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?