Rugby 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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Showing posts with label role models. Show all posts
Showing posts with label role models. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Singing for the Unsung Hero
In 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.
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.
Every team needs stalwarts who are the central spine around which teams are built and around which the emerging talent flourishes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every team needs stalwarts who are the central spine around which teams are built and around which the emerging talent flourishes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
The Space Beyond the Ball
Seeing 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.
Unrealised vision is simply aspiration. The power that drives change is the conversion of vision into reality on the ground.
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".
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.
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.
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" (The Guardian, Sunday 29-01-12).
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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?
Unrealised vision is simply aspiration. The power that drives change is the conversion of vision into reality on the ground.
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".
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.
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.
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" (The Guardian, Sunday 29-01-12).
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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?
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Wearing my hero's socks!
Back in the days of flared trousers and tank-tops I was lucky enough to get on a school trip to watch the touring All Blacks rugby side. Taken in by the incredible pace and power of the game, I determined I would play like the team I had just seen and in particular, the great, All Blacks captain Graham Mourie.
Before my next game, I went to a local sports shop and bought my own All Blacks......socks. Black with three white hoops around the top. I discarded my school rugby socks, broke the rules and wore my heroes socks. It worked. Over the season, I became the top try scoring forward. I became the only player in an entire season to score a try against an all conquering, regional championship team as they swept every other team aside, without conceding a single try. My achievment even got a mention in Rugby World magazine. I was the English Graham Mourie - well, I was when I was wearing his socks.
Life, like sport, is filled with heroes and villains and I suspect no hero is perfect. However, as teenager, I saw something in someone else that inspired me to reach further. It wasn't really the socks. If it had been, they would have been no more than a luck charm or me following some kind of pre-match ritual. No, it was seeing someone I admired, doing something that I could actually see myself doing. That was inspiration. Something I saw, experienced, that called to something inside of me. The socks were just the way I expressed affinity with my hero.
There is an interesting account in the bible, of a time when a nation's leaders failed to give it the direction it so desperately needed. Sound familiar? For the record, there is a list of those responsible. Not surprisingly, the list contains politicians, religious leaders and the security forces. However, right at the top of the list, was an unexpected group: heroes! On a list of the great, the good and the powerful, the primary responsibility for taking a lead fell to the heroes and the question was asked; where are they?
Now, we may not feel very heroic and we may think the things we do are mundane. But as I look back to my formative years, my hero was simply someone who inspired me to reach beyond my immediate grasp, to travel further, to climb higher. I saw a "hero" and decided to have a go too. I may not have achieved the status of sporting legend, but who knows where I would have stopped or parked up, without the inspiration of a hero.
There's a generation looking for heroes. Sons looking for fathers, the lost looking for hope, captives longing to be liberated from the mundane. Where are the heroes of today? They have just read this blog.
So come on, its time to get our heroes socks out from the back of the drawer and go inspire a generation....
Before my next game, I went to a local sports shop and bought my own All Blacks......socks. Black with three white hoops around the top. I discarded my school rugby socks, broke the rules and wore my heroes socks. It worked. Over the season, I became the top try scoring forward. I became the only player in an entire season to score a try against an all conquering, regional championship team as they swept every other team aside, without conceding a single try. My achievment even got a mention in Rugby World magazine. I was the English Graham Mourie - well, I was when I was wearing his socks.
Life, like sport, is filled with heroes and villains and I suspect no hero is perfect. However, as teenager, I saw something in someone else that inspired me to reach further. It wasn't really the socks. If it had been, they would have been no more than a luck charm or me following some kind of pre-match ritual. No, it was seeing someone I admired, doing something that I could actually see myself doing. That was inspiration. Something I saw, experienced, that called to something inside of me. The socks were just the way I expressed affinity with my hero.
There is an interesting account in the bible, of a time when a nation's leaders failed to give it the direction it so desperately needed. Sound familiar? For the record, there is a list of those responsible. Not surprisingly, the list contains politicians, religious leaders and the security forces. However, right at the top of the list, was an unexpected group: heroes! On a list of the great, the good and the powerful, the primary responsibility for taking a lead fell to the heroes and the question was asked; where are they?
Now, we may not feel very heroic and we may think the things we do are mundane. But as I look back to my formative years, my hero was simply someone who inspired me to reach beyond my immediate grasp, to travel further, to climb higher. I saw a "hero" and decided to have a go too. I may not have achieved the status of sporting legend, but who knows where I would have stopped or parked up, without the inspiration of a hero.
There's a generation looking for heroes. Sons looking for fathers, the lost looking for hope, captives longing to be liberated from the mundane. Where are the heroes of today? They have just read this blog.
So come on, its time to get our heroes socks out from the back of the drawer and go inspire a generation....
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