Remember your first day at a new job? Were you nervous? Were you eager to impress straight away? Now imagine that you had the world’s eyes fixed firmly on your every move. Every decision you made, every experiment you attempted was scrutinised by millions of strangers. Now you get a sense of what Jürgen Klopp, the newly appointed manager of Liverpool FC must be feeling. To understand what challenges the new coach at a prominent team faces, CONQA Sport spoke with Gary Kirsten, former head coach of the Indian and South African national cricket teams
Cinderella stories, fairy tale results, no-hopers inspiring hope; whenever an underdog manages to upset a much better and accomplished rival in sport we can’t help but get romantic about the games we love. By its definition, an upset takes us all by surprise and throws egg on the face of so-called experts and allows the few that somehow managed to predict the result to say, “I told you so.” But can we draw any parallels between famous upsets and if so, can we use these common themes to predict future upsets? CONQA Sport explores the blueprint of a sporting upset.
Elite sport is a cut-throat business. Hard work and effort is commended and admired, but the age of the gentleman amateur is over. Winning at all costs and ensuring success is all that athletes, fans, owners, and sponsors care about. Focussing on one's strengths is one way to do it, but there is another, more ruthless avenue to glory. Preying on your opposition's weaknesses might seem low, but it is a tactic that has proved successful for centuries. Tim Mahon, the High Performance Manager for Shooting Australia, speaks to CONQA Sport about Manoeuvre Warfare, and how this military concept can be related to elite sport.
For athletes that need to chase down massive targets, such as scoring over 100 runs in a Test cricket match, or completing an ultramarathon, knowing how to manage the process is vital for success. When an athlete breaks the target into smaller goals, and treats those smaller goals as primary objectives, the overall target seems less daunting. Hashim Amla, South African's Test cricket captain, and Caroline Wöstmann, winner of the 2015 Comrades Marathon as well as the 2015 Two Oceans Marathon, spoke to CONQA Sport about how they, in their own unique way, manage targets.
Team Unity vs Unrivalled Talent: it’s an age old debate that selectors and managers have had to grapple with. Do you select the gifted, yet troubled, genius with sheer natural ability and determination who can win you matches all on his own? Or, do you opt to leave the outspoken troublemaker out of your team in order to maintain team cohesion and a unified philosophy? Newly appointed Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board, Andrew Strauss, had to make a tough decision over the selection of Kevin Pietersen. Strauss chose team cohesion over individual brilliance and denied Pietersen an England call-up. A brave choice, and one that poses many questions.
The Royal Belgian Hockey Association (RBHA), despite being a successful organisation, has a unique challenge in world sport. They are an international team whose players speak multiple languages. Clubs and franchises around the world can relate, but not many nations can. Multilingualism exposes individuals to different cultures, but when coaches and managers are trying to unite their players under one ethos, it can prove challenging. Murray Richards, High Performance Manager for RBHA explains how his team have overcome this obstacle.
Baseball is America's pastime while cricket represents English culture and global influence. They are two sports that encapsulate the ideologies of two great nations. Separated by geography, culture, and attitude, the two sports share a history that spans hundreds of years. With minor league baseball players struggling to carve out a career on the diamond, Julien Fountain, an Englishman with experience in both sports, is hoping to offer an alternative on the oval. Switch Hit 20 is aiming to change the face of world cricket by building a bridge for minor league players to become big hitters in cricket.
Every player wants to be in it, but stay out of it too long and your place in the team will be at risk. Form is something that every sports star, coach and fan can relate to but few know what it is or how to measure it. Its symptoms can be seen such as a batsman scoring runs or a striker scoring goals, but the notion of form remains open to interpretation. Paddy Upton, head coach of the Sydney Thunder (BBL) and the Rajasthan Royals (IPL) discusses the ideology of form and whether or not there is a method to ensuring one stays in it.
The University of Pretoria has established itself as one of the premier sporting universities in the country. Tuks have created a winning culture through victories across various sporting codes. We sat down with Steven Ball, the Deputy Director of Coaching and Performance Management, about why Tuks has achieved so much recent success.
Just over a decade ago, Germany were languishing in 22nd place on the FIFA rankings. Thanks to Ulf Schott, Director of Youth Development at the German Football Association, Die Mannschaft now occupy top spot, and aren't showing any signs of moving.
What is choking and how can it be fixed? Tim Goodenough,on his three steps to finding a solution, and the Proteas chances at the upcoming World Cup.
Captain Thomas Chaby, an active US Navy SEAL with over 25 years’ experience, talks to CONQA Sport about chaos. What is chaos? How can we manage it? Is it subjective, and if so, how can we compare it across different professions?
