. Using a sporting analogy, the true legacy of the games, as with anything of merit or true worth, will be measured in terms of who from among us will take up the baton as this generation moves on. That's a challenge to me as a retired sportsman, now as a coach and mentor to the younger generation. But the thing that makes me optimistic for the future, not just in sport, but in many areas, is the ability and power of someone else's story to be inspiring. What is your back story? In a way, it doesn't matter if we think our story is ordinary or mundane - as what we may consider normal or ordinary, may be just the thing to inspire another who has only ever seen chaos or abnormality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bible takes care to note something special about the stories of individual people. In one particularly inspiring section, it lists by name, ordninary people, who through their belief that things could be different when circumstances were saying otherwise, went on to see the realisation of a dream or a goal. The record of these people uses a great word - faith, the priceless quality that believes something is possible when circumstances are yelling out the opposite. The quality that says it can be done when others say its impossible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bible makes another poignant note of how ordinary people prevailed through the most difficult times - it records it was the strength of knowing the man's man Jesus Christ <i>and</i> the use of their own back story helped them pressing on to a different kind of victory - the victory that makes them overcomes in life, with all it was throwing at them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your back story? Don't despise it. Good or bad, it could be the key to unlocking the inspiration that this, our generation is looking for.</span><br />
<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-50480650105447175652012-08-02T09:45:00.001+01:002012-08-02T09:45:54.890+01:00What Makes A Champion?<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">What makes a champion? With the London
2012 Olympic Games well underway and medal tallies rising, old and new names
are being written into the record books. Newspaper column inches are filled
with the stories of the men and women who are writing their own history in
gold, silver and bronze. Reflecting on these games, world championships and
world cups, I have concluded that there is ultimately only one thing that makes
champions. Competition.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">It may seem like a statement of the obvious.
But no matter how hard or sophisticated a training regime or how mentally tough
an individual is, without the challenge of competing, they are simply keeping
fit. When I first started training to play rugby union, we were put through our
paces, challenged physically, we were drilled in technical skills and worked on
set plays against our squad members. Only when we ran out onto the field of
play in our first game, did we begin to understand the main requirement of
competition - taking a risk with what you've committed to on the training
ground. I can remember the score to this day, we won 70-0. We won the next
game. Then the next. We encountered stronger opposition and continued to win.
Champions emerge from the competitive arena. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">On the advice of a primary school
teacher, who thought my eldest son had a nice running style, from observing him
in PE lessons (physical education), we decided to enter him in a children's fun
race at a local village fair. He destroyed the field, finishing with the rest
trailing halfway down the grassy track. In a local takeaway food store I
noticed an advertisement for a local athletics club. We joined. I qualified as
a coach. My son entered the arena of indoor sports hall athletics. He broke a </span><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">UK</span></st1:place></st1:country><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> record which subsequently stood for a number of years. He
progressed to track and field and became an outstanding hurdler, with high
national ranking. He was prepared to take the risk of competing, becoming a
champion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I have two good friends who have won multiple
gold medals. One in the Special Olympics, the other in the Transplant Games.
Both are champions. Champions; not just from their performances in
weightlifting and athletics, but because they faced the risk of competing and
prevailed. Both are inspirational characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">There are risks in competition. The risk
that you will be found wanting. The risk that there is someone better out
there. But until the challenge of competition is faced, there can be no
champions. Life is filled with daily challenges and the true champions, those
that rise above adversity, disadvantage, poverty, illness or any other kind of
hardship are those who risk their all, risk who they are to contend against
their circumstances and make a difference. But life is not only about adversity. There
are other challenges in life too - building strong personal relationships,
parenthood, balancing the demands of modern life whilst retaining core values -
champions in life are those that step up to contend or compete for what is of
value, those who retain integrity, truthfulness and can maintain self control. Lethargy and compromise are the antithesis of competing with integrity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The bible has a really
great insight into rising to the challenge of competition. Paul, the great
thinker and follower of the man's man Jesus Christ put it this way..."</span><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">You've
all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins.
Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that
tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally. I don't know
about you, but I'm running hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything
I've got. No sloppy living for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm
not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then
missing out myself"… (The Message).</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Stepping up as a
contender in the greatest arenas of the world or against the challenges life
throws up brings us face to face with risk. Many look on. Some approach the
edge. But who will step up?<o:p></o:p></span></div>Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-57275840012804011162012-07-24T00:43:00.002+01:002013-08-16T14:44:57.461+01:00The Space Beyond the BallSeeing beyond the current space you're in to the possibilities that lie beyond is called vision. Going on to inhabit the beyond and make things happen is called application and that takes graft and determination. <br />
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Unrealised vision is simply aspiration. The power that drives change is the conversion of vision into reality on the ground. <br />
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When still a club coach in Auckland, Graham Henry the victorious Rugby World Cup 2011 coach of the New Zealand All Blacks was asked for a key coaching tip. His response was direct and to the point - "get over the gain line in the first phase". <br />
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In rugby terms that means taking possession beyond the point at which a phase of play started before it breaks down again. For example, if a player is tackled, his team are expected to recycle the ball and progress past the point of the tackle and over the gain line, before another tackle stops the advance. <br />
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Aspirational? No, because what marks Henry out as a coach is his ability to think about the game, its rules, the role of players on and off the ball and use each as a component to deliver something tactically different. He is deliberate about it, it doesn't just happen.<br />
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After the successful 2011 RWC campaign Henry commented "We want quick ball in New Zealand and so we concentrate on dominating the space beyond the ball carrier. We want our supporting players to get under the opposition and to move them backwards. We flood past the ball to create good possession for our strike runners" <span style="font-size: x-small;">(The Guardian, Sunday 29-01-12)</span>.<br />
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Now that's thought through. Practical. It's every player knowing what they have to do to "get across the gain line in the first phase". It's not just great vision. It's application on the ground. If you drive the opposition back from the breakdown, you have already created the space and opportunity to get past the gain line before you even begin to move the ball again.<br />
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So successful are the thought through, tactical elements of the All Black's game that it looks like second nature. In fact, when you watch great teams, what started as a vision and was fleshed out on the training ground until it became second nature, becomes endemic in the team and is seen by onlookers and emerging new players as part and parcel of what a winning team does - new players coming into the squad simply follow suit. The reality is, it started somewhere. It was worked through with an initial group of players, but then became the norm. Delivering quick ball from the breakdown by taking the space beyond the ball is now part of All Black game play. <br />
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Now there's a great principle at work here - what becomes second nature becomes the norm, what becomes the norm is transmitted seamlesssly to peers and the next generation of players coming through. But here's the key, "every generational shift starts with a deliberate decision".<br />
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The bible has an interesting insight into how successive generations learn and understand the significance of what is important. The illustration talks about the strength and resiliance that comes from knowing God - the principle at work was written about by the warrior king, David. He put it this way: ..."examine closely the way things are structured, look at the strength that is built into them, look at the detail and show it to the generation that is following you - model it, be it".... It's about being deliberate in thinking about what is important and how to demonstrate it. <br />
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We may be looking to introduce a change. We may be looking at our own behaviours in an attempt to improve our relationships in business, in serving people or perhaps even in our closest relationships - but remember, there is a difference between aspiration and real vision that paves the way for the next step - application. The transition from vision to reality is the critical phase, but it's where so many either fear to tread or stumble. But that transition is crucial to change becoming second nature. <br />
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Working on relationships is not perhaps the most natural thing that men lean towards. All too often we let even our core relationships drift or allow things happen by default - despite the fact that we so easily plan events, schedule tasks, review and change processes. Given people are at the centre of events, task or processes, we cannot afford to alllow relationships to develop by default. <br />
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Understanding the dynamics of change and being deliberate in our thinking can be the key to making the right adjustments, at the right time and in the right way. Relationships and the people we interact with are after all at the heart of winning teams on the pitch, in business, in areas of service and in families. Are we allowing things to happen to us by default or are we being deliberate about change?<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-18093199205839223862012-07-12T23:34:00.003+01:002014-01-08T18:23:06.983+00:00The Tackle Count"..You can't simply wait for the opposition to make a mistake to regain possession. You have to stop their progress and defend your ground and if you want to get the ball back, you have to tackle with an attack mindset.."<br />
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Physically demanding, requiring a sense of timing and technical skill, making a tackle in rugby union doesn't automatically give you possession of the ball. But making a good tackle will:<br />
<ul>
<li>stop or slow the advance of the opposition</li>
<li>prevent encroachment into your territory</li>
<li>set up the possibility of a turnover</li>
<li>bring an opponent down</li>
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In life, we frequently talk about tackling issues head on in an attempt to resolve something, to make progress or clear a hurdle on our journey to reaching a goal. But hitting something head on can have consequences. I remember playing in one match against a team made up predominantly of coal miners - I decided to tackle one of their lock forwards head on. He was about 6 foot 5 inches tall (about 1.96m). Going down on one knee as he approached, I launched him over my shoulder - but he smashed my face in the process. I took him down but I paid the price. There are times when a more subtle approach is required and I guess that is true in life too. </div>
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Here are a few key elements to tackling that are worth considering in the context of life, relationships, business, serving others:</div>
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<li>it sounds obvious, but unlike American football where blocking is legitimate, in rugby you can only tackle the player in possession of the ball - <i>knowing what you are going to be tackling is pretty important, as we too often tackle the wrong things and frequently in the wrong order</i></li>
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<li>your line of approach and point of impact are key to an effective tackle - <i>how we approach something and the point at which we engage are often fundamental to the outcome of our interactions</i></li>
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<li>you cannot tackle a player who is off the ground, you can't use a straight arm tackle, tackle a player too high or tip a player beyond the horizontal (spear tackles are illegal) - <i>there are ways of handling people if we have to tackle important, sensitive or difficult issues</i>.</li>
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All too often as men, we are prepared to commit to the physicality of the tackle on the field of play and in life scenarios, we all too readily fly into conflict situations. But there are some things in life that are even more important than the oval shaped ball. How often do we shy away from addressing relational issues? Alternatively, we fly into them in the same way we would tackle an opponent, when a more subtle approach is required.</div>
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Sometimes, making one tackle isn't enough. We can make a tackle and almost stand back in admiration at what we've just achieved, only to see our opponent get up and carry on or offload the ball to a team mate, exploiting a space we have failed to defend. Tackling is such an essential part of the game that to relent is like conceding a game. Recently, I looked into the number of tackles made during an 80 minute game of rugby and discovered some valuable insights.</div>
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In the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-final, Australia beat the South African springboks in a tough, physical encounter. It was a game in which the Aussies made an incredible 147 tackles. South Africa had the bulk of the possession, but the Wallabies were resolute in their game plan. Tackle after tackle. Tackle, get up, make another tackle. Sometimes two man tackling was required to pull down their giant opponents. 147 tackles.</div>
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Now something fascinating comes out of the stats when you look closer. Generally there is a correlation between the tackle count and the number of penalties conceded. In other words, in the contact area, players hold on, don't make an effort to roll away and commit an array of other offences. Match analysts tell us a penalty is conceded every 8.3 tackles. In the Aussie game, that ratio went out to one penalty for every 24.5 tackles. The Aussies only gave away 6 penalties in the entire match and only two were in potential points scoring positions for South Africa. In the second half the ratio was an astonishing 42.5 to 1 - only one penalty given away for every 42.5 tackles. One word summed up the approach that day. Discipline.</div>
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The tackle count - their commitment to halting the opposition with an attacking mindset and discipline - their level of concentration, physical courage in the contact area and game awareness won the day. What an illustration. Sometimes we have to get back up and keep tackling our way out of tight corners, whilst maintaining the discipline that prevents us from compromise; taking short cuts, perhaps bending the rules slightly, taking the law into our own hands, not quite being truthful in relationships - building the potential penalty count against our credibility.<br />
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Knowing how, when and what to tackle and having the commitment and discipline to work through issues could be the difference between conceding or regaining ground. </div>
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Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-26874148258701128582012-06-30T12:28:00.000+01:002014-01-08T18:24:05.510+00:00Holding things togetherBinding is the essential connection of two or more players in a rugby union game for the purpose of adding weight, momentum or drive in a set play. How we connect to each other and hold things together, can be the difference between winning and just falling short.<br />
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The most critical use of binding - locking onto another player - is in the scrum. The scrum is one of the ways of resetting play following an infringement. The eight forwards from each team lock together to create a single unit and vie for the ball, which is fed into the scrum between the two sets of players. The combined power of 8 players pushing in one direction can be impressive - however, there are times when the scrum breaks up or collapses, which is unsightly and potentially very dangerous from a player safety perspective.<br />
There are very specific rules about binding in the scrum, which if breached aside from the safety angle will result in players being penalised, possession being lost and the potential for points to be conceded.<br />
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Inevitably in a highly charged competitive environment, teams and players will seek to gain advantage and will push the boundaries. The scrum is no exception, particularly in the front row - which is front line contact with the opposition. Often described as a dark art, serious scrummagers will try to turn, twist or bore into their opponents to gain advantage. Turning an opponents arm under his shoulder will result in an incorrect pushing position and could force him upwards or misdirect the shove coming from behind him. At its worse, players will twist a player down until the scrum collapses - this is both illegal and extremely dangerous. But enough of the negative aspects. Its fair to say that there are those that would try to undermine - but usually, it's because the fear being out-scrummaged and out-played.<br />
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By contrast, with the correct binding, the integrity of the scrum is retained as a unit and....if you bind together, you stay together, you work together and you gain ground together.<br />
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Binding is also very important to the formation of a maul. That is when a player is held up in a tackle and is unable to go to ground. Other players moving into the play from an onside position may bind onto their player or players to gain momentum and drive the play forward.<br />
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So, binding together with another player:<br />
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<li>creates the basis of a team play</li>
<li>ensures you are actually in play and in the game</li>
<li>puts you at the heart of the game rather than the fringes</li>
<li>ensures you're not isolated in an exposed position</li>
<li>adds momentum to a set play</li>
<li>adds momentum that can drive play forward</li>
<li>creates an opportunity to cross the gain line and take ground</li>
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Quite a list from simply connecting onto another player properly and for a purpose.</div>
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The bible has several insights into the way we connect with others for purpose. It records simply: two are better than one. Who wouldn't concede that battling through on your own can be a lonely place sometimes. Paraphrasing the man's man Jesus Christ, he invited his followers to "bind yourself onto me and learn from my strategic approach to life - when you link to my strength and experience, its not all about the hard life syndrome, we can make it together". Paul, the great thinker, writer and follower of the man's man added that unity of approach to a task, service or living out life itself would ensure completion with purpose and momentum if we could bind together, (just like the scrum), with the bonds of peace or one mind.</div>
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Binding together is the connection that drives momentum in teams, relationships, businesses and in the service of others. It's the basis of team work that takes ground and makes things happen. It seems such a simple thing to talk about in the context of a game - how you are connected to another player - but where it becomes second nature, it can be the basis of victory. How and who are we connecting to?</div>
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Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-89902654121419332872012-06-20T19:48:00.000+01:002014-01-08T18:24:54.356+00:00The Pig RunEvery year was the same. The coaches waited until rain had been falling for days. Then they announced it. We assembled at the foot of a very steep hill for the annual cross country "pig run". The course climbed a very steep track, made a tour of the farm, passed through woodland, emerging back onto the hill close to the start/finish line.The heavy rainfall, combined with what pigs do naturally, made for an interesting running surface. Uphill and running in muck wasn't everyone's idea of a coaching charm offensive. For the most part, the lads tried to edge their way round the worse parts, trying to avoid being splattered with it. But the more they tried to inch their way around and stay clean, the more their feet and ankles sank into what they were trying to avoid!<br />
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Several years earlier, a few of us had decided the best plan was to simply attack the course. Pressing on through the slime ridden reaches of the course, would also mean we could head back to the showers before the hot water ran out! We didn't quite go as far as embracing the grime, but we accepted that to complete the course, we just had to get on with it. So, setting off in a dash, we sprinted the hill, making it to the top as our lungs burned with the strain. Then, confronted with tractor ruts rammed with mud, we had to push hard to make headway through the muck. We rounded the top of the course with our chests pounding. The return journey was relief. On the way back, plastered in the muck we were running through, we just plowed on through the slime pools, splattering the lads still edging their way past the pig pens.<br />
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I usually ran it with a good friend. There was no conversation. We knew what we had to do, encouraging each other only with our sheer exertion. When we exchanged the muck of those ruts for the mud and the rucks, equally, without a word said, I knew he was always there backing me up, following up at my shoulder, ready to drive play on. There wasn't much on the field of play we were unprepared for - the ferocity of the opposition, the physical demands or the conditions. The pig run saw to that! I guess we made a mental breakthrough when we decided to press on through the muck instead of trying to avoid it.<br />
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I often wondered at the time, why they made us do the pig run every year. Couldn't we run around the rugby pitches or through dry fields and taking in a few hills - like any normal team might? But looking back at the pig run and laugh at the sheer madness of running through pig muck, I realize what it did for us - and it wasn't just on the rugby pitch. I discovered an important principle through being asked to face the pig run. How we respond to adversity so often determines what happens next. I wonder now what we would have done if they'd asked us to lift power weights, or do sprints, or press ups? Ego played a big part back then, just like it always does when young men get together. But the pig run was a leveler. It forced each of us to make a decision every time we ran it. Which route would we take? The route of least resistance or face head on something that at surface level seems humiliating? Eventually, the few, reached the point where we ran together far ahead of the pack, crossing the finish line together - arms linked, so they couldn't separate us. We were all winners. Nobody was going to divide us.<br />
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An insight from the bible has been a great help to me as I've had to face up to challenges along my journey. There is an account of a military leader called Naaman. He had accomplished many things for his country. He had faced conflict and he had prevailed. However, despite his strength and ability on the field, he carried the burden of an excruciating skin condition. It really troubled him. A young girl from his household staff, seeing his pain, very courageously talked to him about her God and his concern for this man. Naaman admired the girl's spirit and decided to investigate the possibility of finding relief from his condition. He traveled a great distance to visit one of God's men she had said could help him. <span style="background-color: white;">On arrival he was told by the man's servant to go wash in a particular river. That was it. No special test? No ceremony? Nothing spectacular?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">His offence and anger was immediate. Despite his obvious need, in his offence at being asked to do something mundane, in filthy water, he decided to walk away. A member of his staff realizing the significance of what he was walking away from spoke up. "Sir if they had asked you to do something spectacular, or shown your strength or fighting spirit - you would have done it wouldn't you? So why not do something so simple?" The commander changed his mind. He stepped into the water. What was a test of his faith and his response, led to the breakthrough he needed. He came out of the river clear of his complaint and I suspect a better man for the discovery he made. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">It's not in self serving routines that inflate our egos that breakthrough is found. It's often in very different conditions. He faced a choice, just like ours in the "pig run" - to press through or walk away. Which route will you take today?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-48066477724652177132012-06-15T00:36:00.001+01:002014-01-08T18:25:48.566+00:00Pick & GoSometimes we need to be deliberate in our actions. Simply responding to situations as they arise will inevitably put us on the back foot. Sure, there are times when we need to react as sudden or unforeseen events occur. But equally, there are times when we have to decide - it's down to us. It's now. We have to take a step forward.<br />
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In rugby union there is a play which is aptly named the "pick and go". Quite literally a player picks up the ball and goes forward. There are some key points to consider about this move. A player making the move has to:<br />
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<ul>
<li>have the vision to spot a gap or a space to move in to</li>
<li>accept that he is creating an opportunity for others to exploit</li>
<li>have the courage to go knowing he will ultimately meet resistance</li>
<li>go with the conviction that his movement will create a momentum which others can add their weight to</li>
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Usually pick and go is put into effect at the base of a ruck or a maul - that is a phase of play that has involved direct engagement with the opposition, in which energy has been expended to recover the ball and often where forward momentum has been lost. Frequently, at these points in a game, or in our life experience, business activity or in serving other people, an injection of pace or energy is required to regain momentum.</div>
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The pick and go can be used to exploit the space around the side of a ruck or to attack the space left by retreating defenders. Unlike many moves in rugby union, where the ball has to first travel backwards before attacking the gain line, this play, is a "go forward" move. Its a direct attack on the gain line. (That is the point beyond which you gain ground on the opposition or competition). When played to its full effect, other attacking players are able to bind (hold) onto the advancing player, adding their individual weight to the momentum, driving the opposition back beyond the gain line. Now that would be a great way to regain the initiative in all areas or walks of life wouldn't it? - knowing that if you were to make the slightest move forward, others would join in support, adding weight to your purpose, initiative or vision.</div>
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The bible has an interesting insight into the mindset of a young fighter and his assistant. They had watched the inept attempts by those professionally qualified to repel the relentless attacks against the freedom and well being of the people. Their possessions, family life, businesses were being destroyed and their moral was being undermined. Even though today, we may not be facing such physical challenges, life can be pretty relentless in its demands. we can often feel drained by an unending daily cycle that can easily wear us down and halt any momentum we may have had. </div>
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Together they decided to take action. Their mindset was "if we make a move, we might get some assistance, but if we don't we're going for it anyway" - help did show up - God helped them. Then, when others saw the momentum these "game changers" had started, they joined in and the result as they say is history - a famous victory. They essentially had a "pick and go" spirit!</div>
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Now, not everything we encounter in life requires a fighting response. But our life experiences, business ventures and even our close relationships often require initiators to make things happen. Initiative, like the pick and go move, can take us beyond the routine or ordinary. It's worth noting that often, those who initiate something are not always those that finish off a move. But it's equally worth noting that finishers can only operate if someone has been a first mover. Sometimes an initiator can make the break and run all the way to the line, scoring the points themselves. But invariably, they have to be prepared to pass, offload or go to ground and reset the play. The job is to be aware of the need for a momentum shift and be ready to initiate that shift. </div>
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A pick and go can work from any point on the pitch, where someone has the courage to step up, pick up and press on. What challenges are you facing? Do you need to kick start something in your life, family or businesses? A first mover, initiator - a pick and go expert could be what's needed. But are we prepared to be the one who spots the gap, picks up and goes for it? If we do, who knows where help will come from? If we make a move, God is never very far away.</div>
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Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-90316909114698230992012-06-07T23:56:00.004+01:002012-06-07T23:57:42.570+01:00The Close Season - finding restRecently, I was struck with just how short the time is between the end of one sports season and the start of the next. Modern sportsmen and women seem to be constantly competing, conditioning or carrying injuries! The intensity of top level sport requires year round preparation. Competing as a hurdler, my eldest son had the added complication of preparing for an indoor and outdoor athletics season. Logistically very interesting and physically and emotionally demanding.<br />
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Investigating further, I discovered that three days after the grand final of the championship in which my own rugby club had competed, the lads were back in for pre-season. Admittedly our season was over a few weeks prior to the grand final, but I think you get the picture. Even if there are longer periods between actual seasons, there are other competing demands such as tours or international call ups. Its a tough environment in which to stay at the top of your game, the demands seem unrelenting. I guess life itself can seem pretty unremitting at times too.<br />
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Rest and recuperation are essential ingredients in ensuring a return to the physical demands of competition. But with training and conditioning environments frequently as vigorous as competing, its often very difficult to find time to fully rest. One of my great coaching mentors used to tell us "you have to be fit to train" and he was right! Progressing through a grueling regime and then breaking into the competitive season often left us as mentally tired as we were physically. You can travel so far on your internal energy reserves and then they become depleted. You can equally travel on the adrenaline rush of the highs and lows of wining and losing. But eventually, you will need rest. I guess I am not alone in needing the first week of a holiday to simply come down from the stratosphere, through the atmosphere and back down to earth. There's always a slump too. I noticed it in my family at the end of terms in education or the end of a particular project phase in work. Finding rest is important. Finding rest for your mind is essentially - although not always as simple as it sounds.<br />
<br />
Scientists and doctors tell us there are different types of stress. Some forms of stress fire us to activity and are linked with the positive aspects of motivation and momentum. Other forms are destructive.When stress levels are very high and persist for prolonged periods of time, serious physical, emotional and mental damage can be set in train. Finding rest for our mind is essential. My wife recently told me to take a day off and just go do something that I enjoyed. I spent the day drinking coffee at a favorite cafe, getting a haircut and going to watch a rugby 7s tournament. It was strange actually taking a day off just for me. But she was right. It worked. As I sat drinking coffee and writing, it dawned on me, I felt relaxed. In the relaxation came refreshing. I went home happier, more relaxed and with more of a focus on our relationship.<br />
<br />
Back in the day, our close season involved switching from rugby to athletics or cricket. I suppose the old adage is true, a change is as good as a rest. But there is a sense in which a real rest is better than a change. The man's man Jesus Christ understood the need for space and mental recuperation. He would often withdraw to a solitary place. Not to become introverted, or to brood over the public adversity he often faced. Nor to find relief from the continuous pressure brought by handling crowds of needy people. He would get away to recharge and rest his mind and pray. As a man of faith, I have discovered that prayer is a great stress reliever and a way of rediscovering and refreshing that faith.<br />
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The man's man Jesus recognized the importance of rest. At one the most pressured times, when his team couldn't even find time to eat, he insisted they come away to a solitary location to get some rest. His invitation is still valid today: "if you're feeling weary or weighed down by the load of responsibility or the weight of life in all its complexity is getting to you - come to me and find rest. Rest for the "you" that nobody else sees (rest for your soul). Scientists and medics, therapists and counselling experts tell us that articulating how we feel carries great value - not an easy one for men, but who better than the man's man to confide in as a man. There is a rest that refreshes and aids recuperation - its a simple conversation away with a man who men can trust.<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-87218361859030426012012-05-30T14:20:00.001+01:002012-05-30T14:20:42.348+01:00The Power of a ShoutHave you ever stood in a wide open space, thrown your head back and just shouted for all you're worth? If you haven't tried it, go ahead. It's really invigorating. On a deserted New Zealand beach, facing the crashing breakers and looking out across the blue green expanse of the ocean, I stood with my arms outstretched and yelled "Freedom" - holding on the end of the word as long as I could, in true "Braveheart" fashion. Now stay with me on this, as far from advocating something crazy, or doing something that would disturb the peace or cause offence, there is an interesting dynamic attached to a "shout". <br />
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Something happens physically, emotionally and mentally when you give a shout. It's even better if there's a group of people all shouting the same thing. In a crowd, it can become electrifying. Sports teams frequently remark on the lift the crowd can give them.<br />
<br />In sport there are some great examples of "a shout". None more so than the "Haka" in rugby union. A feature of many of the Pacific Island teams, but probably best know as the pre-match challenge thrown out to opponents of the New Zealand All Blacks. 15 men standing in formation, facing their opponents, issuing a challenge with the menace and foreboding of the onslaught which is to follow. <br />
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England World Cup winner Will Greenwood writing for the Daily Telegraph and in his book "Will Greenwood on Rugby"<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong><em>(1) </em></strong></span>tells of his personal experience ..."stare into the eyes of an All Black during the haka and you see a deep cold darkness. What you glimpse is a man's soul and it draws you in...the crowd disappears and your mind fills with the deafening voice of a nation asking you a simple question; these boys will do whatever it takes to win, how far will you go?...in that moment no matter how you got there, you have to decide..." Powerful stuff. <br />
<br />I like the underlying theme in what Greenwood says. In the challenge of the shout, you see a man's soul. In other words, something of the real man is seen through the shout. I guess that is true of the negative aspects of "shouting" - you see the real man for sure. But, there is a gulf between shouting and a shout. Between a rant and a shout. Between a voice raised in anger and a shout projected from deep within the soul of a man.<br />
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Scientists tell us that there is a physiological response when we shout - neurotransmitters in our brains are triggered and chemicals released through the pathways in our brain prepare us physically and mentally for challenge or engagement. It's not just science that has something to say. As a man with a faith, the bible has something to say about the power of a shout. It cites so many times the shout that armies raised before conflict. It also details another fascinating instance - "shouts of joy and victory echo through the tents of those who know God". In other words, these men understood the were winners in life and could raise a shout that was an affirmation of what they knew inside. They could also simply raise a shout, because like my experience standing on that New Zealand beach, it simply made you feel great - that is the "joy" part. Celebrating life, something coming from deep inside of you that wants to say "Yes!!"<br />
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Before a game, we would stand in a huddle and begin to jog on the spot. We would build it up to a run, then in unison, we would shout, counting off the numbers from 1 to 10. We would repeat the exercise and then run out onto the field ready to engage. My son's team gather in a similar huddle, a different generation, but linked arms they shout "1,2,3, squeeze, 1,2,3,squeeze" as they press into the huddle. Then they're off to engage. <br />
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Back to my beach experience. Did anyone hear me? I don't know. Was I drowned out by the sound of the waves? Probably. So why did I do it? Because at that moment, in those circumstances, like the guys back when the sound echoed through their tents, something from deep inside of me wanted to break out and celebrate and accept the challenge of life head on. Try it for yourself. There is an incredible release in the power of a shout.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(1) Will Greenwood on Rugby (Simon & Schuster 2012) ISBN 978-1-84983-715-6</span>Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-18227749157222416072012-05-18T14:11:00.000+01:002012-05-18T21:02:34.223+01:00The art of the sidestepI have actually sidestepped an international rugby player and it wasn't in a dream. Are you impressed? I was.<br />
Regrettably, it wasn't in my time as a player. Throwing a ball around between dads, lads and a friend who is said player, I took my chance.<br />
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I took a neat running line. The angle of attack (not bad for an old forward) was good. He moved in for the tackle. I ran straight at him. Then, almost at the last moment before contact, I planted my left foot firmly out to his right side as if shifting my direction. Then, with the sweetest of movements, I pushed off my planted foot in the opposition direction (his left) and zipped past him on my original line of attack. Side stepped him!<br />
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It gets better and more elaborate each time I repeat the story. As I touched the ball down, my imagination created the winning try for the British Lions against the All Blacks at Eden Park. Then through the stunned silence of the Kiwi faithful, "not bad for an old man" rang out around the famous old stadium. Not bad for an old man! That brought me back to earth and the reality of the rough patch of ground where we were playing Still, I'm allowed to relive it from time to time.<br />
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The thing is, the sidestep isn't seen as often as it used to be. When executed by the skillful runner, outwitting the attacker, the sidestep looks like an art form. Modern coaching techniques and running through phases, eliminating risk and retaining possession have probably all added to the sidestep being surpassed as a means of not just beating, but outwitting the opposition. If you operate the sidestep every time you approach a line breaking opportunity, you are going to be read as a player - unless of course your opponents cognitive abilities are sparse... But used to its full effect, the sidestep still has that "element of surprise" and psychologically sends a signal to the outsmarted player "I've got the measure of you". You were about to ask me a very physical question but I'm not prepared to answer the question you are asking me. Instead here is a question for you to answer "how come I outsmarted you?"<br />
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Have you ever been in a situation where you have been asked a question that you feel has overstepped a line? Or a question that is being asked for a motive other than seeking the obvious answer to the question? There are times when being asked a question doesn't warrant or deserve an answer. Simply because someone asks a question - doesn't mean you are required to give an answer, particularly if the motivation, like a would be tackler, is to stop your progress, upset your momentum and rob you of what you are carrying.<br />
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What we carry in life is an essential part of the "who" we are. Our core beliefs, our dreams our aspirations, our experiences, our memories. Regardless of whichever sphere of life we look at; family, faith, sport, leisure, business - our core values shape who we are becoming. They are of course shaped and "tempered" (bashed like steel) by our experiences. Not all beating is beneficial and its part of our life's mission to safeguard what we carry. <br />
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I think the man's man Jesus Christ would have made a great rugby player. He developed the sidestep into an art form - used against those who were out to rob, disrupt or discredit what he was carrying. Now before I go further, I'm not talking about the squirming mess that is the modern politician, who tries to worm his way out of answering questions or avoiding the issue. No. The man's man demonstrated the pinnacle of self control, not rising to the malignancy underlying the motives of many of his questioners, including the "wrecker of humanity" - always there to rob, steal, kill or destroy - the enemy tried to knock Jesus off course with bogus questions that were aimed at derailing his purpose. His response? The sidestep that illustrated brilliantly how to avoid being sucked into answering the wrong question and posed the right question back to his tempter.<br />
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As men we need to develop the awareness and perception in life scenarios that allows us to sidestep the potential for derailment. Sidestep wrongly motivated questions. Sidestep inappropriate relationships. Sidestep the compromise that ultimately requires cover up upon cover up and eventually collapses in shame. Its not always about brute force and bashing away through life, relationships, business or church - sometimes, with a sense of timing, skill, agility on the move and above all an awareness of the intent of the opposition, the sidestep is the best tactical play.<br />
<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-3391156198343610292012-05-12T00:53:00.001+01:002012-05-12T00:53:36.653+01:00Everyone Needs a CarrierIn 80 minutes with 29 other players on the rugby field, how often do you actually get your hands on the ball? Once you've got the ball can you make any forward progress? If you assume possession is split 50/50 - not always the case, you have 40 minutes to make an impression, whilst 15 other very determined people try to stop you.<br />
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Recently I came across some statistics from the 2012 6 Nations Rugby Tournament. One stat that stood out from the others was the Top 10 Ball Carriers. At this point a definition would be useful and I am grateful to Opta Sport (<a href="http://www.optasports.com/">www.optasports.com</a>) for the following: "...a player touching the ball has deemed to make a carry if they have made an obvious attempt to go forward and attack the opposition with the ball in hand"... <br />
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Now I like the sound of that - a carrier is someone who makes a conscious decision to engage with the opposition to make progress by overcoming their resistance. That's what marks out a carrier. A willingness to take possession and advance, knowing there will be resistance, but going ahead anyway.<br />
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The stats showed there were players who made more than 50 and up to 60 carries across the games they played in. The top carriers had their hands on the ball and were advancing against the opposition something like 13 or 14 times in every game. Wow. Assuming 50% of possession - that's a personal, physical encounter every 3 minutes when your team is in possession - now that's a lot as there are 14 other players on your team. Allowing for setting scrums, lineouts, penalty kicks, all counting the clock down, ball carriers become pivotal players when you have the ball. <br />
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One team had 5 players in the top 10 and accounted for something like 240 carries. It's clear that these are the "go to" players when you want to make progress. Of course 5 players cannot win a game on their own, but these 5 certainly influenced the results and made game changing contributions.<br />
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So why focus on ball carriers? They epitomise "taking the game" to the opposition and gaining ground.The have the following characteristics: <br />
<ul>
<li>they have courage and are committed - to step up to the task and engage</li>
<li>they have to have strength and skill - to make a break and keep the ball alive</li>
</ul>
and they need two other things without which they cannot succeed - supply and support. Without a good supply of ball or the support of other players, the strength of these power house, game changers will wane as they fight on unassisted.<br />
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They need to be supplied with the ball and the support of their team mates once they have created the momentum the team was looking for. Every team needs carriers. In fact, every relationship, family, team, business and church or other organisation needs carriers - the "go to" people who can make things happen. The problem is they are in short supply. 5 men across 80 minutes assisted by their 10 team mates can make a difference, but they may not always win the game. In the 24hour, 365 day tussle we call life, carriers are in even shorter supply.<br />
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The bible has an interesting insight into carriers or "go to" people. There is an account of the various groups of men that made up an army that had been assembled for a campaign. In amongst the fighting men was a small but very special group of warriors - they were described as men who "understood the times and knew what to do" - they were the "go to" people, the equivalent of our ball carriers. They were part of a much bigger force, but their perception of what was going on around them and their accumulated life wisdom and insight marked them out. Knowing what to do when others don't know what to do makes you a "go to" person. Having an appreciation of what is taking place when others are ignorant of circumstances or are being swept helplessly along by life's pressures marks you out as a "go to" person. These men were and still are in short supply, but are needed more so than ever.<br />
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A ball carrier is marked out because he makes a decision to step forward and engage. Being prepared to step up and be counted has a price tag attached. It will mean exposure to contact and a willingness to take the knocks. But without carriers - "those who understand the times and know what to do", in order to gain momentum and take ground, unlocking otherwise closed off routes for advancing - teams, families, relationships, businesses, churches and society at large will make little progress. Everyone needs a ball carrier at some point, but are we prepared to be the carriers that are in short supply? Understanding the times and knowing what to do requires commitment and courage, strength and skill - but if we will step up to the mark, there will be suppliers and supporters backing up. The need is for carriers...<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-41068019145319669412012-05-04T17:52:00.002+01:002012-05-04T17:52:38.319+01:00Elbows, margins and the PoliceThey were big. They were strong. They were brutal in the contact area and tackle. They were the police. Every player stood over 6feet tall. The match had "physical pounding" written all over it. Yet, somehow, we managed to scrap for enough ball to scramble a win. To this day I still look back and wonder how we did it. The force came at us with force and we used the only advantage we had - speed, to out run them. However, it came with a price tag. It wasn't easy. It wasn't pretty. Those of us who had to win enough ball for our fast players to out run them, paid the price phsyically. <br />
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I remember jumping for a ball in the lineout, to be met with a well placed elbow to the face. I came down with the ball and a busted lip. Everywhere we met contact across the pitch our casualties were mounting. But there, at the margins of the game, where we were being out muscled, where taking the contact was as much a mental challenge as a physical challenge - because you knew what was coming - that is where the game was won. To be fair to the police team, after the game they were great but on that pitch, on that day, we knew we had been in a fight.<br />
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Sometimes we look for the spectacular. Sometimes we look for the easier route, the one with least resistance. But often in the sports arena and in life too, things are won and lost at the margins. We dont like to think of a narrow escape or only just making it. But, only just making it is better than not making it and a win is a win however you measure it. <br />
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The Olympic 100m crown will be won by margins measured in tenths or even hundredths of a second. In Formula One motor racing, after driving nearly 60 laps at an average speed of around 195kph (and that equates to a very long way) the winning margin is measured in seconds or even parts of a second. <br />
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Just because the margin of victory is so small compared to the effort required to win doesn't mean the Olypic runner or the F1 driver are any lesser champions. In fact, its very often by the narrowest of margins that the greatest of champions emerge. Why? Because they have prevailed over strong opposition. They dont quit or back down when the going gets tough. Quitting is an option and there are times when we have to consider other options, but when a breakthrough is so close, when it is what is needed to safeguard the things that are of true worth - friendship, intimate relationships, destiny shaping connections - is quitting that great an option?<br />
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Jesus the man's man operated at the margins. He was there at the margins of society where the bereft of hope sat at home weeping for a lost loved one or wayward son. He walked the market places where honest hard working people struggle to make ends meet. He was there in the dusty back streets where the women carried they young and the kids played in the dirt. He was there with the people that society had labelled as marginal - who just like any one else simply needed a break. And he is still there. Standing somewhere in the shadows - you will find Jesus. He's there to say press on, don't give in, dont give up. If we look for him, he's there. His greatest victory, the cross, was truly at the margins of human existance - but he didnt quit, he prevailed.<br />
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Sometimes life is won and lost at the margins. Some days we just make it. Better to just make it than to slip away without a fight. We didnt quit against the police. We battled on through the physical pounding to record a famous victory. The call from the man's man standing in the shadows is to press on, dont give up. What are we battling against today? Take a glance toward the margins, toward the shadows. That could just be where your breakthrough will come from.Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-998725457695983922012-04-26T01:37:00.001+01:002012-04-26T01:51:35.339+01:00Inglorious MomentsCome on, we've all had them. Something snaps inside and boom! I can remember very clearly one of my most "inglorious moments" in a rugby match. I was totally destroying the opposition number 6 beating him to every breakdown, tackling him when he was in possession and stripping the ball from him. I was having a great game. But I now only remember it for my "moment". The lad didn't like the fact that I was outplaying him. So using some very strong language, he said "if you do that again mate, I'll have you"....Crack! Wrong thing to say to me.<br />
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It was like someone had pressed a very big red button marked "how dare you accuse me!" Alarm bells, steam hooters, emergency buzzers and fog horns were sounding in my head. I said back to him "yeah? any day!" Well I thought I had said it. In fact, right in his face, I had shouted it so fiercely, the teams playing field hockey on a nearby pitch heard me and stopped to watch the action. I didn't think to stop and analyse what would happen next. It involved my fist and his face.<br />
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Since then I've done plenty of other things that I'm not proud of, using self defence or self preservation or anything as an excuse. All of them if I'm honest, inglorious moments. Off the field, my mind and my mouth have had their fair share of inglorious moments too. I doubt if I'm alone.<br />
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I know its no excuse, and we try to rationalize it, but in adrenaline fueled scenarios, where we are challenged by tiredness, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually and events are moving at pace we can so easily:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>make a wrong assumption about the motivation behind an action</li>
<li>retaliate if we are provoked - some people seem to know which big red button works</li>
<li>feel aggrieved at a decision that goes against us</li>
<li>feel falsely accused - oh boy do I know my rights</li>
<li>feel manipulated, undermined or used</li>
<li>totally lose all sense of objectivity</li>
<li>seek out revenge - I "will" get my own back</li>
<li>lose control and let a wild outburst or stupid action take over</li>
</ul>
<div>
Particularly as men, we can feel our competence or sense of masculinity has been challenged or questioned. Our judgement gets clouded and we become irrational and stop thinking clearly. Another classic response is to depersonalise or project blame away from ourselves. Our language becomes; "the" passage or play, "the" relationship, "the" bills, "the" marriage, "the" kids. The reality is it's my marriage, my relationship, my kid, my job and of course its my attitude. Actions have consequences - in a game, we can be sin binned, sent off or even reported to a citing commissioner. Off the field emotional wreckage hurts. Relationships can be damaged irreparably.</div>
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<br />
Being able to take an objective view and beginning to understand that my actions, attitudes and adrenaline fueled reactions have consequences is a good starting point to reducing the frequency of my inglorious moments. Over a long time of making mistakes, I have discovered that who I am privately tends to come out when I am under pressure. So, the more I work on the who I am and who I am becoming, when the pressure situation arises, my personal intensity and stress levels don't rise with it. Most of my inglorious moments have come when I haven't stopped to think. The reality is, even in the split second, we have a choice to make. Make no mistake, sometimes those choices are not easy to make, even though they are the right ones.<br />
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Rudyard Kipling put it this way "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too....then...you'll be a man my son". The bible has a succinct way of expressing the same thought "a prudent man gives thought to his steps" - in other words, before you start down a particular road - think about where its going to lead to. It isn't weakness to take a step back and disengage with the inclination to raise a voice or a fist. Sure there are times when someone with passion has to speak out against injustice, but here we are dealing with the destructive side of personal volatility.<br />
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There is an interesting contrast in the bible account of a mob that descended on the man's man Jesus. He had been falsely accused. He had been betrayed by someone close to him. When the mob approached him to take him down, Peter one of those with Jesus, pulled out a weapon and injured a man before he was stopped from causing further damage. Sudden uncontrolled rage. By contrast, Jesus simply said "I am the one your looking for". Peter's response to the mob was anger and the mob's response to him was the same. Jesus' response was calmness under pressure. The mob's response was to literally fall back - the sheer presence of this man, his personal strength of character and integrity produced a reaction in them. We know he was arrested and tried in what was humanities own inglorious moment. But the ultimate victory was his because he showed by the choices he made under immense pressure who he truly was. I know what my reaction to the mob would have been - inglorious. But now, I am finally learning that I have a choice. And as I make that choice, I am no less of a man. In fact I become more of a man.<br />
<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7978837657144643782.post-71213003703048338172012-04-14T18:01:00.001+01:002012-04-14T23:52:03.733+01:00Affirmation through testing...As very young rugby players, we were easily impressed when our points tally read like a cricket score. Our individual points totals increased and the battle for the forward or back with most tries scored was more of a motivator than sticking to the game plan. Today, with try and losing bonus points, heavy scoring will certainly add value to respective league tallies. But the reality is, huge scores against very weak opposition, prove very little and probably tell us no more than we already were aware of. Aside from risking a few more training ground moves, there is little to be learned from thrashing the opposition.<br />
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No matter what we may say outwardly, after a convincingly and easy win, deep down everyone wants to be tested and tested against the best. Sure no one wants to be on the end of a thrashing, but the tougher the opposition, the more seems to be drawn out of stronger players. The testing ground is also the proving ground. Can we step up a level? Have we got what it takes? It was tougher to beat the rugby teams drawn from police forces or the mining and steel communities or the armed forces, but when we won, man, it felt good!<br />
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As my own sons have got older, I have smiled to myself as I've watched them look to test themselves against "the old man". With one it was sprinting and hurdling. A test of speed. There was a time when I could keep up. It didn't last for long as it soon became apparent that he was going to excel. The best I could do was act as work out fodder, watch him fly and press the stopwatch! I actually ran a 400m hurdle race once at the same athletics meet, to prove I was in the zone - I completed the race, but from that point it on I learned the hard way, it was all about him not me!<br />
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With the other son, its all about mock rugby scrummaging technique. Getting lower than me and driving me backwards. A test of strength. Its also about throwing passes to me that land not in may hands but my midriff. Its all about finding a level. Wanting the test. Wanting to know if they can make it. Wanting to know if they have what it takes. And you know....that's ok and that's right and they should be allowed the space to do that - so long as it comes from the desire for growth and finding their place. As dads, brothers, friends, coaches we have a massive responsibility to recognise what's taking place and react in the right way. Its not about me taking offence, its about the importance of their challenge. Its about helping release guys to be who they can be. That's what the best coaches and leaders model. Its not about putting them down or forcing them to be something they are never going to be. I've learned over time, for our sons and for our daughters its about the power of affirmation.<br />
<br />
Affirmation is important however young or old we are. The real key to success is in the who we are becoming not in the what we are doing.<br />
<br />
I've seen too many great relationships dragged down by the pressure to perform and live up to something unattainable. The testing, the trial isn't about us doing something to be accepted. That would be self defeating as sometimes we win, sometimes we don't. But the trial the testing is more about us finding out what we are made of. Who we are. Without the trial without the testing we wont know what we are capable of.<br />
<br />
God understands the way men work. So many people miss-read him. He doesn't want men to perform to be accepted. If that was the case, I guess like me, you'd concede, we mess up quite a lot of the time. He wants us to succeed as men and in the same way that we make room for the young guns to come through, He understands the importance of showing us we are accepted through relationship as sons, not on personal form or performance. He equally understands the incredible power of affirmation. The bible has a brilliant illustration of this. Just at the point that the man's man Jesus Christ was emerging into his life's calling, before he had done anything openly - God said openly of him "this is my son and I am so impressed with the man he is".<br />
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Running out on to the pitch, knowing who you are, knowing you have the affirmation of your team mates, knowing you have what it takes is a great boost. The same is true in life. The challenge is, there is a generation that are pushing, pressing for the tests, the trials wanting affirmation. Lets not block them, lets help unlock them and their potential - I wonder what kind of a team we could make?<br />
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<br />Phil Manchesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03736880167644220132noreply@blogger.com0