I was up early this morning to watch the Australia v Argentina RWC2015 semi final.
I enjoyed the game very much. I stayed up to listen to the Australian commentators’ summary.
Something George Gregan said really caught my attention. He was delighted that Australia’s win gave them “a ticket to the dance” next weekend at Twickenham.
I have not bought many tickets to dances but I thought it was a delightful turn of phrase and it got me thinking about the offers coaches make to athletes.
Part of my interest is in the vision coaches have for the flow and choreography of sport. This has come to the fore this week as a friend is applying for a national coaching position. I think he has a profound understanding of the game he is going to coach. He has not played at international level.
We have been discussing coaching as he frames his application. Thanks to George we ought to discuss dancing too.
I enjoyed Tim Wigmore’s profile of Mike Hesson, the New Zealand cricket coach. Tim said of Mike:
No one has done more to show that a paucity of playing experience need not be a barrier to a plum coaching job.
I liked the quote attributed to him by Tim:
That’s the beauty of having coached at different levels – you understand the continuum of coaching and you know when to intervene and when best to say nothing. That’s a big art.
… which seems very good advice for a dance too.
Me? I am a kind of aspiring whirling Dervish, meets Pina Bausch meets Bangarra type of dancer (coach).
I have always hoped that a dance ticket is a season ticket as well as a lifetime invitation to #coachlearninginsport.
Photo Credits
Global dance festival (messycupcakes, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
rtw – 2064 (Neil Banas, CC BY-NC 2.0)
