Don't Forget the Important Things!

Carolina Kluft is back in action. Kluft the worlds top heptathlete, is gracious, elegant, driven and, I would say, downright 'classy'. She is still only 24 but seems to have accomplished so much over the years as a competitor and as a person.

In a recent interview in response to questions about whether or not she could be beaten her response was; "Of course, no one can always win, and I will get beaten some day. But I know that, if I lose, my life will not disappear." Kluft has a firm grip on what makes her tick and this is probably what ensures that she competes at such a high level so consistently.

The effervescent Swede comes across as a realist, but also as someone who has a good perspective on how she wants to live her life and what is important to her. Perhaps this is why she appears to enjoy every moment when she is competing and seems to get on with all the other athletes so well.

When asked about lucky charms she mentioned that she carries a little donkey with her, but avoids attaching too much importance to it as other competitors might do to their lucky charms. She said that if she forgot him it would not bring her bad luck, however she did say that her little donkey is more of a reminder of what sport is about, and not to forget the most important things.

Carolina Kluft is a wonderful competitor to watch, but she also seems like a wonderful person for other up and coming athletes to use as an example of getting the right balance in your life and career to ensure that you remain true to yourself, and most of all so you remember the important things.

League Football Education (LFE) Leads the Way in Career Transition for Young Footballers

The Football Season is slowly but surely coming to an end and it is the time when contracts run out and unfortunately it is also the time when many players, some older and some younger, get released.

In a young footballer's life, particularly when all they have dreamt about is becoming a footballer, finding out that they are no longer wanted by their club and the chances of signing up with another are slim can be more than a bit tough. It can be a time of great anxiety, frustration, anger and emotional turmoil.

The LFE have recognised the need to put a structure in place to manage the 'fall out' of the current apprentice football system and power to them. They have recognised that the young apprentices (16-18 year olds) need additional guidance and support during and after they leave the game of football. Through their links with Jobscene they have recently been putting on career and education fairs all over the country so that clubs can send their players to explore their educational and career options further.

Career transition for young professional sports people is often an area which is overlooked. Why? I am not sure. Perhaps it is because they are seen as having plenty of years left to start a new career, or perhaps the view is that because they have not been in the sport for that long it is not so much a part of their DNA as more 'long in the tooth' competitors.

Whatever the reason I think that it is something that needs to be addressed, like the way the LFE are doing, so that young talent can be nurtured and channelled into other areas of sport, or other industries which might otherwise lose out.

A Winning Culture

Kevin Pietersen in a recent interview, which was aired on the BBC programme Inside Sport, stated that the England cricket team needed to develop a winning culture, which he thought the Australians undoubtedly have.

So what is a winning culture?

“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” is a well-known quote in sport, originating in the United States. The quote exemplifies a form of unfettered competitiveness that has permeated American sport and carried over into the general culture.

This type of attitude towards sport and winning somewhat contradicts the Olympic creed, expressed by its founder Pierre de Coubertin, “The most important thing… is not winning but taking part.”

Many including, Vince Lombardi the famous American Football coach has made reference to the “Winning isn’t everything; it is the only thing” quote and Lombardi later admitted that what he was attempting to say was “Winning is not everything - but making the effort to win is."

Whatever we think about both of these references to winning it is certainly a fundamental part of professional sport, but the question on some minds might be:

How do we go about creating a winning culture in a country which is very much grounded in the school of Pierre de Coubertin?

A seamless transition - trust your gut!

This is the time of year when many professional sportspeople announce their retirement from playing/competing. The end of the season is a natural cut off point for many whilst for others the catalyst may be a major championship.

This week's Paralympian World Cup sees one of the great paralympians, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, call time on her sporting career. Whilst she admits to being sick before every race she knew when seeking out a drain at the World Championships in Holland last year that it was time to move on. As she says, "The feeling had been creeping up all year.....but it took hold of me. I thought, no, this is not for me any more"

For many the body is a great indicator as past injuries become more difficult to shrug off whilst for others it is the fact that priorities change . It is the latter that seems to have been at the root of Tanni's decision. She realised that she no longer wanted to be away from her 5year old daughter and husband. In other words, her motivation to be with her family outweighed her motivation to continue racing, ie the scales had tipped.

Tanni however is using her passions to move into the next phase of her career and life. She is keen to play a continued role in sport, whether it be with UK Athletics or the 2012 Olympics. Additionally, she has joined a company which makes clothes for disabled people in order to greatly improve the style of designs for 'kids in chairs'. As she puts it, "The girls' range is really sparkly, so it's just another part of my new life".

All in all, a seamless transition!

Young Blood

Whilst watching the introduction of the new sport programme 'Inside Sport' with Gabby Yorath I was very interested to hear that they were going to do a piece on Andy Murray.

Even though it was way past my bed time I wanted to stay up and watch this. I was intrigued to see what would be revealed, if anything, about Andy's rise up the ATP rankings and his subsequent entry into the Top Ten this year.

The interview took place at the LTA's new headquarters in Roehampton and also contained short snippets of Andy's new training regime under Brad Gilbert. It wasn't an enormously in depth interview, but it was nice to see that he seemed more relaxed in front of the camera and seemed inwardly confident about his tennis and how he saw his future. What was certainly apparent was the concept of 'Team Murray' which included not only his trainer, Brad Gilbert but presumably his mother and brother, Jamie and many others.

What I thought was very refreshing was that when Gabby asked him when did he expect to win a Grand Slam Murray said that he did not want to predict that. He was happy for people to know what his goals were for raising his rankings, but he did not want to say that he would win a Grand Slam by 'x' date. Good for him I say, it is great to share certain goals and aspirations with people, but it is also good to keep some of them (often the best and most personal)to yourself! Intrinsic motivation is often the most powerful and effective.

Andy Murray is definitely one to watch as British Tennis moves into a new phase, bringing with it new blood and a new £40m headquarters. It will be very interesting to see how Murray's career and British Tennis develops over the next few years.

'till next time

Trisha

Going, going, gone!

Within the last couple of weeks there have been several announcements in the rugby world from players who are either retiring from the game, wholly or in part, or who have decided to play on.

Unfortunatley the game has been robbed of several players through health and wellbeing threatening injuries, namely World Cup winner Steve Thompson and David Quinlan both of Northampton Saints. However, Thompson is refusing to let his enforced retirement get him down "I can't play rugby but I've got my health, so I'm quite happy with that". Whilst he knows that he would like to move into coaching, thereby staying in an arena with which he is very well acquainted, he does face an additional challenge with which he is less familiar. By his own admission, having already put on several stones, he needs to ensure that his weight doesn't balloon to unhealthy proportions.

Others who have greater choice have taken slightly different paths. Sean Long has chosen to make a partial retirement from rugby league by announcing his ending of his GB career whilst continuing to play in the Super League with St Helens. This should ease his transition when he finally decides to hang up his boots. This compares with the ex England rugby union captain, Lawrence Dallaglio, who will be 35 in August. He has decided to play on despite no longer being an automatic first choice at Wasps and raising doubts a month or so back about his continued desire to play.

It goes to show that decisions about 'retirement', when players have a choice, are very individual and not everybody chooses the same path.

What are you doing today to contribute to your future success?

Still reflecting on Tanni Grey-Thompson's book "Aim High" I cannot agree more with Tanni's observation about young people wanting to achieve success in any area, not just sport, almost instantly and with almost with no experience(usually by way of somereality TV programme).

I truly believe that what we do in our lives from the get go is the major factor in effecting what we 'get' in our lives. I am not sure if it is the fast food culture which has led to the idea, or belief that we can achieve our dream jobs, careers or lives by just thinking that it is going to happen quite easily and quickly, but some, and I stress some, young people think that they can be pop stars, footballers, models and such like by just standing in a queue (a very long one, mind) and getting on a TV programme and letting the media do the rest.

Tanni and other Olympic Champions like Kelly Holmes demonstrate to me quite clearly that it takes hard work, dedication and total belief in yourself to become incredibly successful and reach the top in your field.

With the launch of the new Believe to Achieve programme led by Dame Kelly Holmes last week I really do hope that they are able to drill home the fact that it takes more than just standing in a queue to realise your dreams.