The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Our Great Coach on this episode is Heyneke Meyer. Heyneke is a South African rugby coach. He started his coaching career in 1988 and by 1998, was a Head Coach for the South Western Districts Eagles. From the 2000 until 2007 he coached the Blue Bulls, and in that time the team won the South African championship 4 times. He also coached the South African based Bulls in the Super Rugby competition at that time, played between New Zealand, South African and Australian based teams. And in 2007, led his beloved Bulls to a Championship victory. In 2012 he was appointed head coach of the South African National rugby team, the Springboks, leading them to a 3rd place in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.He has recently published his second book, My Notes on Leadership and Life (available on Amazon here)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 Mirel Rădoi.Mirel was the former captain and now Head Coach of the Romanian National Football team.He retired in 2015 and was immediately appointed as head coach of his old side FCSB. He was sacked because of the sides under-performance however in 2018 he was appointed coach of the Romanian under-21 side, and led them to the semi-finals of the 2019 UEFA Championship.As a result of this, Romania qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 56 years.Due to this success, he was named coach of the Romania senior team in November 2019.Mirel is a passionate and trusting coach who demands the same from his players and staff. He is in an elite club of sport people who have both captained and coached their country; and in this interview you can hear the deep pride he has for Romania, and his desire to take them back to the top levels of world football.He is also a self-reflective leader who is keen to engage the players in the way the team prepares and performs. And as you will hear, he has a strong desire to continue to learn and develop as a coach so that he can be the best he possibly can be for the club, the players and the staff.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 the coach of the Italy National Football team, Roberto Mancini.We were lucky enough to get a few minutes with Roberto as he prepares the Italian National team for the 2021 European Football Championship.Roberto had a successful playing career winning the Serie A, Coppa Italia and the European Cup with both Sampdoria and Lazio. He also represented Italy as a player on 36 occasions.He started his coaching career with Fiorentina in 2001 winning the Coppa Italia. He then moved to Lazio and won it again in 2004.More success followed when he moved to Inter Milan where he won three Serie A titles and the Coppa Italia twice more before taking over at Manchester City in late 2009.He led Manchester City to win the FA Cup over Stoke City at Wembley in 2011. And in 2012 they were crowned Premier League champions for the first time in 44 years.He left Manchester City, having achieved the fourth-best win percentage in Premier League history, behind only José Mourinho, Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti.From there he joined Galatasaray in the 2013/14 season, and they won the Turkish Cup.In 2018, he took over as the Italian national coach.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 football coach Tanya Oxtoby.Tanya is an Australian soccer coach who is the current Bristol City Women Football Club Manager in the English Women's Super League, as well as the Under 19's England Women's assistant coach.As a player, Tanya captained Perth Glory in their first four seasons in the W-League in Australia where she was the first indigenous captain in the league. She also played in the UK with the Doncaster Belles.Prior to being appointed as Bristol City Coach, she had assistant positions with Perth Glory Women and the Australian Women's Under 20s team, as well as with Birmingham City.Tanya is a calm and deliberate coach with a firm belief in the values of honesty and trust, and how these can galvanize a team under a shared vision. She believes that as a coach the trophies you win will fade, but the impact you have on people lasts a lifetime.She is also a strong believer in focusing on the attributes that set you apart within the team and making those your super strengths. And, she shares her views on the importance of mentors, and the story about how important her own mentor, a former olympian, has become to her.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 Bill Curry.Bill is a retired American Football player and coach. He played for Georgia Tech and then spent 10 seasons in the NFL, most notably playing in first super bowl and winning with the Green Bay Packers in 1966.He retired in 1974 and transitioned into coaching and by 1980 was head coach of Georgia Tech, leading them to the 1985 All American Bowl, for which he was also named Coach of the Year. In 1988 he was the coach of the University of Alabama and led them to the Sugar Bowl win over Army, and a tie for the SEC title with Auburn and Tennessee.He then went on to coach the University of Kentucky and was the inaugural coach of Georgia State University in 2008.Bill radiates humility, wisdom and optimism. He represents the bright side of human potential, and in this interview talks about the long and winding road of his playing and coaching journey, and what it has taught him about life, love and the ripple effect of our actions.His insights are timeless, and run very deep; and he personalizes them in a way that makes the distance between us, whether we are, in his words, a guy from South Central LA or a mountain boy from the hills of North Georgia, seem much smaller.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 Tamsin Greenway.Tamsin is a retired Netball player and now coach. She represented England on 67 occasions and along the way, was part of the team that won bronze medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and at the 2011 and 2105 Netball World Cups.In the English Superleague, she has won 7 championships; 4 as a player, and three others as player-coach, a coach and a Team Director. She now works as a commentator on Sky Sports and in 2020 she was appointed head coach of the Scottish national netball team.Tamsin is a passionate coach, with a deep appreciation for the influence honesty can have on team dynamics and performance. In this interview she talks about;Good team cultures are always evolving and changing so they are difficult to describe, but they are the places you want to be, even if you have had your worst day.Helping an athlete build self-confidence requires you to first understand what is causing their self-doubt; and then working with them on a method to improve it that is tailored to their needs.The importance of self-reflection to be honest with yourself about the things you are good and not so good at.How the great coaches develop a culture where honest communication is a central behaviour.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 rugby coach Ben Ryan.Ben is the most successful men’s rugby sevens coach in history, he is the only coach to have won Continental, World and Olympic titles.He started his international career in 2007 with England 7’s, coaching them in over 300 matches.In 2013 he took over as the coach of Fiji 7’s, and led the team to the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The gold medal was the first ever medal of any colour, won by Fiji at any Olympics.As a result of that victory he was awarded the Companion of the Order of Fiji and is depicted on the reverse of a circulating 50 cent coin, and on the front of a circulating commemorative $7 banknote.Ben has written a wonderful book about his experience with the Fiji 7’s called Sevens Heaven. Avail on Amazon UK hereHe is also the host of his own terrific podcast The Ben Ryan Podcast. Listen on Apple hereIn this interview he talks about:How great coaches create a safe psychological space, within an agreed set of guardrails, that let people be the best versions of themselves and that they create psychological safety within a team, by giving the members a voice in defining the expectations they aspires to.How his core philosophy is not making people ever feel that they're the runt of the litter, or they're anything other than valued.The story of the Fiji 7’s team, his role as the leader and how the team was able to embrace cultural change to transform their mindset and their performance.And wanting to leave a legacy of redefining what is possible for the small nations, and teams, on the world stage.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 Lisa Fallon.Lisa is a Northern Ireland Football player and now coach. She played in England as a central midfielder before a knee injury ended her career. Her coaching career began at the early age of 14, but it wasn’t until 2013 when she gained prominence as the coach of the Lakelands Men’s team in County Dublin, Ireland.From there, she went on to coach Cork Men’s in the Irish First Division, Chelsea in the Women’s Super League in England, the London Lionesses, also in the Women’s Super League, and most recently as first team Head Coach at Galway Men’s in the Irish First Division.In addition, she has worked as a team analyst and coach with the Northern Ireland side that reached the last 16 of the Euro Championship, and with Jim Gavin’s history-making Dublin Gaelic Football side.Lisa is a coach with a sharp analytical mind, and a deep appreciation of the power of pointed, insightful questions. In this interview, you will hear her turn these skills both on herself as a leader, and the players and support staff within the team.Her coaching philosophy is to facilitate each player to reach their own potential through guided discovery, and this comes across in the way she reflects on both the limits, and potential, that the role of a Head Coach provides.She believes that Great Coaches create an environment where everybody can excel and can feel secure, and have the opportunity to feel vulnerable in order to stretch without being overexposed.How, in high performance sport, the times never get slower, new records are always higher, and so the goal is improvement and as a coach this is something that you must commit to doing as well.And wanting to create a legacy where a treasure chest of potential is realised as people feel free to be themselves even if they do not fit the norm.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 Anthony McGrathAnthony is an English cricket coach and former England team cricketer. He played first class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1995 to 2012, and captained the team in the 2003 and 2009 seasons. During that time, he scored more than 23,000 runs and took 240 wickets in all formats of the game. Between 2003 and 2004 he also played playing four Tests and 14 one-day internationals for England.Anthony is currently Head Coach at Essex County Cricket Club. In 2019 Essex won the T20 Blast competition and the County Championship, the first time this has ever been achieved by any club.Anthony is a coach with an openness and humility that transfers into a boldness in the way his teams carries themselves and performs.In this interview Anthony talks in depth about his use of a self-talk diary, to build awareness of how your inner voice influences your confidence and performance, and then using that to build more positive self-talk.He also discussed how being self-aware and analyzing decisions in relation to the game plan is the foundation from which you build mental toughnessAnd towards the end he shares how more often than not, under performance on the pitch is caused by things that are happening in the athlete’s life off the pitch.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 rugby's Damian McGrath.Damian started his career a teacher before moving into coaching and has now coached teams across multiple countries in Rugby League, Rugby Union, as well as Rugby Seven's.At Club level, he coached the Leeds Rhinos in England’s Super League and was England’s Assistant Coach at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup.He has also been the Head Coach of Germany, Samoa, Canada and Spain Rugby 7’s teams winning many international tournaments.He is the author of three books and is an Associate at Ashridge Business College.Key topics he discusses with us include:Living your stated values as a coach to remain authentic and gain team trust.People who are successful tend to be self-reflective.Dealing with defeat is far more important than dealing with winningDamian's books101 Rugby Training DrillsAlmost 101 Small Sided Games and Relays for RugbyIf 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.