01 INSIGHTS FROM THE LEADING FIGURES IN SPORTS PERFORMANCE & BEYOND AUTUMN 2013 www.leadersinperformance.com

MASTERCLASS Ryan Giggs on achieving and maintaining excellence PERFORMANCE EDITORIAL 2 01 AUTUMN 2013 | 01 OCTOBER 2013 Inside

Cover Story Columns Around the World 14 32 04 Masterclass The Future of Sport Leaders in Ryan Giggs, Achieving Dave Hancock, Performance USA & Maintaining Excellence New York Knicks 06 25 7 Emerging Talents in the It’s All in the Mind Performance Industry Insights John Sullivan 12 20 The Reading List Failing to Plan is 42 If it Ain’t Broke, Fix it Bob Bowman Planning to Fail Rasmus Ankersen Pre-Season 30 44 About the P8 36 Changing the Game Innovation in Player Injury Ben Alamar 40 Regenerative Medicine 5 Minutes With 48 Luke Bodensteiner, USSA Player’s Perspective 46 Jerry Stackhouse of Databank the Brooklyn Nets Premier League Goals

Features 08 It’s Not Rocket Science 14 High Performance at NASA 22 Excellence as Standard The US Olympic Committee 26 Unlocking the Potential Talking Talent with UK Sport 34 Mastering the Situation Enhancing Performance in High Stress Situations PERFORMANCE WELCOME 02 03 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

James Worrall WELCOME CEO Why Leaders Performance?

Every aspiring or professional athlete, player or team, whatever the sport, wherever it’s played, is constantly striving to improve their performance. And the complex inter-relationship between talent, human endeavour, technology, technique and innovation so fundamental to success means the journey of continuous improvement is never-ending. he sports performance community are a It is designed to give an ever-growing industry curious bunch. They travel to all corners of the a regular source of inspiration and a chance to T world to understand best practice. They study challenge conventional thinking. It delves deep performance in other walks of life and test theories into the best practitioners in sport and takes and ideas on the training ground day in, day out. Arie inspiration from high-performing organisations de Geus was right when he said the ability to learn outside, including the military, business, performing faster than the opposition was the only sustainable arts, healthcare, science and entertainment. It will advantage. Sport is living proof of that theory. try to tell some of those stories with the same commitment to quality that characterises the At Leaders in Performance we have seen this conferences and Leaders in Performance brand. gathering of around 150 UK professionals with an interest in data to a global multi-disciplinary for our cover story we’ve aimed high. Top-level community of experts from over 40 sports. With performance over a sustained time period is what international conferences in New York and London, every sportsman and coach is striving for and in unique master-classes and P8 forums, articles Ryan Giggs, we’ve got a great example of how to and case studies sent to 20,000 professionals make that happen. Elsewhere, we have an eclectic Brought to you by as well as an annual Sports Performance mix of subjects and subject matter. Chelsea Warr, Awards, the quest for knowledge continues. Deputy Director of Performance at UK Sport, tells PUBLISHER WRITERS Leaders in Performance Professor Chris Brady As we talk to professionals all over the world, we the NASA scientist who put the Rover on Mars, Dave Hancock PUBLISHING DIRECTOR continue to uncover fascinating people, creative talks team-building. We look at the mind, the Mounir Zok Martin Bjerg ideas, new strategies and revolutionary technologies. body and the environment – in short, everything EDITORIAL CONSULTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Many of these insights have remained hidden that goes into creating a high performance Jim Souter Stephen Dobson until now and it’s the reason we have decided to environment. We hope you gain insight, learning PERFORMANCE CONSULTANTS EDITORS Mike Forde and, in the spirit of the community, share any Matthew Thacker Damien Comolli learning with your peers all over the world. Ed Davis PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY ART DIRECTOR Action Images James Henderson PERFORMANCE 04 05 AUTUMN 2013 | 01 Leaders in Performance USA

Leaders in Performance went travelling in June with a sell-out international conference hosted at Bloomberg’s state of the art conference facility in the heart of New York. 350 elite coaches, managers, performance directors and John Mara senior executives in sports performance from and Jerry Reese over 30 sports and 25 countries attended, Owner and GM with the gathering hailed as an unprecedented of New York Giants success by speakers and delegates alike.

Shad Khan Owner of Jacksonville Jaguars

Andy Walshe General John Red Bull Peter Grauer Wissler Chairman of Bloomberg US Marines

David Moyes Amar’e Stoudemire Daniel Coyle Manager of Jerry Stackhouse Author of The Talent Code Manchester United NBA Players PERFORMANCE SPORTS PERFORMANCE AWARDS 06 07 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

performance as well as player safety from injury. Rowing. Paul’s contribution during the ‘Start’ nutrition stations at national championship events for 7 EMERGING He is highly creative in the methods he employs to Programme to this achievement was fundamental reach players, using grocery store tours, PowerPoint and his work with them gave them the basis and TALENTS IN THE presentations, dining hall table displays, locker inspiration from which they won Olympic Gold. room board displays, and an extensive nutrition of service, stability and success, Kendig is quickly PERFORMANCE manual individualised for each player’s needs. INDUSTRY Performance Coach in the GB Rowing Team’s Ashley, Chief of Sports Performance, US Olympic Olympic Programme, a richly deserved appointment Committee The Nick Broad Award for Emerging Talent - part of the designed customised work-outs and nutrition Performance Director, GB Rowing Team 06 | SEBASTIEN BOURDIN programmes for our employees and improved Head of Strength and Conditioning, ASM Sports Performance Awards 04 | STEPHAN DU TOIT Clermont Auvergne Rugby Whaley, General Manager, Buffalo Bills Strength and Conditioning Trainer, DHL Nominated by Neil McIlroy, Manager Sportif/Team On 17th January 2013, Nick Broad, a highly respected Western Province and Stormers Rugby and talented professional in the sports performance Manager, ASM Clermont Auvergne Rugby and Vern 02 | MIKE PATTON Cotter, Head Coach, ASM Clermont Auvergne Rugby world, tragically died in a car accident in Paris. Nominated by Rassie Erasmus, General Manager, Track Cycling Physiologist, High Performance Teams, South Africa Rugby At the time he was working alongside Manager Nominated for Driving sports science Cycling Canada initiatives to improve team performance Carlo Ancelotti at Paris St Germain football club Nominated for Applying match statistics to rugby Nominated by Andrea Wooles, conditioning, and the development of youth having built his career with Premier League teams players at Western Province and Stormers Rugby Sebastien has brought new techniques and practices Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City and Chelsea. Sport Science and Medicine Manager, Cycling Canada from throughout the world to help the team keep Since 2006 Stephan has been analysing various a step ahead of other French sides physically over Nick was an incredibly popular member of the sports Nominated for Contribution to statistics across rugby competitions and one Bronze medal at London 2012 his nine years at the club. He carefully balances his performance community and was known for giving of his aims is to marry the use of statistics and schedule between practical time spent with the The team were considered a long shot by the conditioning in rugby. He has contributed to the playing staff and research and has been the driving Many have gone on to build their own career in elite Canadian OC in the two years running up to the teams’ success by identifying patterns and using force behind a lot of sports science initiatives such as performance thanks to Nick. And with the support of Olympics, but with Mike’s support they went from insights to improve physical preparation and he cryotherapy, hypoxic pre-season training, GPS use as his wife, Paula, and family, we are dedicating an Award has been instrumental in creating the testing and well as CPK testing. With his no-nonsense approach, at the Sports Performance Awards taking place on programme prescriptions of Western Province’s rigour and work ethic, Seb is one of the driving 9 October at Chelsea FC in memory of Nick. at the Olympics. Mike’s contributions included U15 and U17 Elite squads. This has seen huge forces behind the creation of the ‘Clermont Culture’ success, measured by the number of players that where core values are driven home daily by the staff. including on-going tracking of training loads and progress to the Western Province senior team. recognise the next generation of performance 07 | RUSSELL MARK leaders (under 35 years old) and celebrate of interventions, and world-leading work on pacing High Performance Consultant, outstanding contribution to the performance of modelling and prediction. He is now contributing USA Swimming a team or athlete. Since the nomination process to the development of the next generation of Nominated by Frank Busch, began, Leaders have received an overwhelming physiologists as a colleague and a mentor. Performance Teams, South Africa Rugby National Team Director, USA Swimming response from General Managers, Performance Nominated for Assisting with the technical Directors and Head Coaches from all over 05 | ALICIA KENDIG advancement of national team athletes the world, over 75 in total, keen to nominate a Sport Dietician, United States and coach-athlete preparation member of their staff for the Award. After careful Science and Medicine Manager, Cycling Canada Olympic Committee examination, the Sports Performance Awards Russell has worked at USA Swimming for over a Nominated by Alan Ashley, Chief of Sports decade as a high performance consultant, constantly judges have shortlisted 7 outstanding candidates: 03 | PAUL STANNARD Performance US Olympic Committee Coach, GB Rowing Team communicating with elite athletes and coaches Nominated for Educating and supporting US in sharing the most cutting-edge information in 01 | DAN LIBURD Nominated by Sir David Tanner, athletes with nutritional services Assistant Strength Coach and Team Performance Director, GB Rowing Team the sport. He has been part of the staff for three Olympics and multiple World Championships and Nutrionist, Bu!alo Bills Nominated for An outstanding contribution Alicia provides nutritional services to strength and is considered to be one of the best stroke analysts Nominated by Eric Ciano, Head of Strength to the performance of UK Women’s Pair, power athletes, winter sport teams and endurance and Conditioning, Bu!alo Bills Helen Glover and Heather Stanning groups in the US. She also plays a key role in in the world, playing a critical role in assisting educating athletes on the appropriate use of dietary with the technical advancement of national team Nominated for Creatively reaching and Neither Glover nor Stanning were rowers before connecting with the players on matters athletes. He has had a direct impact on the success of nutrition, and a!ecting the entire recovery nutrition plans, and oversees activity and of many of the top swimmers in the US, including organisation beyond the player personnel testing in the athlete performance lab at the U.S. and built their mental strength so they could tackle Olympic Training Centre. Team USA’s success in Dan has completely changed the views on nutrition the high training load required in a demanding 2012-13 illustrates Kendig’s ability to help athletes and wellness of the entire Buffalo Bills organisation. endurance sport. Their progress was such that they achieve performance goals and her innovation and community for his contributions to Team He works endless hours educating players on expertise led to the implementation of recovery proper nutrition and the effects it can have on National Team Director, USA Swimming

PERFORMANCE FEATURE 08 09 AUTUMN 2013 | 01 It’s Not Rocket Science…

Adam Steltzner

NASA engineer Adam Steltzner tells Chris Brady about building a team for a space mission and why you don’t need to be good at everything…

n 1947 Norbert Wiener, one of the 20th surface of Mars using the Sky Crane, team leader century’s greatest mathematicians, published I a book called Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. It was Wiener who coined the term cybernetics, structure, not very hierarchical. I invite people based on the Greek kubernetes (the pilot or to cross the boundaries of their intellectual and practical territories and delve into the boundaries the mission, there were nine years of hard work he says, is to delegate the more managerial aspects term kubernetike (the art of the steersman). of others. To get cross pollination of ideas and to of the job to others who are more suited to the In the introduction to his book, Wiener describes The journey began with the selection of the team. better planners, better at making sure that we’re how, through a series of regular meetings, ideas That big table is made up of some 40 people, with executing on each of the details of the overall were formed and tested by experts from a variety a core strategic group of around 20. To put this plan. I focus my attention on being intermittently of disciplines operating without intellectual into perspective, somewhere in the region of 7,000 connected with the essence of what we’re doing; people worked on the Curiosity mission in one looking for central problems in what we’re doing. I series of discussion meetings… The participants capacity or another. They are made up of systems think that there are very few industries, if any, that see myself as the free safety of the team [the free were mostly young scientists at the Harvard Medical experts and domain experts. The former provide safety role in American football is analogous to the School, and we would gather for dinner about a a systemic understanding of the inter-relationship peg for the exact right shaped hole. The trick is that round table in Vanderbilt Hall. The conversation between the parts of the system while the latter was lively and unrestrained. It was not a place tend to focus on their own particular element of major issues]. I am constantly looking for trouble, where it was either encouraged or made possible for anyone to stand on his dignity. After the meal, somebody – either one of our group or an invited So, are there any deal breakers in selecting topic… The speaker had to run the gauntlet of doing that is close to that of each of the domain acute criticism, good-natured but unsparing. It was middle deal breakers such as if you’re not at all experts. I need this grasp because technical problems of the Curiosity mission. The Sky Crane was his interested in working in a team. However, the don’t typically form at the heart of a domain; they responsibility, his creation. The precise details of only real deal breaker, the one that literally gets form at the boundaries between domains. This is yet pomposity. Those who could not stand the gaff the mission and its successful completion are you ejected from the team, is that if your own another reason why that big table culture of being did not return, but among the former habitués of outlined in an excellent article in the New Yorker work is put ahead of the team’s goals. Usually in each other’s shorts is so important because it’s these meetings there is more than one of us who by Burkhard Bilger but in short, a rocket blasted that is someone who is so insecure that they when we’re looking outside of our individual domain feels that they were an important and permanent off from Cape Canaveral on 26 November 2011 feel that they only have power if they withhold silos that we can begin to recognise issues, risks and and delivered a mobile science lab onto Mars information from the rest of the group about the just under nine months later, 6 August 2012. As Asked how he managed to lead a disparate group of NASA space engineers in a nine-year project all bystanders. What was going to happen was mastery and human sensitivity, that I’m a good reader to land a one-tonne rover, Curiosity, on the PERFORMANCE FEATURE 10 11 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

He accepts that of the three functions necessary the moment this may only be a two-man team to survive and prosper in successful high but it’s no surprise that the other guy is San performance teams – leading, managing and There is also the same competitive bidding process and coaching; I get others better at it than me in the space world as in other talent industries. to do the detailed managing. That’s not strange because I think that good tactical managers ability to sell is an essential element of the skillset necessary for him to do his job well. He reluctantly accepts that he has to do it, and be good at it. He If you "nd a guy who you know Even before the team is pulled together, the idea of the mission has to be accepted by the organisation. can add value to the team then As with many major project industries, there right words] ‘communicate the value’. When I was "nd that guy, or create for that is what amounts to a bidding war to have your guy, a pentagonal shaped project approved, funded and resourced. The way said that I would be a good inventor, promoter and in which relatively small projects, and even those role to "ll. So, while technical knowledge on a generic level is essential, it is the people skills – including selling industries which have embraced what is referred is the more ephemeral elements of the job that way in which teams are brought together. When a he would have the same drive and passion if his as few as three people working on the idea. Once job comprised designing waste-disposal facilities, studio head, then that team will expand to include the necessary expertise for the next stage until shooting starts and there may be 100-200 people working on a very tight 50 to 70-day schedule. No longer are Apocalypse Now or Heaven’s Gate type overruns acceptable. It was nearly three years before

of colleagues who he has worked with previously and whom he trusts, including Miguel San Martin, whom he sees as integral to any team he creates. In fact, many of the people who had worked on previous Mars missions eventually found their way onto the Curiosity team but it seems the case that in talent-dependent industries, there is a common theme of bringing teams of trusted it’s the actual mission that’s important and it’s no colleagues along with the arrival of the leader. As coincidence that these space projects are termed we know, managers arrive at football clubs and an entire senior team often arrives with them. when we are operating at the edges of our capability, we are fundamentally wondering about who we are as humans. That process brings up the question is over, the team disperses and the team leaders begin the search for the next challenge. In fact, ‘Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, is now committed to leading a mission to Mars in 2020. The task is to gather samples, seal them not know what’s out there, but he certainly knows in containers to be delivered back to Earth. At how to reach for it. PERFORMANCE READING LIST 12 dedicated to executive The search in Sport Reading List

BOB BOWMAN The man who helped Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian of all time reveals his list of the books every aspiring coach should own.

Finding the Winning Edge Bill Walsh Packaging up the knowledge of NFL coaching legend Bill Walsh into one handy volume, this book offers a brilliant top-down view of what the role of a head coach actually entails.

The Road Less The Talent Code Travelled Greatness Isn’t M. Scott Peck Born. It’s Grown Daniel Coyle Drawing heavily on his own professional Award-winning journalist expertise, psychiatrist Dr Daniel Coyle explores M. Scott Peck explains the presumptions how acknowledging our surrounding inborn ability problems enables us to and comes up with some reach a higher level of astounding conclusions. self-understanding. A must Utterly fascinating. for getting athletes in the right frame of mind. Success is a Choice Ten Steps To Overachieving in Periodization Business And in Life Theory and Methodology Rick Pitino of Training Superstar life coach Ray Tudor O. Bompa & Pitino’s best-selling volume G. Gregory Haff looks to inspire its readers into becoming all they can The go-to resource be by setting demanding for producing an goals that force them to outstanding long-term be positive at all times. training programme. Nolan Partners Ltd 1 Duchess Street, London, W1W 6AN Tel: +44 (0)20 3005 4404 www.nolanpartners.co.uk PERFORMANCE COVER STORY 14 15 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

has to be the most important one in the club.” read up on anything I could find and from then on Reliable or maverick, athletes must remain in I changed my routine. I got a more comfortable peak physical condition to be able to perform on car, not messing about changing cars every five Masterclass cue and the physical regime that has given Giggs’ minutes, changed my bed, changed my diet. I just career its longevity is now legendary, but how tried to tick every box. I tried acupuncture, I used did it evolve? He says: “I remember the moment. an osteopath which I still do to this day and I did We were playing Bayern Munich at Bayern. I yoga as well. I just tried to cover everything so that There is more than a generation of football must have been about 28/29 and the day before this wouldn’t happen again. You know, Champions the game we were training at Bayern’s stadium League, injured, missing the game. I never did followers who have simply not known a and I was playing the next day; the Gaffer had it to prolong my career; I just did it to play.” told me I was playing and he said, `swap teams’ time when Ryan Giggs has not been right because one of their players was a bit of a dribbler Ultimately, great players need to play, they need so he wanted me to dribble against our guys. So, to be great and they need the stage upon which to anyway, I got the ball and started to dribble and demonstrate their greatness to the world. Ferguson at the top of his chosen profession. Chris my hamstring just went. At that moment, I was puts it perfectly when he says: “I expected more feeling really good, I was flying, I was beating from the star players. I expected them to work Brady asks Giggs about achieving and players easily. I remember that I went back to the even harder… That’s why they are star players – dressing-room and I was gutted because I wanted they are prepared to work harder. Superstars with maintaining excellence. to play – it was Bayern Munich versus United in egos are not the problem some people may think. the Champions League. I thought that I really They need to be winners, because that massages needed to do something about this because I’d their egos, so they will do what it takes to win.” never had bad injuries, I’d never been out for What drives them on is the need to meet ever- more than six to seven weeks but my hamstring increasing challenges. Asked why he never just kept recurring. So I talked to the physios, I played abroad, Giggs’ answer was simple:

n the same day Performance magazine sat next on Ryan Giggs’ list was dependability and down with Ryan Giggs, another interview reliability: “You need a group of seven or eight O – given by his former manager Sir Alex players who are going to be reliable week in and Ferguson – was published in the Harvard Business week out.” Review (HBR). Comparing the two interviews, what is striking is the similarity of the language Pushed to reveal what marks out the other three or the two men use regarding the central facets of four players Giggs was, perhaps surprisingly given high performance; not surprising given that they his own reliability, not overly concerned. These spent more than 20 years working together. In players would include those who are considered to particular, one word dominated – “winning”. be game changers and who can, to a certain extent and for the benefit of the team, be accommodated. When asked what types of characters he believes The solid citizens in the team will put up with Winners are people who are essential to successful teams, Giggs answered their relative unreliability for the benefit of the will go to the edge to make immediately – “winners”. How did he explain this collective, Giggs thought. In this respect he may sure that you win the game; common but elusive concept? He says: “Winners be slightly at odds with Ferguson, who explained are people who will go to the edge to make sure in his HBR interview: “There are occasions when and that includes in the that you win the game; and that includes in the you have to ask yourself whether certain players week as well, in training. week as well, in training. They would kick their are affecting the dressing-room atmosphere, teammates; they would do whatever it took. It the performance of the team, and your control would ruin their day if they lost a five-a-side of the players and staff. If they are, you have to game; it really means that much to them”. cut the cord. There is absolutely no other way. It doesn’t matter if the person is the best player in It is this “winning” characteristic that high the world. The long-term view of the club is more performers seem to value above all others but important than any individual, and the manager PERFORMANCE COVER STORY 16 17 www.leadersinperformance.com AUTUMN 2013 | 01

“I’ve always wanted new challenges and I thought that every year at United there’s always been a new challenge. The time for me to go abroad was probably between 25 and 30 but I never got close to it, I just wanted to play for United. At that time I just felt the challenges at United couldn’t be beaten. I was 27 and we’d just won the treble so it never occurred to me. I’ve never thought that I missed a trick there.”

But what do great players believe are the crucial elements of a successful team? Which comes first, winning or team spirit? For Giggs it is the chemistry of the team under the guidance of a strong winning philosophy. United, he feels, had the winning mentality ingrained in them by Ferguson’s personal mentality and the traditions of the club for particular values such as trusting youth and taking risks to win. As Ferguson put in the HBR: “I am a gambler – a risk taker –and you can see that in how we played in the late stages of matches… I always take great pride in seeing younger players develop. …. When you give young To be a United player they’ve people a chance, you not only create a longer life span for the team, you also create loyalty. got to be strong mentally to They will always remember that you were the be able to put up with some manager who gave them their first opportunity.” of the stu! in the dressing- This has been the United way from the glory room and on the pitch. and tragedy of the Busby Babes through Tommy Docherty’s young team that brought United back to the top division in the 1973/74 season, to the more recent glories under Ferguson.

But how has this been achieved over such a lengthy period? How does the acculturation of incoming players work at United? For Giggs it is about the ground and in games. Robin [van Persie] instantly However, are the same acculturation factors to welcome the pressure of the traditions of this way in which they are received and dealt with in became a success because he was scoring winners equally true of younger players, the lifeblood massive club. Walking into the club and seeing the dressing room. He explains: “New players are every week. That made him difficult not to like.” of United’s philosophy, as they come into the the famous pictures – Charlton, Best, Law and coming into a good dressing-room, which makes Both Giggs and Ferguson believe that building dressing room? Giggs has strong views on this. Cantona – on the walls and saying to yourself: transition easier. Also, training is probably more and maintaining mutual trust is a key element of He was reluctant to say “in my day” but in a sense ‘That’s where I want to be in 15 years’ time’. competitive than they’ve been used to [IN his high performance and as such has to be integral it was inevitable. “Sometimes, the problem with That’s what it means to be a United player.” HBR interview, Ferguson asserts that a key to the to the acculturation process. As Ferguson puts the occasional young player is that they expect, Ferguson sums it up: “The idea is that the maintenance of standards was “never allowing it: “I would remind the players that it is trust and get, rewards before they have really achieved younger players were developing and would a bad training session. What you see in training in one another, not letting their mates down, anything. In my day I was told that rewards would meet the standards that the older ones had set. manifests itself on the game field. So every training that helps build the character of a team.” come as a result of consistent performances session was about quality. We didn’t allow a lack of over time. Don’t get me wrong, there are some He would be proud of Ryan Giggs who has, focus. It was about intensity, concentration, speed Similarly, Giggs cites trust between the players as great kids out there; I just don’t think there’s the virtually from his debut in March 1991 as a – a high level of performance.] Each individual an important component of team performance. hunger in young players in enough numbers as 17-year-old, set the highest standards for his is welcomed according to their own personality. Interestingly, previous research in this area there was 20 years ago – I don’t just think that, I successors to follow. A player can come in and have a compatible seems to challenge this assertion. Taking NCAA know it. Because they’re getting the money early personality from the start. Ronaldo, for example, basketball as his basis for trust and its relevance to on and they’re getting cosseted, the hunger goes wasn’t at the standard he is today in the first performance within NCAA basketball teams, quite quickly. To be a United player they’ve got couple of years but he was a likeable lad, he wanted Kurt Dirks found that while trust is essential to be strong mentally to be able to put up with to learn, he was a bit of a joker and he came into between the players and the coach and can even some of the stuff in the dressing-room and on the the dressing-room quite easily. Others, who are be an indicator of future performance, it does not pitch. You’ve got to be able to withstand getting quieter, they can earn the respect of their new appear to have any statistical significance kicked by Vidic, or Roy Keane or me and rising teammates by what they’re doing on the training between players. to it and being able to handle it. You’ve also got PERFORMANCE MASTERCLASS 18 19 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

RYAN Ryan Giggs made his debut for Manchester United in the 1990-91 season and is the GIGGS most decorated player in English football history, as well holding the record for most competitive appearances for United. He has won 13 Premier Leagues, four FA Cups, three The Coach League Cups and two Champions Leagues. He is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League and holds the record for most Premier League assists. In 2011, he was named Manchester

iggs is now formally employed as a player/ and playing is what I’ve always done, and it’s almost What about the age-old and surely now non-debate Anderson, demonstrated a complete ignorance coach by Manchester United and will surely a relief to get back to just playing. I don’t believe about penalties? Can they be practised? Of course of the consequences when he too scored in the G become a manager one day. Having com- that I overthink the game; I think I’m playing they can – and should. Failure to score, according sudden death phase of the Champions’ League pleted his UEFA `B’ Coaching Licence in his early just as a player. You’ve got your tools in your bag, to Giggs is predominantly about indecision: final against Chelsea: “In Moscow, Anderson came thirties and his `A’ Licence more recently, he is now you’ve been in the same situation thousands of “Penalties are mental, not technique. When I on with two minutes to go in extra time. He’d never part way through his UEFA Pro-Licence. He dem- times and you pull those tools out automatically.” practised for the European Cup Final my mindset scored for United, he’s got that carefree character onstrates his professional dedication to performing was that I’m going to put it in the same spot. If the and he scored. That’s probably because he didn’t as a player by his ability to almost completely sepa- This ability to be able to pull out relevant tools keeper saves it, he saves it. I took 15 penalties and think too much about it; he just struck it down the rate the two activities. He tells an interesting story as a consequence of hours of practice is now a out of those 15 I scored 14 and hit the post with middle.” about coaching Antonio Valencia on a particular common theme of modern performance theory, the other one. You’re not walking up to the spot aspect of wing play and then deriving pleasure the “ten thousand hours” made popular in Malcolm thinking, should I put it left, should I put it right. Whether it is supreme confidence in their from seeing him performing the manoeuvre in a Gladwell’s book, Outliers, and the power of Forget the keeper, its going where I practised. And own ability or a lack of concern about the game. What was interesting about his explanation practice. Giggs could be the perfect poster boy for don’t worry about missing in practice.” consequences, the ability to be able to perform was the casual aside that he had seen the event the repetitive practice theory. As an example, he perfect technique under the greatest pressure just after he had been involved as a player in the says: “I wasn’t a good crosser, I didn’t need to be. I Indecision can be caused, as Marc Sagal is a mark of all great champions, like Giggs. same game: “I got subbed against Liverpool and ran with the ball, I dribbled passed people. So, later mentions elsewhere in this edition, by a failure was watching the game and saw Antonio do exactly in my career when maybe I needed other options to concentrate which in turn can be caused by what we’d worked on and I was really pleased.” I just had to get better at it and so I practised overthinking the consequences. This is surely as often as I could. I practised from different the explanation for the world footballer of the I asked Giggs if they’d discussed it after the game. positions on the pitch, on both flanks, ten yards year, Roberto Baggio, and his compatriot, Franco “No”, he said. “We’d lost”. into the opposition’s half, 20 yards, level with the Baresi, voted the second greatest AC Milan player penalty area, on the by-line (that’s where I was able of all time, both missing the target by a good two Giggs explains his ability to separate his two roles to help Antonio). Practise, practise, practise.” feet in the 1994 World Cup final shoot-out against thus: “The coaching is the hard part, the training Brazil. Indeed, Giggs tells how his teammate PERFORMANCE PRE-SEASON 20 21 AUTUMN 2013 | 01 Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

Performance explores the art and science of pre-season preparation from the men who matter in two very di!erent high performance environments – NBA team Dallas Mavericks and South Africa Rugby Union side, the Stormers…

BE PREPARED! Casey Smith, head athletic trainer participation screenings. But these measurements READY, STEADY, GO Of the three main phases of NBA side the Dallas Mavericks, believes that could be carried out earlier, giving time to in the rugby calendar (off-season, pre-season, pre-season can be the best time for athletes as a full address issues without the pressures of the in-season), it is the pre-season that is probably the assessment can be carried out without distractions. built-in schedule of the regular season. most challenging, says Stephan du Toit, strength and conditioning coach of the DHL Stormers. One of the most common words used today to Another critical use of time is for measurement of baseline indices. Anthropometric measurements, In the pre-season phase Strength & Conditioning We are assaulted by this word at every turn, (S&C) are integrated with coaching sessions, but the key is to use this relatively distraction- although the balance tilts more towards free period to full advantage and make sure musts to assess fatigue, formulate recovery coaching and further from S&C. Physical the correct breadth of screening is included. protocols, and rehabilitate correctly during the improvements from the off-season are put to regular season component of the schedule. We commonly think of assessment in S&C trainers work hand-in-hand to ensure the biomechanical and musculoskeletal terms, and while this clearly forms the basis of programming, improving the physical element of the players, we need to be mindful that this time is used does the start of the regular season creep up culminating to an initial peak in performance to screen for additional variables as well. on us and we privately admit that we could have done more quantitative assessment? Medical screening for blood markers, pulmonary Holding ourselves accountable will help hasten The question that everyone wants an answer to function, allergy testing, ophthalmologic testing, our ability to formulate the correct return in pre-season is does a player need to be rested nutrition counselling, and baseline medical to play protocols when the inevitable bumps or can he be exposed to more stress during imaging are often left to last minute pre-season in the road appear during the season. training sessions. In this respect, technology has become key in rugby union, contributing to more frequent player testing and monitoring. Instead of having to create formal testing sessions, players can be assessed during training sessions with data made available immediately, leading to improved decision-making in terms of player readiness.

CASEY It is also important to ensure that the NPS Casey Smith is Dallas Mavericks head athletic trainer, (non-playing squad) is put under the same where his primary duties involve daily medical care, injury rehabilitation, physician liaison and travel arrangements. He STEPHAN was previously head strength and conditioning coach and readiness when they are called upon. The best Stephan is Strength and Conditioning Coach for the assistant athletic trainer at the Phoenix Suns. He has served as conditioning is to play a match, but that comes Stormers Super 15 side and for Wester Province athletic trainer for the USA Men’s Senior National Basketball with the risk of injury. If a practice match is not Rugby. He was previously high performance consultant Team since 2005, including the gold-medal-winning teams at at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa. the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 FIBA Championships and available, try to create a conditioning session 2012 London Olympics. that can match everything except the collision. PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENT 22 23 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

BENITA Chief of Organisational Excellence, United Excellence States Olympic Committee and former as Standard Olympic gold medal winning hurdler

Benita Fitzgerald Mosley

“Breaking through barriers What excites me? Strangely, I love strategic beneficial athletes and coaches. Over 85 planning and not too many people do. We per cent of medallists were from the tier or at least overcoming them had our first offsite meeting with the senior system. We also focused on those events is something I’m used to team and Scott [the CEO] this week and I’ve that provided low-hanging fruit, events been told that it was a success and – as I’ve where we had potential in the athletes doing as a hurdler,” jokes said – that excites me. It was invigorating, but also as importantly where we had Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, the insightful and full of great camaraderie. great coaches. And what appeared like a tiny detail ended up giving us a huge new Chief of Organisational Returning to your US track and lift. We got those great coaches increased Excellence for the United field days, how did you achieve your access through part-time validation to record medal haul of 29 medals? their athletes on the warm-up tracks. States Olympic Committee, We had a focused strategic high Believe it or not but that was not a given. but it’s clear that the athlete performance plan for 2012. The former CEO had already set a target of 30 medals What’s next for USA Track & Field? who claimed gold in the before I arrived, so that was the monkey I saw nine fourth places and realised how 100m hurdles at the 1984 Los on my back coming in. However, the good close we had been to overachieving, and news was that I knew that the athletes the same in Moscow this summer. I don’t Angeles Olympics couldn’t be were capable of achieving the target. I think it would be that difficult a leap to more serious about her role. just had to ensure that the environment turn those fourths into medals if we were surrounding them in the build-up and to analyse what was the difference between As Chief of Sport Performance for USA on the ground in London would enable fourth place and the podium. That’s where Track & Field, she helped deliver her their performances. So, that was where we I would have concentrated had I stayed in country’s highest medal count in 20 years focused. First we looked at sports science, the job; that’s where we need to focus next. at London 2012, and this year has seen her medicine and technology. We knew that we assume even greater responsibilities. She is, had great knowledge in these fields but we If you look back in five years’ effectively, the COO of one of sport’s most also felt that that expertise did not always time at your tenure at the USOC, iconic institutions, and here she explains to get to the people who needed it. So, we what would success look like? Chris Brady exactly what that entails… created a Sports Performance Workshop I would like everyone in the organisation, programme, a series of workshops located either on or off the field, to feel that they I just had to ensure What has worried you and what has around the country to which athletes and are genuinely connected to one another, that the environment excited you about your new role? coaches were invited to attend and discuss the organisation and the programmes. For I haven’t been here long enough to get cutting-edge developments. We actually me, that would be even more gratifying surrounding them in the worried, but I suppose if it would be provided more than 800 hours of service than winning 30 medals at the Olympics. build-up and on the ground one thing it would be the athlete career to athletes in 2012 alone and we saw a These people put their hearts and souls programme. That’s near and dear to measurable difference in performance into their jobs so I would want them to in London would enable my heart because I know how difficult enhancement between those who attended know how much they are valued. As long their performances. the transition from sport can be and and those who did not. Those who attended as they can say that today is better than at the moment I don’t have anyone to improved performance around two and a yesterday and tomorrow will be better than lead that programme, so I worry a little half times more than those who did not. today then that will constitute success. about getting that recruitment right. Maybe it’s not a worry but definitely Next, we created a four-tier system that my biggest and earliest challenge. enabled resources to flow to the most 25 MENTAL AUTUMN 2013 | 01

JOHN Dr. John P. Sullivan is a Clinical Sport It’s All in Psychologist and Applied Sport Scientist for Providence College, the University of Rhode Island, and within the ranks of the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLS, Olympics, WORK HARD, PLAY HARD. The Mind and the elite performers of military. ENJOY 180° FLAT-BED SEATS WITH DIRECT AMY Experts John Sullivan and Amy Athey is a Clinical and Sport Psychologist at Clinical and Sports Consulting Services. AISLE ACCESS ON ALL NONSTOP FLIGHTS Athey explore the critical factors to FROM LONDON HEATHROW. consider in properly integrating human performance technology and second- generation sports psychology.

1. Inform coaches Clinical sports psychologists can assist coaches to understand where the athlete is in the developmental cycle. By integrating sport science data, they can advise coaches on the optimal points to intervene in a strategic and tactical fashion.

2. Educate and empower athletes Clinical sport psychologists help athletes to increase their ability to identify and master strategies to improve their own rest and recovery efforts. There are more stories out on the pitch than the score tells. Feedback loops are helpful ways for athletes to learn to master ideal performance states, as well as identify rest and recovery needs both between events, and even within a single event.

3. Identify and develop talent: Second-generation sport psychology moves beyond simply assessing personality factors. Although helpful at times, these are not precise enough to create accurate prediction factors. directly reading accurate descriptors from the central nervous system and the brain’s abilities, including effective decision- making and complex reaction time. Often, this information is less about selection and more about improving player development

4. Wellness as a foundation to performance Clinical sport psychologists are trained to identify areas of reduced welfare that can lead to injury or decreased performance, in addition to strategically training the central nervous system. Treating the player as a whole helps to maximise readiness, performance and reduce the risk of injury, protecting the investment in the player at the same time. DELTA.COM ©2013 Delta Air Lines, Inc.

DL00380 Performance Mag Ad_156x235 v2.indd 1 18/09/2013 16:56 PERFORMANCE TALENT ID 26 27 AUTUMN 2013 | 01 Unlocking The Potential Chelsea Warr Talking Talent

Chris Brady talks to Chelsea Warr, Deputy Director of Performance, UK Sport, about the research and development going into creating tomorrow’s world-beaters.

Deputy Director of Performance earlier this year. UK Sport, the high performance agency in the Team delivers, working in close partnership with as a nine-year-old for what I would describe as Essentially, the remit for Chelsea and her specialist UK, through its ‘World Class’ programme which technical team is to constructively challenge, yet invests in sports based on their medal potential walked in with hundreds of other kids and stood actively support, all Olympic and Paralympic funded over an eight-year cycle and continually monitors Paralympic sports we currently fund twice in a in front of a lady called Ju-Ping Tian – the ‘Dragon sports to embed world-leading performance and reviews performance against agreed targets Lady’ – who was the National Head Coach of through its widely admired ‘Mission’ process. Australian Gymnastics at the time. If she pointed left, you went and played in the foam pit for four or responsibility is to enhance the chances of Team In effect, UK Sport chooses how to invest more than GB winning more medals at future games. One £355m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding contrast the sports development systems against you went into a room with all the top coaches for over a four-year period to enable summer Olympic what we consider are the world’s best. During this the effectiveness of how all funded sports are and Paralympic sports to enhance their own systems process we benchmark sports across more than 100 So recalls Chelsea Warr on her introduction to locating and developing medal winners for 2020- of performance development and ultimately build a metrics that are determining factors in implementing the world of talent selection and development. 2024. I challenge myself, and my team – how can stronger, more sustainable system. That investment we enhance, innovate and accelerate the levels of is distributed in line with a ‘no compromise’ and development programme. We then activate Despite that inauspicious beginning, Chelsea sophistication by which sports currently unearth meritocratic approach which, as Chelsea explains, improvement programmes at either a system-wide and construct their eight-10 year development programmes? How can we inject pace and greater in sports that are winning now. However, as projects active at any one time in the cycle. The says. After a degree in Sports Science and several commonly observed in good venture capitalists, post graduate degrees, her career started as an And given the backdrop of more countries now we also consider the relative future potential of from a wise colleague of mine who taught me that exercise physiologist at the Australian Institute taking a greater market share of not only medals, that sport, the direction of travel – what they are critical challenge is three times more likely to be of Sport in Canberra. She was then appointed to but gold medals, our work is about proactively capable of doing in the next eight years. In other accepted and acted upon if immediately proceeded responding to this challenge. The answer is not words, how strong is the evidence to suggest the with help and support. That’s the underpinning just throwing money at it. It’s all about high current athletes targeted for 2020 podium success principle of our benchmarking work stream. in Australia, resulting in 156 State and National challenge, high support, high accountability and a could actually reach these levels of performance, Junior champions, 11 World Junior medallists willingness to work in partnerships with sports and how strong are their systems and structures in place to enable this to happen? We want to invest The purpose of this work is to deploy key staff into before being recruited by British Swimming the sports for extended secondment periods in and Diving to develop and implement its World Currently that means investing in 714 development order to answer questions like how do you create a Class Development strategy. She then moved athletes (known as ‘podium potential’) across The ultimate investment decisions are based on a to UK Sport in 2005, where she consulted on range of data and insights, some of which Chelsea’s Paralympic potential? How many athletes do we high performance programmes, becoming head are already well into their journey for podium team contribute to. There are currently four need in the pipeline now to achieve our medal of athlete development in 2009, and eventually success in 2020.These athletes are supported by key workstreams that the Performance Pathway ambitions in Tokyo 2020? Is it possible to transfer PERFORMANCE TALENT ID 28 29 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

sporting talent from one sport to another? How serial gold medallists, starting from the age of six old is too old and what sports transfer best? What years old to when they won their medals was IF THE UK SPORT TALENT ID does an exceptional development environment look ATHLETES HAVE PRODUCED like and how can we create, replicate and sustain it? ‘nearly twin’, someone who should have made it, GLOVER What role does the art of science and coaching play but didn’t. This world-leading piece of research has FITS… in identifying and developing extraordinary talent? allowed Chelsea’s team a greater in-depth insight International into the discriminating factors that are required Appearances to achieve not only success, but serial success in 359 Performance Pathway Education Programme – is designed to accelerate the knowledge and skills of were constantly asking ourselves three questions Helen Glover International our Performance Pathway Managers who have the about this very special cohort: what do we know? Medals lead responsibility to unearth and develop future What do we think we know? What do we need to elen Glover had no rowing experience as a 121 40 gold Olympic and Paralympic medallists. The structured know in order to enhance sport’s ability to identify 22-year-old in 2008. Four short years later, programme unfolds over an 18-month period and H comprises of seven, two-day intensive residential gold at the London 2012 Olympics. Olympic Medals modules delivered in collaboration with individuals So, what does the future hold to help deliver that One gold (Helen Glover, 2 From rowing novice to top of the world, in large part sustainable success? According to Chelsea, after (Lutalo Muhammad, leading authorities in identifying and developing having been recommended to read business guru taekwondo) precocious talent. For example, we have worked Jim Collins’ most recent work How The Mighty Fall programme launched by Sir Steve Redgrave in with the European Space Agency to understand - Sustainable Success Is A Tough One. Collins argues February 2007, aimed at unearthing tall, powerful, how they identify and develop astronauts, clearly a that it is not apathy and arrogance that is mostly talented contenders who could be fast-tracked into Paralympic Silver process they have to get right. We also collaborate responsible for the demise of great organisations sports, particularly rowing, handball and volleyball. Karen Darke 1 Paralympic cycling with institutions of development excellence such as the Royal Ballet School, the Yehudi Menuhin He warns that leaders assume their current Although Helen came from a sporting background School and the Royal College of Surgeons to success is automatic and turn their attention to – playing high-level hockey, tennis and swimming, as World constantly benchmark ourselves against ‘gold’ the next big thing, leaping into businesses, products, well as running for England – it was only when she Championship standard organisations. Finally, we will be taking activities where there is no advantage, taking actions came forward for Sporting Giants that she was able 17 Medals our P3 Learners on a world talent tour whereby inconsistent with core values and neglecting the to take her sporting ambitions to a GB level. 10 at junior level they will systematically study 13 institutions core principles that created those values in the and seven at senior that can demonstrate sustainable success and a S international (four gold) constant production line of talented individuals and provides both a warning and advice for all the I remember being in a room at Bisham Abbey and sports with which UK Sport interacts. The key to someone saying: ‘A 2012 gold medallist could be sat in this room. Look around you’. I thought: ‘Right, I’m World Cup Medals sustaining and replicating the success achieved by at Senior Level The fourth workstream is about cutting-edge sports such as cycling, sailing and rowing is, she 38 19 gold F translating it into real-life practice. Chelsea explains: really important things that got you there in the to the hugely successful GB Rowing team’s ‘Start’ European programme in Bath and was coached by GB Rowing’s real killer questions that, if we were able to answer great coaches, not by chance, but by design, and Championship Paul Stannard. 10 them and apply those answers to our methods, it engineering environments that worship the notion Medals would enhance sport’s chances of identifying the of constant progression and excellence. This is British Two at senior level C of faith, committing to a new sport, and pursuing an way. We’ve initiated many different applied research proactively connecting it to an intensive incubator all-encompassing lifestyle with commitment, tenacity European Cup with world-class coaches and support staff, and, most and dedication. It’s an exemplary example of how Medals at Senior back into the front line solutions team in real-time 18 and, of course, into the P3 programme. It keeps the Level programmes can impact on the world stage. The seven gold whole programme fresh and curious, and this is an Chelsea concludes by recalling one of her selection process was long and demanding, assessing favourite quotes which comes from T.S. Eliot, to what applicants could do now but also, more explain the mission of UK Sport and her role in importantly, what they could do in the future – an World Record One recent, highly innovative piece of work that Para-cycling examination of their ‘headroom’; their trainability; 1 will be revealed later this year across the World their ability to respond and commit. Class system is the Serial Medallist study (and t’s our role to help sports examine the raw materials, explore what potential success looks like, and work out to as high a probability as possible, which individuals can make it. Helen has certainly PERFORMANCE P8 SUMMIT 30 31 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

“A leader is a guide. Some people need leadership; they need About the a guide, someone to follow. If they feel he/she isn’t right, they look for another one. A leader should comprehensively compound fear, pride and excitement into the team.” Arsene Wenger P8 Manager, Arsenal FC

n April this year, eight of the world’s leading sports performance practitioners met for two “Addressing issues head on I days in a secret location to share best practice is key for the team culture.” and uncover some of the latest techniques in the Stuart Lancaster world of sports performance. Organised by Leaders Head Coach, National and called the P8, no-one else was allowed in the English Rugby Team room to ensure the integrity and privacy of the discussion. What happened next was a master-class in how to get the best out of teams, how to lead, how to innovate, how to stay focused and how to have only been circulated to those eight participants who were invited to take part. However, here “The quickest to “The professionalism are some behind the scenes pictures from the P8 react will gain in the approach will with a selection of quotes taken from the report. the competitive determine its success.” The next P8 takes place in New York in November advantage.” Andy Flower Sir David Brailsford Performance Director & sport mixing with their peers from abroad. We National Team Coach, ECB look forward to unveiling who took part in the next Performance Director British Cycling & General Manager footage and key conclusions published for all readers. Team SKY PERFORMANCE FUTURE OF SPORT 32 33 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

DAVE Dave Hancock is director of training and The Future conditioning for the New York Knicks. He oversees all aspects of medicine and rehabilitation along with Objective Subjective conditioning. He is a chartered physiotherapist who previously worked in the UK, most notably as head Factual Opinion of Sport Direct “EXPERTISE” Judgment physiotherapist at Chelsea FC and Leeds United. Observations There’s a lot of good Preference Countable stuff in there! Belief Dave Hancock Reproducible Rumour Unbiased Suspicion

In each issue of Performance magazine, Dave Hancock will interview one of the top sporting minds from around the world to "nd out where elite sport is heading.

I have played a part in winning cups and titles – but before and we can now collect objective data, get a better understanding of the huge technological very reliable as long as the data sets are valid and I’ve also experienced losing, including relegation and compared to just having the coaches’ and players’ resources out there. For modern technology to there are enough over a prolonged period of time. my team going into administration. Along the way subjective views. Today, the expert is a coach have a true effect on sport, it is the coach, and And the ability to run multiple simulations can I’ve seen how sport has changed; where progress with both an analytical and a subjective mind. to a lesser extent the athlete, who needs to be duplicate scenarios hundreds of thousands of times and improvements can be seen and where things are educated by the sports scientist as to what the data held back by the traditions of a sport and its culture. With such a volume of data collected on a daily means, how it can be analysed and how to use it. of the end result. Perhaps in the future, teams will basis, comes the onerous task of analysing and And if it has a positive impact, then it needs to be not only have large sports science departments Sports science and monitoring studying it, before deciding what to actually do with shown that this can be replicated for science and but also mathematical geniuses on their payroll? One area of change is sports science and monitoring. it. Analytics conferences are becoming the newest technology to have a true bearing on performance. Our understanding of training and stress on the Of course simple physiological data sets, such as The next frontier body has improved and the physiological basis distance covered and heart rate, can give immediate The next frontier is the brain. We can now of what an athlete does and when is constantly to have THE answer to performance and injury and direct feedback to affect. But the athlete is undertake brain mapping and assess brain waves improving. The knowledge and expertise of sports prediction. Software has become the new coach. a very complex individual, and looking at all the and patterns when an athlete performs. This opens science PhD minds in the areas of exercise, variables that can affect them we end up with a up a huge door as we can see the difference physiology, nutrition and sleep, to name a few, have Though I’m a fan of objective data and analytics, conundrum. From psychological to biochemical, between an athlete making a mistake and one transformed and revolutionised what we see on it doesn’t provide the complete picture on the to sleep deprivation, one needs to discover the achieving a successful outcome. The brain is the most powerful tool any athlete has and it is a training facility, where on-site testing and immediate points per season but have no real idea of how to feedback is available. With such a narrow margin use this information to have an immediate effect Mathematical geniuses we can understand its data sets and analysis, we between winning and losing, every advantage is vital. on the training pitch and in the performance What could truly enhance the athlete’s capabilities. of their athletes. Teams and professionals scientists and mathematicians, who can take these Data can become swamped by their own various large data sets and run regression analysis and There has also been a ‘data explosion’: GPS, different data collections. Data is only relevant form neural networks to see which data point is accelerometers, heart-rate monitoring, wellness more relevant to that individual when looking at a NEXT ISSUE I’ll be talking to Michael Gervais, one of the world’s scores and RPE (Relative Perceived Exertion) leading sports psychologists. Michael works with the have all come to the fore. The athlete and his For years, many coaches have been successful based or injury prevention. With their help and with Seattle Seahawks, and consults for Red Bull and I am sure daily routine are under the microscope like never on just intuition and experience. Now they need to computer modelling, performance can become he will give us some true insights into the power of the mind and its ability to enhance athletic performance. PERFORMANCE MENTAL 34 35 AUTUMN 2013 | 01 Mastering The Situation

Sports psychology experts Marc-Simon Sagal and Geo! Miller discuss how concentration is the key to performing in high-pressure situations.

By Chris Brady

the synergy between concentration and attentional Miller explains that underperformance must not be style (the way in which individuals attend to the Skills Coach for the Atlanta Braves, while world around them and the way in which they reappear on its own. Indeed, Miller believes that the get them to focus on the bigger picture: to think weighing up the difference between a physically process information internally) and the effect of life more than career, career more than season, that synergy upon performance which grew out of the real problem. In a recent Daily Mail column it the ones who consistently execute are the the work of Robert Nideffer, who in the 1970s and try to give them a process, to get them to stop ones who understand how to use their talents seeking the results you want but to seek a process the effects of concentration upon performance. that will bring you the results. It is this process Miller and his colleague Marc-Simon Sagal – who Nideffer’s work indicated that within sports, together in 2001 helped found Winning Mind, attention takes different forms during exercise and For both Sagal and Miller you will only have failed an organistion that highlights the importance individuals manifest different styles of attention. if you have allowed your self-imposed pressure of human factors in the pursuit of excellence – In order to characterise individual attentional that he started trying too hard and lost sight of to disable your natural level of performance. If believe that it is self-imposed pressure that usually styles, Nideffer developed the TAIS personality who he was as a player. When Pellegrini took over, interacting with sports psychologists, or for that impedes underperforming athletes. The issue is inventory. The test is comprised of numerous matter any advisor, can avoid such failures then categories that describe the individual differences allowed the striker to get back to being himself it must be worth giving it a go – mustn’t it? of matches because athletes do not perceive within attentional abilities that can indicate training as a pressure situation. Miller thus sees an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. While the TAIS methodology aims to identify how MARC-SIMON people to deal with self-imposed pressure by individuals will actually respond under pressure, it is Sagal has delivered assessment, training and performance coaching helping them to understand the consequences Nideffer contends that concentration can be to a wide variety of organisations, including J.P. Morgan, Liverpool and their own expectations of how they’re going learned. The most relevant theory here is Donald their interpersonal skills that are the key to enabling FC and the US Army Norman’s pertinence model, which contends GEOFF that an inability to concentrate occurs when look at the attentional and interpersonal variables Geoff is the Mental Skills Coach for the Atlanta Braves and Their primary tool is a system known as the the individual is required to select a response. and ask, what kind of mistakes is this person most has provided mental skills coaching services to two other TAIS (Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style) Therefore, in order to learn concentration we Major League Baseball teams, spending 2005-2009 with the inventory. This is an assessment tool used in the early need to learn how to exclude irrelevant stimuli. is this person going to do? People react in a variety Pittsburgh Pirates and 2010 with the Washington Nationals stages of engagement with a client that focuses on PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY 36 37 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

conventional standards THE CELUTION® SYSTEM of care. However, The entire process takes 90 minutes and all that is about to is generally conducted as an outpatient procedure under local anesthetic. Innovation in change, thanks to a revolutionary new Step One technology, the A sample of the patient’s body fat is taken Player Injury Celution System. by their point-of-care physician via a simple liposuction. An amount roughly the Regenerative Cells Regenerative The Celution System Step Two was developed by Adipose-derived regenerative cells Cytori Therapeutics, (ADRCs) are harvested from the fat via Cytori’s patented equipment. Medicine a company based in the United States that Step Three traces its origins out The ADRCs are applied to the affected of novel clinical work tissue, improving its ability to regenerate and repair itself, resulting in a swifter A cutting-edge new technology that harnesses the carried out at the and more complete healing process. University of California’s body’s own healing cells is helping to get athletes Los Angeles School of Medicine (UCLA) – back in action faster than ever and has the potential work undertaken with to transform injury treatment across elite sport. the goal of advancing body. Until now, physicians have had limited medicine. Celution access to a medical technology that could improved viability of tissues after surgery. The System received extract and harness these regenerative cells administration of ADRCs in both acute and chronic There are few things more frustrating for an athlete European regulatory approval (CE Mark) in 2007 to aid the patient’s own body to heal itself. muscle injury represents a promising approach than spending time on the sidelines because of injury, and recent expansion of its labelling enables to more rapid healing and return of function. but sadly it’s an all too common occurrence. Studies physicians and patients to access the technology The procedure, like many good ideas, seems of elite football clubs have shown that a team with and therapy today. Celution is being used for remarkably simple when you boil it down. A small a squad of 25 players can expect approximately 50 general surgery procedures to facilitate healing amount of fat is removed from the patient via at the headquarters of the RFEF for our Medical injuries every season. Around half of these injuries liposuction, and the ADRCs contained within it are Conference in January of this year. What Cytori will keep the player off the pitch for at least a muscle and fascia, soft tissue wounds, ulcers extracted by Cytori-developed medical technology presented to a large number of doctors from week; as many as eight or nine will result in the no larger than a conventional dishwasher. These our clubs and football associations about stem loss of that player to competition for more than ischemia or radiation injury and tissue ischemia. ADRCs are then injected into the damaged cell therapy in the recovery of sports injuries, four weeks. That’s a huge amount of time for a tissue to aid in the body’s healing process. particularly football injuries, I found very interesting. key performer, one who has possibly cost the club The Celution System enables a surgeon to We see the great potential in the Cytori technology millions to recruit and retain, to be out of action. process a small amount of the patient’s own fat The way to think about your own ADRCs is in the to yield a clinical grade heterogeneous population same way that your body goes about healing itself Juan Espino, Head of the Medical Committee Interestingly, almost 87 per cent of these injuries of the patient’s own autologous adipose-derived if you, say, cut your arm playing football during the at the Royal Spanish Football Federation. affect the muscles, tendons or ligaments of the leg, regenerative cells, otherwise referred to as ADRCs, weekend – you would clean up the laceration and with re-injury – and the extended recovery times which are then used to treat the presenting cover it with a bandage and expect a local healing Next Steps it inevitably brings – a consistent and unwelcome injury. This all happens within a few hours. process to form a scab and eventually form new Further clinical evaluations of ADRCs in sports- presence. If you dig into the stats a little deeper, the scar tissue at the injury site. Well, imagine if your related injuries are being conducted in a number doctor could take a small amount of these same even more apparent. A study of leading clubs playing more than 40 countries around the world to treat healing cells from another part of your body and experience in ADRC therapy and work with in UEFA competitions between 2001 and 2008 saw their patients’ acute or chronic non-healing injuries place this concentration of healing cells available at leading physicians, league and player associations, 4,483 injuries picked up across 566,000 hours of using the patient’s own regenerative cells with highly the injury site to improve that healing process? teams and athletes around the world to activity (1,937 in 475,000 hours of training and 2,546 make this promising new approach for sports in 91,000 hours of match play). The single most Innovation common site of injury was the thigh muscle, with 525 our clinical work includes the treatment of more Cytori’s experience in treating patients with acute hamstring injuries and 218 injuries to the quadriceps. than 6,000 patients across a variety of indications, and chronic wounds and cardiac disease provided Faster, more complete recovery? Sounds like the answer every injured player, and repair and preservation of muscle that should manager who has ever sat powerless during few, if any, medical therapies are being developed It turns out that the fat we once thought be applicable to use in skeletal muscle and using a lengthy recovery period, is searching for. of with negative connotations is the richest ADRCs in sports injuries. The mechanism of action leaving injured athletes with few alternatives to source of regenerative cells in the human of the cell therapy involves better angiogenesis, PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY 38 INSPIRING GENERATIONS OF ATHLETES

The Breakdown What do ADRCs do to damaged tissue? new blood vessels). ADRC treatment has been The data collected by Cytori via clinical trials shown to have beneficial effects in animal models suggests strongly that ADRCs improve blood flow, of muscle injury and in veterinary muscle injury moderate the inflammatory response that happens case reports. As with skeletal muscle injury, when human tissue is damaged, stimulate local strains and tears of the tendons and ligaments repair cells and keep tissue at risk of dying alive. follow a well-recognised pattern of healing involving inflammatory and proliferative phases What sporting injuries can they of repair, both of which ADRCs enhance. most obviously be applied to? Skeletal muscle injuries (e.g. hamstring, ligament, tendon, straining a bicep, contusions, CYTORI Cytori was founded in 1996 and The Inside Line provides patients and physicians avulsions and detachments) are an obvious around the world with medical starting point, but Cytori foresee a wide range For further information technologies that harness the of applications including chronic disorders visit www.cytori.com potential of adult stem and from sporting injuries such as osteoarthritis. regenerative cells from adipose tissue.

These technologies enable the How does that affect the normal healing process? research and practice of regenerative Healing following skeletal muscle injury medicine in a way that, until now, has progresses through inflammatory and proliferative not been possible. phases. ADRCs have been shown to be capable of influencing both of these phases of healing Regenerative medicine is an emerging by minimising the inflammatory response lost or damaged tissue function due and promoting recruitment of skeletal muscle to the effects of injury, disease, and satellite cells and angiogenesis (the growth of ageing. PERFORMANCE 5 MINUTES WITH... 40 41 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Years in the sports industry? Best advice you ever got? 18 years working in the industry. Tom Cooper, a former GE executive, told me that your competition will always catch up to First job in sport? you, and when they do, you had better already I was hired by the USSA six weeks after I have moved on to somewhere else. The most wrapped up my competitive skiing career. I exciting thing in sport is that there is only one retired from competing because I felt that our #1, and everyone wants to get there. team wasn’t being managed in a way that would facilitate top-level performance. I could see a How will your job have changed in 10 years? great number of ways we could improve the In 10 years, my job will demand even tougher fortunes of our team. I painted that vision for decisions about what to engage in and what not the Board and they hired me shortly thereafter! to engage in. The variety of options you can choose to create the performance of your team continues to expand. Having a clear sense of MINUTES WITH what will drive the biggest impacts will be vital 5 – you can’t prioritise everything. If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be? LUKE To eliminate the attitudes that lead to doping. Sport is ultimately about bringing your best to BODENSTEINER the field, and it is the pursuit of excellence that EVP Athletics, US Ski and drives innovation, commitment and collabora- Snowboard Association tion. I do feel the attitudes are changing, but the pressures are still there.

What has been the luckiest moment of your career so far? The luckiest moment of my career was being hired by a boss who was willing to take big risks with me and support those risks, someone who was capable of providing the resources neces- sary to innovate, and was committed to being the best even if that meant we gambled and failed at times in the process.

What’s the last thing you do at the end of the day? I spend a moment thinking long-term and crea- tively about how we can improve our system and enhance our odds of success. Then I kiss my family goodnight – without their support I couldn’t put in the efforts that are required. But it’s thinking about what my competitors are doing that keeps me up after that! LUKE BODENSTEINER In 10 years my job will A two-time Olympian and NCAA champion demand even tougher Luke Bodensteiner oversees the integration decisions about what strategic plan, emphasising high performance services. He started with the USSA in 1996 to engage in and what was named cross country manager in 1997 not to engage in. nordic director in 2001 and associate athletic director for high performance in March 2008. He took over his athletics leadership position in November 2008. PERFORMANCE RASMUS ANKERSEN 42 43 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

RASMUS Rasmus Ankersen is an ex-footballer, a bestselling author, If it Ain’t a speaker on performance development and a trusted advisor to businesses and athletes around the world. In around the world for six months to live and train with the Broke, Fix it how successful organisations can learn to kill complacency. Rasmus Ankersen

any successful athletes, teams and Joseph Schumpeter order to create. They assumed continuity: that businesses fail because they become Economist tomorrow would be like yesterday; they tried to M obsessed protecting what they have, protect the past rather than embrace the future. developing a psychological attachment to what The concept of creative destruction is no less worked in the past. Ex-footballer, best-selling relevant today. All successful companies, whether author, and speaker on performance development TV stations, technology companies or toy Rasmus Ankersen claims that what they need to manufacturers, are built on a business model they understand is that change shouldn’t happen when it can successfully repeat – right until somebody is necessary. It should happen when it is possible. comes up with a better model. In order to survive this threat, successful companies have two On 13 April 1997, a 20-year-old kid destroyed choices: destroy yourself or wait to be destroyed. the international golf elite and won the Masters It is in this shift from one business model to by an incredible 12 strokes. What he showed another, from one product or technology to that day at Augusta wasn’t just dominance, it was 18 months of rewiring, frustration, and mediocre another, where many successful businesses fail. Tiger Woods golf from a different planet. It was one of those results followed. But slowly Tiger’s new swing performances that sets a new standard and opens got better and better. With no loss of power, So, back to Tiger’s swing change, which is relevant far Successful businesses or athletes don’t fail because up a path that people couldn’t see before. he could hit any type of shot on demand, more beyond the golf world. In their attempt to reinvent they don’t have the ability to change, but because accurately than ever before. The pay-off was a themselves, many successful companies face exactly they lack the courage to re-invent themselves before The kid’s name was Tiger Woods, a young man with record six straight wins starting in late 1999. the same dilemma. Why change something that it is too late. a laser-like intensity and a supremely powerful swing. works well? Why challenge a success? Faced with At two years old he was introduced to golf by his this dilemma, they often hesitate and ultimately The more success they’ve had, the more prestige economist Joseph Schumpeter. He had three end up being destroyed because they become and privileges they’ve earned, the less willing they captivated by the sport at a late age and had decided declared goals – he wanted to be the greatest obsessed with protecting what they have and get are to challenge themselves and to change. Success to train his son to become a world-class golfer. economist in the world, the greatest horseman in psychologically attached to what worked in the past. changes the language of people and organisations. all of Austria and the greatest lover in all of Vienna. Then followed two decades of dedicated training in Later in life, he declared that he had achieved two Blockbuster is a great example of how the lack of order to build the perfect athlete with a swing and of his goals, without going into detail about which! courage to re-invent oneself can lead to failure. In mental resilience that would be almost impossible the late 1990s Blockbuster collected more than something unique and extraordinary to protecting to beat. Tiger’s spectacular win that day was clear Schumpeter certainly became one of the most $800m in late fees. It was a cash cow – until Reed what you have. proof that the mission had been accomplished. Entire companies can become paralysed by their own But if Tiger’s performance at the Masters was thinking about innovation. He described how fee and rent as many movies as they wanted with success when they are caught in the intersection astounding, two months later he took an even destruction precedes renewal, with the capitalist no late fees. Hastings’ idea left Blockbuster with between the continuous demands for innovation and more remarkable decision. He decided to re-invent the fear of decline and losing what they have. his swing. And it wasn’t just the minor tweaks that and technologies continually destroying and ignore them. They chose the latter, because copying players are forever making to their swings. We are replacing old ones. In that way capitalism’s The dilemma is clear: take risks, but do not fail! talking about a structural overhaul, whereby a player pain and gain are inextricably linked. Some their existing business and saying goodbye to Or let me put it in another way: with great power transforms the very shape and pattern of his swing. comes great fear of losing it. However, in a world improve and grow – and suddenly it was too late of unprecedented change, there is only one way Schumpeter claimed that there is no such thing for Blockbuster. Their unwillingness to destroy to protect yourself from destruction – do the that isn’t broken? Why take such a big risk when as a static market, but to his frustration many themselves and reinvent killed them in the end. destruction yourself. Change shouldn’t happen when you are the best player in the world? But Tiger successful businesspeople of his time ignored it is necessary, it should happen when it is possible. knew his swing wasn’t as consistent, controlled, the fact that sometimes you have to destroy in PERFORMANCE DATA & ANALYTICS 44 45 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

TECHNOLOGY uses of the data for their organisation and deploy when I try and identify the people I work with, that their resources accordingly. The teams that do this ability to be a good statistician and spot useful trends, best will be able to have information on teams and but also that ability to communicate with people players in the league that other teams do not, which who don’t have a statistical background. Fortunately Changing The Game will give them an undoubted competitive advantage the students and people I’ve been lucky enough on the court – so much so that Alamar laughs when the idea of a free sharing of best practice and Over the past "ve seasons, the NBA has experienced a data academic hat on that’s a great idea, but with my team It’s not a question of stumbling upon one single revolution, with the advent of motion capture technology meaning hat on that’s terrible – why give away what you’re thing that’s going to change the team forever, it’s about constant communication between us and everything that moves on the court can be tracked 25 times a second. the coaches, telling them what we’re noticing, disadvantage if they don’t use the information performance and then pushing on from there. It’s properly. It’s a pretty complicated process that is still a hugely exciting challenge, one that’s going to be pretty new to everyone so it will take some getting seen it in other sports. Major League Baseball has done the same kind of things, and the English Premier League uses motion capture as well, but the trick is turning all this data we’re collecting and turning it into something useful. Australian Rules Football is interesting because they use it to monitor the chance of providing teams with information they can however, with the announcement from Stats LLC of a player picking up injury, but really everyone is BENJAMIN and the NBA that all 30 teams would have the Alamer has consulted with a variety of teams in the NFL Analytics: A Guide for Coaches, Managers, and Other cameras installed and get access to the data. So now a complex and incomplete data set that was But how useful is all the data that is collected? How Thunder and is the founding editor of the Journal of skill level of the people who work with the data. the sole property of a few teams will become a easy is it to convert the information into something academic journal for research in sports analytics. Years back we had basic game summary information, complex and complete data available to all. The players and coaches, who are unlikely to have an which could give you some statistics to look at, sudden completeness of the data now means every moment of every game is tracked and makes the analysts’ jobs that much more straightforward. The NBA’s technological revolution has, in truth, been slow, almost an evolution. When available, each NBA team had the option of expensive so it hasn’t been the easiest thing to installing the technology in their arenas at their implement. But there’s no choice now, every team own cost. Some chose to be early adopters, and by the time last season came around the share. The fact that data is now available for every total was up to 50 per cent of teams. game means that analysts now have complete These sides had access to this highly complex information to go on, which means our ability to data set for all of their home games, as well as the home games of every other team that had the cameras. Some of these teams embraced But this also creates what may be a far more the challenge that the data presents and started complex set of challenges. There is now no structural to build their own mechanisms for accessing reason why the data cannot be used in every the data and gleaning information from it, while aspect of basketball operations, but the complexity others relied on the data provider Stats LLC. and newness of this data means that there is no established road map for how to get best value Naturally, there were limits to the usefulness from it. Each team will have to create a strategy for of the data, as it did not cover every game of gaining a competitive advantage by utilising the data, the season, or even every game that a team and now they will have to do it with the pressure of every other team trying to do the same. Analytics groups in the NBA, while typically growing, are still information that decision makers could utilise. PERFORMANCE DATABANK 46 47 AUTUMN 2013 | 01

DATABANK Cristiano Ronaldo’s transformation from a roving Xabi Alonso and Adel Taraabt stand out as the winger into Manchester United’s spearhead kings of the long distance strike. The stats also becomes apparent when you look at his suggest that Ashley Cole might be best advised Goal Machines shooting positions stats, while John Arne Riise,

Goals are the yardstick by which every striker is measured, but not all goals are created equal. Stats gurus Prozone lift the lid on which players tear it up season after season and which strikers are as deadly from 30 yards as they are from three… AVERAGE OPEN PLAY SHOT LOCATIONS Premier League van Persie has scored about 18 more goals than August 2006 – Present looking at the amount, location and type (e.g. header, we would expect based on the amount, location penalty) of shots to generate how many goals they and type of shots he’s taken clearly making him the would expect them to score from these shots. form striker in the Premiership over the last three This is then subtracted from how many goals they seasons, while Jermain Defoe clearly had a season to actually scored to give the values on these graphs. forget in 2010-11. For example, between August 2009 and now, Robin

GOALS SCORED EXPECTED GOALS SCORED Cumulative Trend Premier League Attackers August 2009 – Present

AVERAGE OPEN PLAY GOAL LOCATIONS Premier League August 2006 – Present

GOALS SCORED EXPECTED GOALS SCORED By Season Premier League Attackers 2009/10 – 2012/13

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PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE Jerry Stackhouse of the Brooklyn Nets

The two-time NBA all-star talks leadership, training technology and the pre-game ritual that’s stuck with him since he was 10 years old.

eadership is crucial to any team. Good leadership starts with having a constant L dialogue between the coaches and support New York staff and the players, particularly the players identified as the leaders within the squad.

The most important thing to communicate is what a player’s role is. Giving someone that clarity means they know what is expected of them and allows them to work on the skills they need to improve. Nowadays I see a lot of guys coming into the NBA wondering what their role conference is, what type of player they should be, and that can only happen if the coach hasn’t clarified their role. That’s a sign of poor leadership. I played with Michael Jordan in his last year in the NBA. I remember before a game against San I love technology, but it can’t do everything. Antonio Spurs Jordan was convinced that Bruce I think analytics has a really good place in Bowen – this great defensive player – was going the game. The ability to see what plays work to guard him. When the game came around, or monitor your training is amazing. But I’m Bowen lined up to guard me – which was the a believer in everything in moderation – I smart move when you think about it because I don’t think the numbers you can pull off an was our leading scorer. That moment stuck with iPad are going to give you a better idea of me. Even at the age of 40 Jordan was convinced what’s inside a player than looking them in he was the best player on the court, the guy their the eye during a crucial period in the game. best defensive player should mark. That ego is what powers an athlete, that conviction they’re Conditioning is a huge part of playing in the the best. It’s the coach’s job to manage those NBA. We play so many games [82 matches over egos and use them to drive the team forward. four and a half months in the regular season] that it can take a new guy a while to get used to I have some pre-game superstitions. If I’ve played it. Coming in as a rookie I expected to continue well the game before I like to do the same thing I the success that I had at high school and college did the day before that game – at least until I play but I had a rude awakening as to how demanding a bad match! But the only thing I always do is eat the schedule and standard is. I only won 17 games gummy bears before a game. I’ve done that since I in my first year, but the fact that it was so tough was 10 years old. That one isn’t going anywhere… taught me what I needed to do to play at this level.

I don’t think some of the guys playing now could handle how tough the NBA was in 1995. There were so many legends playing back then, and it was a different, more physical game. PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW 50 OCTOBER 2013

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