The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Our Great Coach on this episode is Helene Wilson.Helene is a New Zealand Netball coach.She started coaching in her teens and progressed to coaching the New Zealand Secondary Schools team to wins over Australia and leading the Northern Zone under 23s to a national title.She went on to work High Performance Sport NZ and was involved in the Rugby 7’s and Hockey teams. And then in 2017 she was appointed coach of the Northern Mystics and in 2021 the team goes on to win the National Premiership.In 2022 she was then appointed to a role at High Performance Sport NZ to help grow female coaches and leaders across all sports.Helene has terrific energy, and some hard fought wisdom that she shares on this episode.Just a few of the many highlights areThe importance of mentors to help you reflect and process the information you are receivingAnd, that if you don't have a process for self-reflecting, then you're not going to grow your awareness around what you're doing as a coachHow a coach doesn't need to be able to do what they're coaching, but they need to understand all the different parts and the dynamics of putting a performance togetherAnd that Great Coaches are not afraid to admit if they've made mistakes, as they're not afraid to speak the truthHelene is an inspiring leader, making a difference in peoples lives and I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is on the topic of Care and how the Great Coaches use it in their approach to Leadership, and it features audio quotes from 13 Great Coaches.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this episode is Damien Hardwick.Damien is an Australian rules football coach and former player.As a player, he played 207 games for Essendon and Port Adelaide, winning premierships with each club in 2000 and 2004 respectively.He was appointed to his first head coach role in 2010 with Richmond; and led them to premierships in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He is now the longest tenured coach in the clubs 136 year history.In 2017 he voted Coach of the Year by his peers. And is also a member of a small and elite group of people who have both played in and coached an AFL premiership.Damien’s journey as a coach has been documented in books and in documentary’s, and in this interview he takes us through the key inflection points that led to him changing his philosophy, and then ultimately leading his team to 3 premierships.It’s a terrific story, there are so many highlights and here are just a few that stayed with afterwards:His descriptions of the effort that went into building the championship environment that eventually led to 3 premierships.How it was a leadership course on Authenticity at Harvard that led him to change his style, and ultimately unlock improved performance in the team.And the use of the triple H framework: hero, hardship and highlight to encourage his team to become more open and vulnerable with each other; and how this deeper level of connection translated into improved performance.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays episode is on the topic of Self Reflection, and it features audio quotes from 10 Great Coaches.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.comOur Great Coach on this episode is Hugh McCutcheon.Hugh played Volleyball for New Zealand national Junior and Senior teams before transitioning into coaching. He started as an Assistant at Brigham Young University and was part of the team when it won the the NCAA championships in 1999 and 2001.He became a head coach for the first time in 2001, leading the Austrian Hotvolleys, In his first season there, the team won the Inter-Liga, the Austrian Cup and the Austrian League championships.In 2005 he was appointed as Head Coach of the USA mens team and the team went on to win gold medals at the America's Cup in Brazil, the NORCECA Continental Championship in Canada and then ultimately the Gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.In 2008 he was appointed coach of the USA womens team, and led them to three World Grand Prix golds and a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics.And in 2011, he was named head coach of the University of Minnesota's volleyball team.Hugh is a coach with a strong sense of purpose; and the kind of deep-seated wisdom that comes through living and succeeding in multiple countries and cultures. He is articulate and passionate about the importance of coaching in a way that is tailored to the individual.As a father, he is also aware that the role of sport can play in young peoples lives as it allows them to, in his words, learn life lessons without incurring the same kind of colletral damage you get if you screw up in life.Some of the key highlights from our discussion were:The false narrative that anything less than perfection is worth celebrating.The mission statement he wrote with the USA Mens team that guided them on the path to the 2008 Olympic Gold medal.And His views on the 3 types of trust needed within high-performing teams, the first being the athletes ability to trust themselves, the 2nd being their ability to trust their teammates and the third focused on the trust between athlete and If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays episode is on the topic of Communication, and it features audio quotes from 16 Great Coaches.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Great Coach on this show is Brenda Kirkpatrick Brown.Brenda is a former College Basketball player and Head Coach at the University of North Carolina.Brenda was an assistant for 10 years at Georgia Tech, Charlotte and Florida before becoming head coach at UNC Asheville in 2012.In her 8 years at UNC the team won back-to-back Big South Conference Tournament crowns in 2016 and 2017, an elite 8thand sweet 16th in the NCAA Tournament, four consecutive postseason berths and one Big South Conference regular-season title.In 2016 she was named Big South Conference Coach of the Year.Brenda is presently taking a sabbatical and so we caught here when she had the time and space to reflect on her coaching journey. This meant that she was philosophical but also reflective on the things she could have done better, and like all the great coaches she is lifelong learner and thinking about what she will do differently next time.She believes that you coach the individual and not just the athlete, and that you can never be the type of coach that the athlete has to overcome in order to perform at their best. This means that you have to guard against your passion interfering with your emotions and the way you communicate.She has great positivity and talks about using belief and positive language to help people overcome their own doubt. And she shares the great quote from Billie Jean King on pressure being a privilege and how this influences her approach to leadership.Other highlights for me included:Her view that when choosing a captain, you should look for someone who consistent in their work ethic, and is not afraid to take accountability and sacrifice themselves for others.And Her advice to other female leaders on communicating your passion but also explaining how you are coping in the role and achieving the life balance that will be important to other women who may be considering a leadership position.It was a lot of fun interviewing Brenda, she has great energy and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays episode is on the topic of Psychological Safety , and it features audio quotes from 7 Great Coaches.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you would like to send us any feedback or join in our live webinars, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at thegreatcoachespodcast@gmail.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.comOur Great Coach on this episode is soccer coach Beverly Priestman.Bev grew up in England where she completed a bachelor's degree in science and football from Liverpool University.In her early 20’s she moved to New Zealand as head of development for the national football federation.She then moved to Canada as an Assistant to the National Womens team coach, as well coaching the Canadian Womens team at the FIFA U-17 World Cups. From there she returned to the UK to work as an Assistant for Phil Neville who was coaching the National Womens team and helped guide them to fourth place at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.Then in 2020 she was appointed Head Coach of the Canadian Womens team and famously led them to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.Bev is a coach, who at only 35 years old, already has almost 20 years experience across 3 countries. This perspective, coupled with her energy gives her a depth of wisdom that is motivating and inspiring.She is strongly values led, and she talks a lot about the role that bravery has played in her life and how it helped shape the focus of her team, so that they could fulfill their mission of changing the colour of the medal, at the Tokyo Olympics.She is also confident, and yet still humble enough to talk about her to talk about her emotional and intellectual development as a coach.Some of the other highlights of the interview for me were:How in high-pressure situations she sees her job as lightening the mood so that people can perform at their optimal level, and the story she shares around how she did this in the Olympic village the day before the gold medal match.How getting herself out of her comfort zone, and diversifying her experiences allowed her to grow in confidence and belief.How she used the pandemic lock down to self-develop by focusing on who she was a person, her values and the team culture she wanted to develop.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays episode is on the topic of Self Belief, and it features audio quotes from 18 Great Coaches.If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at paul@thegreatcoachespodcast.com or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.