SEPTEMBER 2020 2
A WORD FROM OUR PRESIDENT: MRS ANNE VILAS
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this edition of CGL Behind Square during the all- important Women’s Month of August. Whilst we never forget our male counterparts, we need to face the challenges of Women’s cricket, facilities and opportunities and as such our Board are looking into the creation of a subcommittee to address accordingly. We are addressing ways to increase girls’ teams at schools and clubs; as well as build awareness for women’s cricket and have a sustainable structure for training and matches.
Central Gauteng Lions are also leading the Charge against gender-based-violence (GBV). Our players, coaches, staff, partners and families are all ready to voice their fight to end this. I would especially like to thank Temba Bavuma, Wandile Gwavu, Raisibe Ntozakhe and Takatso Mkhwanazi for their commitment to the cause and for their work already completed. I believe that there is an obligation by all of us to end violence against women. We need to raise our sons to respect women, to respect themselves and value human dignity.
2020 has been a year we will never forget, how our lives have changed and what will be the new normal in the future. We all need to get back to playing and watching the game we love.
All the best to everyone and I hope to see you on the cricket fields in the very near future! 3
CURBING HIGH LEVELS OF FEMICIDE
CENTRAL GAUTENG LIONS AND LIONS CRICKET “Imperial believes that much more can be achieved JOIN FORCES WITH POWA, IMPERIAL AND OTHER through a collaborative effort to drive the much- UNION PARTNERS TO ASSIST IN CURBING HIGH needed awareness around the challenges faced by LEVELS OF FEMICIDE women, and to provide platforms of support for those that are impacted. Imperial is committed to not only The Central Gauteng Lions (CGL) and Lions Cricket driving the development and support for women in franchise are pleased to join forces with the NPO the workplace, but also in our society through this POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse), Imperial, and many other partnerships. We are proud to be Unjani Clinics NPC, ENZA Construction, 947, Relative part of this collaboration for a critical cause,” says Media Outdoor, The Star Newspaper, BAS and Motus Esha Mansingh, Chief Corporate Affairs and Investor Honda to assist in curbing the high levels of femicide Relations Officer at Imperial. in South Africa. “Unjani Clinics fully supports the CGL and Lions “South Africa has the highest rate of Gender Based Cricket campaign against Gender Based Violence, Violence (GBV) incidents in the world and the and we look forward to working with all the partners numbers remain unabated. The partnership seeks to create heightened awareness and hopefully end the to raise the awareness of the high level of GBV rates horrendous scourge of violence against women and in South Africa, implement measures to curb this children in our country,” said Lynda Toussaint Unjani scourge and raise funds and resources for POWA. Clinics NPC CEO. As a union and franchise, led by a female President, we better understand challenges faced by women and we can proudly and firmly say that the Central Gauteng Lions and Lions Cricket will help South Africa’s women and children have a voice through sports and beyond,” commented Jono Leaf-Wright CGL and Lions Cricket CEO.
POWA’s Chief Executive Officer Mary Makgaba said; “We at POWA strive to provide a safe and equal society intolerant of all forms of violence against women and girls in all our diversity, where women and children are treated with respect and dignity and their rights are protected. We are pleased and humbled to partner with the Gauteng cricket community and its partners to end the scourge of Gender Based Violence and Femicide.” 4 LEADING WITH VISION: DEVELOPING YOUR COACHING POINT OF VIEW by Ryan Hedstrom
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” Alice asked of the Cheshire Cat as she stood at a fork in the road. He quickly responded, “That depends a good deal where you want to go.” After informing him that she did not have any idea where to go, the cat replied with a grin, “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Management consultant and educator Ken Blanchard (2007) uses this classic exchange to illustrate the importance of having direction and vision. As coaches, it is hard to always know which direction to lead athletes and programs. However, as the leader of the team you must decide the direction to lead your team via your coaching vision.
The first step in understanding your vision as a coach is to develop what Blanchard calls your Leadership Point of View (LPOV). This LPOV is similar to a coaching philosophy and allows you to explore how you began coaching, your overall purpose in coaching, and how you illustrate that purpose in the way you interact with others.
To develop your LPOV, you should think about the following questions:
Who are the influencers (leaders) in your life who have had a positive (or in some cases negative) impact on your life? What did you learn from these people about leadership and coaching? (Examples could be parents, teachers, or coaches.)
Think of your overall purpose. What do you want to accomplish in coaching? (Examples could be to lead, motivate, encourage, or teach.)
What are the core values that will guide your behaviour as you attempt to coach? (Examples could be fairness, competition, commitment, or success.)
Given what you have learned from past leaders, your overall purpose, and your core values, what are your beliefs about leading and motivating people?
What can your athletes expect from you? (Examples could be preparation, teaching, attention to detail, or support.)
What do you expect from your athletes? (Examples could be commitment, hard work, or initiative.)
How will you set an example for your athletes? (Examples could be model leadership, provide ultimate support, or display fairness in decisions.)
(Adapted from Blanchard, 2007) 5 LEADING WITH VISION: CONTINUED...
Reflecting honestly on these questions concerning your experiences with past leaders, purpose for coaching, and coaching values is critical to your success.
If you are a novice coach, take time to think about the above questions. I would suggest writing down your answers to make them more credible and long lasting. Then, you can reflect on them again at the end of the season or when you are struggling.
If you are a coach who is struggling, review your answers to these questions. Often, when coaches have conflict or struggle it is when their behaviours are in opposition to their answers to the above questions.
Veteran coaches can use their experience in answering these questions in a deeper way; this provides you valuable insight into your coaching vision.
Wherever you are in your experiences as a coach, take time to develop a coaching point of view and reflect on how it influences your athletes.
This way when there is a fork in the road, unlike Alice, you will have a clear vision of the road ahead. 6
COACH EDUCATION FEEDBACK
When the lockdown started the Central Gauteng Lions Coaching Education department saw an opportunity to host virtual Coaching forums. Our Webinars and Masterclasses are aimed to assist coaches, parents and cricketers by offering topics and insight to watch in order to improve their knowledge and understanding, ultimately making the coaching task easier!
The coaching webinar was launched on the 24 April 2020, when CGL hosted the Proteas assistant coach Enoch Nkwe, which happened to be the first one within cricket fraternity. We had 60 people in attendance and amongst those we had members of media (the Star and Citizen newspaper journalists), we also had coaches from Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria, New-Zealand and England joining us.
We focused on 3 topics namely:
How do you have players buy in to culture?
How do you deal and have tough conversations with players?
Dealing with player burnout throughout the season.
The second lockdown coaches forum (webinar) was held on the 15 May 2020 with the Former Proteas Coach Russell Domingo being the guest speaker. Here we had 55 people in attendance.
We focused on 3 topics namely:
Coaching relationships
Importance of cricket basics and all levels
Player performance management
The third lockdown coaches forum (webinar) was held on the 26 June 2020 with the professional cyclist Nolan Hoff being the guest speaker.
We focused on 3 topics namely:
Preparation/Training (psychological and physical) as well as diet
Competition/Race mode: Winning and the strategy behind success.
Recovery and review of performance during the race as well as in racing season. 7
COACH EDUCATION FEEDBACK CONTINUED...
The fourth lockdown coaches forum (webinar) was held on the 13 July 2020 with the Bangladesh batting Coach & former Imperial Lions and Proteas Batsman Neil McKenzie being the guest speaker, with 45 people dialling in.
We focused on 4 topics namely:
Is Technique overrated?
Technique vs. Tactics.
Practice vs. Run Scoring.
The art of attacking batting.
The fifth lockdown coaches forum (webinar) was held on the 27 July 2020 with the former Proteas Bowler Paul Adams and former Proteas bowling All-rounder being the guest speakers. We had 65 people on attendance.
We focused on the topic of:
All things bowling
As part of an ongoing Coach development program there is a lot of coaching information that is shared via WhatsApp as often as possible to educate and add to coach’s knowledge. This is done in form of videos, article etc. 8 COACHING THROUGH CONFLICT: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES by Ryan Hedstrom
Sport is full of conflict! Whether it is on or off the playing field, 4 Avoiding common communication obstacles. effectively dealing with conflict goes a long way in determining success. Internal team conflict can have a major impact on team It is easy to fall into several traps when dealing with conflict. dynamics and cohesion. As a coach, learning how to deal with Some common obstacles that get in the way of effective these conflicts can become a major part of your everyday job. mediation are: Unfortunately, we often deal with conflict in unproductive ways Advising… “Well, I’ll tell you what I’d do…” such as avoiding (“It’s not a big problem, why worry?”), forcing • Diagnosing… “Your problem is that you…” (“I will win this argument no matter what”), or accommodating • Discounting… “Cheer up, it’ll work out…” (“I’ll give up whatever it takes to end the conflict”). • • Lecturing… “How many times do I have to tell you…” Threatening… “This is the last time I will…” One of the ways you can help alleviate team conflict is to learn • Preaching… “You ought to know better than to…” and use effective mediation strategies. As a coach, you are in • a powerful position to display positive conflict management in Along with the above communication strategies, there are the way you communicate with athletes, parents, referees, and several do’s and don’ts involved in managing conflict: the media.
There are four principles to keep in mind when trying to resolve DO… conflict: • Convey the value of your relationship with the person. Go slowly with what you want to communicate. Active Listening. Displaying a willingness to listen can • 1 Try to understand the other person’s position. help alleviate conflict. • • Listen to what the other person is trying to communicate. • Encourage the speaker by asking questions and showing • Confront the situation, not the person. interest. • Validate the speaker. You can still show interest in the person while not necessarily agreeing with her/his point of view. DON’T… • Restate the speaker’s message by paraphrasing main points. • Communicate the solution; it’s better to focus on the problem. • Center the conflict by trying to find the key points ofthe • Stop communicating. message. • Use put-downs or sarcasm. • Rely on non-verbal hints to communicate, be direct and 2 Non-verbal Communication forthcoming. • Discuss the problem with others not associated with the A cold shoulder, eye roll, or clenched jaw can go a long way conflict. in communicating a point without even saying a word. In fact, 70% of our communication is non-verbal in nature. Be open and consistent in your body language, helping to defuse emotion.
Using “I” Statements 3 This is centered in the belief that if the speaker takes responsibility for her/his statements others will be less likely to simply react and put up a defence. When comparing the following statements, the first puts the receiver of that message on the defensive due to the blaming and accusing nature of the statement and the second shows the speaker taking ownership. • “You hurt the team when you don’t show up to conditioning on time” • “I am frustrated when you don’t show up to conditioning on time”
Whether it is conflict over playing time, personality clashes, or negative emotions from defeat, conflict can greatly damage team chemistry. As a coach, you have responsibility to identify, manage, and defuse conflict. By understanding effective communication strategies, you can better manage conflict within your team. FIND YOUR ZONE DR. ROB BELL Ball State University
There are instances within sport where everything is perfect. These are times when there are no thoughts, movements are effortless, and time is transcended. Csíkszentmihályi (1990) characterized this state as “flow,” although it has become popularized by the more common name of being “in the zone.” It is essentially losing oneself in the moment of our activity.
Throughout the history of sports, there have been numerous examples of athletes being in the zone. A perfect illustration of this state was Michael Jordan during the 1992 NBA championship series against the Portland Trailblazers, hitting seven 3-pointers in a row and scoring 35 points in the first half. Jordan was so shocked by his performance that after his seventh 3-pointer, he just threw up his hands as to say, “I can’t explain it.”
David Toms also epitomized the “zone” or “flow” during the 2005 Accenture match play. During the week, he hit 74% of greens in regulation, made 37 birdies, two eagles, and only four bogeys throughout six matches and 118 holes of play. During the final 36-hole match against Chris Dimarco, Dimarco played the match 3-under par despite losing the match being 6 holes down with 5 to play. In fact, Toms at one point held a 9-up lead with 10 holes to play. Toms’ play epitomized losing oneself in the moment; “I can’t explain why I felt like I did all week,” Toms said “I just felt very, very comfortable with myself and the golf that was in front of me. I don’t know that I’ve ever really felt like that in an event.” (LA Times, Feb 28, 2005)
The beauty of this flow state is that it is not limited to athletic endeavours: painters, musicians, writers, surgeons, and chess masters have described similar feelings. We can even encounter “flow” during everyday life. Whether we are totally immersed in conversation, shaving, or daily chores, a lot of activities present the opportunity to experience “flow.” The key ingredients that provide the best opportunity to experience our zone are to structure our activities accordingly.
To work toward flow state, we must merge our actions and awareness. The universal experience for the zone is that our performance becomes automatic. Everything is so effortless that we do not even recognize our total concentration on the task at hand. However, since lapses in concentration can hinder these states, we must learn to eliminate outside distractions, self-critiquing, and/or thinking about the outcome. Here are a few ideas to help:
Eliminate outside distractions such as cell phones or iPods. It is easier to focus on the task at hand without these devices.
Have clear goals that balance your skill level with the challenge. If we set too high a challenge, then we will become anxious, and if we set too low a challenge then boredom will result, and we won’t improve.
Approach every practice as an opportunity to improve. Avoid self-critiquing yourself with language like ”I messed up again”, or “I can’t get this right.” Instead, view every moment as a challenge to improve. 10
THE TEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE COACHES by Wayne Goldsmith
The great philosopher (and possibly football coach) Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” That being the case, (and with apologies to Stephen Covey) – what are The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches? What are the things that great coaches do every day that makes them great? Make training more challenging and more demanding than the competition your athletes are targeting.
Great coaches realise that competition is not the time to find out where your athletes’ physical and mental limits are. Training needs to be more challenging and more demanding – physically, mentally, technically, tactically, emotionally – than the competition your athletes are preparing for.
Example: A few weeks before a major international and professional Tennis Championship I observed a leading professional player play 6 sets of 9 games (i.e. first player to 9 games with a 2 game lead, e.g. 9-7) and against 4 different training opponents (one left handed and three right handed), i.e. as opposed to a standard competition match of 5 sets of 6 games against 1 opponent. His coach made the training practice tougher, more challenging, more demanding, and more difficult than any tournament match could ever be. RESULT: He won!
Learn and develop as a coach at a faster rate than your athletes: Great coaches realise that success is a moving target and to stay relevant they must be committed to life-long learning, honest personal and professional evaluation, and continuous improvement.
Example: A swimming coach realised that two of the athletes in his team had the potential to be world record holders but that he had not coached world record holders previously. He raised some money and invited two world class coaches from other nations to come and honestly review his coaching and his program regularly to ensure his knowledge and skills were of the same standard. RESULT: One world record!
Accelerate your rate of learning faster than your opposition: The Internet has insured that there are no secrets in sport. Everyone knows what you know. Anyone can get anything, anytime, anywhere and for free. Everyone is learning something every day. Great coaches understand this and strive to accelerate their rate of learning faster than their opposing coaches.
Example: A high performance rugby coach with an outstanding success rate at the highest level spent one month each year, immediately following the end of the competitive season traveling the world learning from other coaches in other sports in other nations to ensure his rate of learning and development was superior to other coaches in his sport. RESULT: The most outstanding coaching record in professional rugby.
Enhance your creative thinking skills: Creativity is the defining difference between good coaches and great coaches. Good coaches can follow programs: great ones invent winning programs and in doing so create new directions and new ideas which in turn change the sport. Copying kills. Following others and trying to duplicate their success is a recipe for failure. 11
THE TEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE COACHES continued...
Example: One leading track and field coach I know enrolled in a creative class of some kind every off season. One year it was “Improv” comedy classes. The next year it was “Creative Writing”. The following year he took up Piano. He realised that his capacity to create and to understand creativity was the key to his future success. RESULT: Some of most innovative and creative training programs the sport has ever seen.
Coach individuals – even in team sports: There are no true team sports left. Every significant moment in every sport is “person on person” and with performance analysis now at the level of millimetres and fractions of seconds, every athlete’s strengths and weaknesses are well known by their opposition. Great coaches engage with athletes and inspire them: they inspire them to consistently prepare with passion and to realise their full potential.
Example: A national football coach invited two world class triathlon coaches to attend his pre-season training camp. His thinking was that triathlon was all about individuals being pushed to their physical and mental limits in training and competition and that for his team to become the best in the world, each individual within that team must also be the best in the world. Result: World Champions.
Ensure that every athlete that you work with, out prepares (in every aspect) their opposition: The days of winning by having the “fittest” athletes are over. Sport is so multi- dimensional that winning comes from being the best in every aspect: training, preparation, skills, attitude, recovery, gym-training, sleep, travel management, nutrition and so on. Great coaches know this and strive to create winning environments where a culture of excellence underpins everything and everybody.
Example: An international level swimming coach arranged for every swimmer is his team to learn how to shop for the right foods, how to cook, how get better quality sleep, how to meditate and how to manage their time, so that their non-training activities were at the same high standard as their training and preparation. Result: 3 swimmers in the Olympic team.
Adapt your training plans and programs to optimise their impact on each individual athlete at every training session: The best coaches plan: they plan meticulously and with great attention to detail but, ultimately, they also understand that the core goal of every training session is to ensure it provides the optimal environment and opportunity for their athletes to prepare.
Example: A track and field coach, preparing a middle distance runner included an even paced 1000 metre run at a relatively easy pace in every warm-up. He would assess how the athlete completed the “test” run: measuring heart rate, stride rate and RPE for the run and comparing them to the results of previous workouts. He would then change the workout based on the knowledge of the athlete’s capacity to complete the workout. Result: National Champion at 800 and 1500 metres. 12
THE TEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE COACHES continued...
Performance practice – not practice makes perfect: Everyone practices and lots of coaches believe in the “practice makes perfect” approach. But great coaches take this a step further: performance practice makes for perfect performance. Want to master a skill? Adopt the “practice makes perfect” approach. Want to master a skill so that it can be executed the right way at the right time in a competition? Then follow the “performance practice” philosophy.
Example: A successful college basketball coach has three rules. Rule 1: Teach the basics of the skill in under 2 minutes. Rule 2. Allow each player to learn the skill by doing it. Rule 3. Make the skills practice as close as possible to game speed, pressure and intensity as soon as possible. Result: 5 State College Basketball titles in 11 years.
Adopt an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to talent development and performance enhancement:: Athletes are only athletes for an hour or two at most each day. For the other 22-23 hours each day they are human beings. Many coaches concentrate on preparing the athlete to perform. The great ones prepare the human being to be all they can be, then, as a result, the athlete will perform.
Example: A high school hockey coach had a philosophy about people: “Treat people the way I would want to be treated”. She made the commitment to arrive at training 10 minutes early each day and spend ten minutes one on one with a player to talk about their school, their pets, their family, their hobbies – anything except hockey. She also stayed back every training session to spend ten minutes with another player. As a result, every two weeks, she had got to know every player in her team as a human being which completely changed her perspective and approach to preparing them. Result: Undefeated Champions in their League.
Lead The great coaches are leaders. They dare to be different. They do things that others are not prepared to do. They drive change. They thrive in creative conflict situations and fight hard for what and who they believe in. They take risks. They are comfortable talking about winning - it is, after all, what they were born to do. They are individuals. They are unique. They are the best because they are prepared to lead and with it accept the responsibilities that come with leadership.
Example: A swimming coach believed his sport needed to change. He felt that traditionally there had been too much focus on endurance and threshold training and not enough focus on speed: he would dare to be different. He introduced speed training in every training cycle all year round. He broke the mould of the traditional approach to periodisation, i.e. one week was micro-cycles and developed training cycles that focused on each individual’s adaptation capacity. He challenged his athletes to race more than any athletes in the history of swimming at international level. Result: 4 Olympic Gold Medals.
These are The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches….. so what did you do today? 13
CLOSING NOTE:
Coaching Education Manager DUMILE SKADE
Dear Coaches
The COVID-19 pandemic is real and it does not need us to be complacent because a lot families have lost their loved ones, including those that are in cricket. This pandemic has posed a lot of challenges for all communities including those that are with our province, people have lost their jobs, some have received salary cuts. For us in amateur we see a climes of light as we have approved Clubs and Private Academies to start with one on one and small groups coaching (maximum of 4 players per session) as they have not had an income for the past 5 months.
I would like to emphasise that we continue to observe the health and safety protocols by following these guidelines:
Hand washing with soap/sanitizer
Social distancing
Face masks
Elbow when sneezing/coughing
Staggered training
Personal equipment to be sanitised
Equipment sharing prohibited
Screening for players, coaches, officials
COVID-19 regulations to be displayed
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and well done to our Framework (Provincial), RPC and Hub coaches on hosting various webinars, sharing their video recordings of activities that they want players to do on their own and also to keep them both mentally and physically active. To all the coaches out there, schools, clubs, academies, we are thinking of you and we cannot wait to see you back in action. Stay safe and blessed. Remember to always follow the guidelines and procedures to curb the spread of the disease.
“If you feel like you’re losing everything remember that trees lose their leaves every year and they still stand tall and wait for better days to come.” Author unknown