INSIGHTS FROM THE LEADING FIGURES IN SPORTS PERFORMANCE & BEYOND

www.leadersinperformance.com

MASTERCLASS
Ryan Giggs on achieving
and maintaining excellence

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AUTUMN 2013

PERFORMANCE EDITORIAL
OCTOBER 2013

01

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Inside
Cover Story

Columns

Around the World

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32

04

Ryan Giggs, Achieving

& Maintaining Excellence

Dave Hancock,
New York Knicks

Masterclass

The Future of Sport

25

Insights
20

Failing to Plan is
Planning to Fail
Pre-Season

36

Innovation in Player Injury

Regenerative Medicine

Its All in the Mind

John Sullivan

42

If it Aint Broke, Fix it

Rasmus Ankersen

44

Changing the Game

Ben Alamar

Leaders in
Performance USA

06

7 Emerging Talents in the

Performance Industry

12

The Reading List

Bob Bowman

30

About the P8

40

5 Minutes With

48

Luke Bodensteiner, USSA

Jerry Stackhouse of
the Brooklyn Nets

Databank

Players Perspective

46

Premier League Goals

Features
08

Its Not Rocket Science

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

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PERFORMANCE

WELCOME

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WELCOME

James Worrall

Why
Performance?
Every aspiring or professional athlete, player or
team, whatever the sport, wherever its 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.

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

CEO
Leaders

At Leaders in Performance we have seen this

It is designed to give an ever-growing industry

a regular source of inspiration and a chance to
challenge conventional thinking. It delves deep
into the best practitioners in sport and takes
inspiration from high-performing organisations
outside, including the military, business, performing
arts, healthcare, science and entertainment. It will
try to tell some of those stories with the same
commitment to quality that characterises the
conferences and Leaders in Performance brand.

gathering of around 150 UK professionals with

an interest in data to a global multi-disciplinary
community of experts from over 40 sports. With
international conferences in New York and London,
unique master-classes and P8 forums, articles
and case studies sent to 20,000 professionals
as well as an annual Sports Performance
Awards, the quest for knowledge continues.

for our cover story weve aimed high. Top-level

performance over a sustained time period is what
every sportsman and coach is striving for and in
Ryan Giggs, weve got a great example of how to
make that happen. Elsewhere, we have an eclectic
mix of subjects and subject matter. Chelsea Warr,
Deputy Director of Performance at UK Sport, tells

As we talk to professionals all over the world, we

continue to uncover fascinating people, creative
ideas, new strategies and revolutionary technologies.
Many of these insights have remained hidden
until now and its the reason we have decided to

the NASA scientist who put the Rover on Mars,

talks team-building. We look at the mind, the
body and the environment in short, everything
that goes into creating a high performance
environment. We hope you gain insight, learning

he sports performance community are a

curious bunch. They travel to all corners of the
world to understand best practice. They study
performance in other walks of life and test theories
and ideas on the training ground day in, day out. Arie
de Geus was right when he said the ability to learn
faster than the opposition was the only sustainable
advantage. Sport is living proof of that theory.

Brought to you by
PUBLISHER
Leaders in Performance
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Martin Bjerg
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Stephen Dobson
EDITORS
Matthew Thacker
Ed Davis
ART DIRECTOR
James Henderson

WRITERS
Professor Chris Brady
Dave Hancock
Mounir Zok
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Jim Souter
PERFORMANCE CONSULTANTS
Mike Forde
Damien Comolli
PHOTOGRAPHIC AGENCY
Action Images

and, in the spirit of the community, share any

learning with your peers all over the world.

04

PERFORMANCE

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AUTUMN 2013 | 01

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

John Mara
and Jerry Reese
Owner and GM
of New York Giants

Shad Khan

Owner of Jacksonville
Jaguars

Andy Walshe
Red Bull

Peter Grauer

Chairman of Bloomberg

Daniel Coyle

Author of The Talent Code

David Moyes

Manager of
Manchester United

General John
Wissler
US Marines

Amare Stoudemire
Jerry Stackhouse
NBA Players

PERFORMANCE

SPORTS PERFORMANCE AWARDS

7 EMERGING
TALENTS IN THE
PERFORMANCE
INDUSTRY

The Nick Broad Award for

Emerging Talent - part of the
Sports Performance Awards
On 17th January 2013, Nick Broad, a highly respected
and talented professional in the sports performance
world, tragically died in a car accident in Paris.
At the time he was working alongside Manager
Carlo Ancelotti at Paris St Germain football club
having built his career with Premier League teams
Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City and Chelsea.
Nick was an incredibly popular member of the sports
performance community and was known for giving
Many have gone on to build their own career in elite
performance thanks to Nick. And with the support of
his wife, Paula, and family, we are dedicating an Award
at the Sports Performance Awards taking place on
9 October at Chelsea FC in memory of Nick.

recognise the next generation of performance

leaders (under 35 years old) and celebrate
outstanding contribution to the performance of
a team or athlete. Since the nomination process
began, Leaders have received an overwhelming
response from General Managers, Performance
Directors and Head Coaches from all over
the world, over 75 in total, keen to nominate a
member of their staff for the Award. After careful
examination, the Sports Performance Awards
judges have shortlisted 7 outstanding candidates:

01 | DAN LIBURD

Assistant Strength Coach and Team

Nutrionist, Buffalo Bills
Nominated by Eric Ciano, Head of Strength
and Conditioning, Buffalo Bills
Nominated for Creatively reaching and
connecting with the players on matters
of nutrition, and affecting the entire
organisation beyond the player personnel
Dan has completely changed the views on nutrition
and wellness of the entire Buffalo Bills organisation.
He works endless hours educating players on
proper nutrition and the effects it can have on

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performance as well as player safety from injury.

He is highly creative in the methods he employs to
reach players, using grocery store tours, PowerPoint
presentations, dining hall table displays, locker
room board displays, and an extensive nutrition
manual individualised for each players needs.

07

Rowing. Pauls contribution during the Start

Programme to this achievement was fundamental
and his work with them gave them the basis and
inspiration from which they won Olympic Gold.

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

nutrition stations at national championship events for

of service, stability and success, Kendig is quickly

Performance Coach in the GB Rowing Teams
Olympic Programme, a richly deserved appointment

Ashley, Chief of Sports Performance, US Olympic

Committee

designed customised work-outs and nutrition

programmes for our employees and improved

Performance Director, GB Rowing Team

06 | SEBASTIEN BOURDIN

Whaley, General Manager, Buffalo Bills

Strength and Conditioning Trainer, DHL

Western Province and Stormers Rugby
Nominated by Rassie Erasmus, General Manager,
High Performance Teams, South Africa Rugby
Nominated for Applying match statistics to rugby
conditioning, and the development of youth
players at Western Province and Stormers Rugby

02 | MIKE PATTON

Track Cycling Physiologist,

Cycling Canada
Nominated by Andrea Wooles,
Sport Science and Medicine
Manager, Cycling Canada
Nominated for Contribution to
Bronze medal at London 2012

The team were considered a long shot by the

Canadian OC in the two years running up to the
Olympics, but with Mikes support they went from

at the Olympics. Mikes contributions included

including on-going tracking of training loads and
of interventions, and world-leading work on pacing
modelling and prediction. He is now contributing
to the development of the next generation of
physiologists as a colleague and a mentor.

04 | STEPHAN DU TOIT

Since 2006 Stephan has been analysing various

statistics across rugby competitions and one
of his aims is to marry the use of statistics and
conditioning in rugby. He has contributed to the
teams success by identifying patterns and using
insights to improve physical preparation and he
has been instrumental in creating the testing and
programme prescriptions of Western Provinces
U15 and U17 Elite squads. This has seen huge
success, measured by the number of players that
progress to the Western Province senior team.

Performance Teams, South Africa Rugby

05 | ALICIA KENDIG
Science and Medicine Manager, Cycling Canada

03 | PAUL STANNARD

Coach, GB Rowing Team

Nominated by Sir David Tanner,
Performance Director, GB Rowing Team
Nominated for An outstanding contribution
to the performance of UK Womens Pair,
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning
Neither Glover nor Stanning were rowers before

and built their mental strength so they could tackle

the high training load required in a demanding
endurance sport. Their progress was such that they

Sport Dietician, United States

Olympic Committee
Nominated by Alan Ashley, Chief of Sports
Performance US Olympic Committee
Nominated for Educating and supporting US
athletes with nutritional services
Alicia provides nutritional services to strength and
power athletes, winter sport teams and endurance
groups in the US. She also plays a key role in
educating athletes on the appropriate use of dietary
recovery nutrition plans, and oversees activity and
testing in the athlete performance lab at the U.S.
Olympic Training Centre. Team USAs success in
2012-13 illustrates Kendigs ability to help athletes
achieve performance goals and her innovation and
expertise led to the implementation of recovery

Head of Strength and Conditioning, ASM

Clermont Auvergne Rugby
Nominated by Neil McIlroy, Manager Sportif/Team
Manager, ASM Clermont Auvergne Rugby and Vern
Cotter, Head Coach, ASM Clermont Auvergne Rugby
Nominated for Driving sports science
initiatives to improve team performance
Sebastien has brought new techniques and practices
from throughout the world to help the team keep
a step ahead of other French sides physically over
his nine years at the club. He carefully balances his
schedule between practical time spent with the
playing staff and research and has been the driving
force behind a lot of sports science initiatives such as
cryotherapy, hypoxic pre-season training, GPS use as
well as CPK testing. With his no-nonsense approach,
rigour and work ethic, Seb is one of the driving
forces behind the creation of the Clermont Culture
where core values are driven home daily by the staff.

07 | RUSSELL MARK

High Performance Consultant,

USA Swimming
Nominated by Frank Busch,
National Team Director, USA Swimming
Nominated for Assisting with the technical
advancement of national team athletes
and coach-athlete preparation
Russell has worked at USA Swimming for over a
decade as a high performance consultant, constantly
communicating with elite athletes and coaches
in sharing the most cutting-edge information in
the sport. He has been part of the staff for three
Olympics and multiple World Championships and
is considered to be one of the best stroke analysts
in the world, playing a critical role in assisting
with the technical advancement of national team
athletes. He has had a direct impact on the success
of many of the top swimmers in the US, including

community for his contributions to Team

National Team Director, USA Swimming

PERFORMANCE

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FEATURE

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AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Its Not Rocket

Science
Adam Steltzner

NASA engineer Adam Steltzner tells Chris Brady about

building a team for a space mission and why you
dont need to be good at everything

n 1947 Norbert Wiener, one of the 20th

centurys greatest mathematicians, published
a book called Cybernetics: or Control and
Communication in the Animal and the Machine.
It was Wiener who coined the term cybernetics,
based on the Greek kubernetes (the pilot or
term kubernetike (the art of the steersman).
In the introduction to his book, Wiener describes
how, through a series of regular meetings, ideas
were formed and tested by experts from a variety
of disciplines operating without intellectual
series of discussion meetings The participants
were mostly young scientists at the Harvard Medical
School, and we would gather for dinner about a
round table in Vanderbilt Hall. The conversation
was lively and unrestrained. It was not a place
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

surface of Mars using the Sky Crane, team leader

structure, not very hierarchical. I invite people

to cross the boundaries of their intellectual and
practical territories and delve into the boundaries
of others. To get cross pollination of ideas and to

That big table is made up of some 40 people, with

a core strategic group of around 20. To put this
into perspective, somewhere in the region of 7,000
people worked on the Curiosity mission in one
capacity or another. They are made up of systems
experts and domain experts. The former provide
a systemic understanding of the inter-relationship
between the parts of the system while the latter
tend to focus on their own particular element of

the mission, there were nine years of hard work

he says, is to delegate the more managerial aspects

of the job to others who are more suited to the

The journey began with the selection of the team.

better planners, better at making sure that were

executing on each of the details of the overall
plan. I focus my attention on being intermittently
connected with the essence of what were doing;
looking for central problems in what were doing. I
see myself as the free safety of the team [the free
safety role in American football is analogous to the

think that there are very few industries, if any, that

peg for the exact right shaped hole. The trick is that

major issues]. I am constantly looking for trouble,

So, are there any deal breakers in selecting

topic The speaker had to run the gauntlet of
acute criticism, good-natured but unsparing. It was

pomposity. Those who could not stand the gaff

did not return, but among the former habitus of
these meetings there is more than one of us who
feels that they were an important and permanent

of the Curiosity mission. The Sky Crane was his

responsibility, his creation. The precise details of
the mission and its successful completion are
outlined in an excellent article in the New Yorker
by Burkhard Bilger but in short, a rocket blasted
off from Cape Canaveral on 26 November 2011
and delivered a mobile science lab onto Mars
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
to land a one-tonne rover, Curiosity, on the

all bystanders. What was going to happen was

middle deal breakers such as if youre not at all

interested in working in a team. However, the
only real deal breaker, the one that literally gets
you ejected from the team, is that if your own
work is put ahead of the teams goals. Usually
that is someone who is so insecure that they
feel that they only have power if they withhold
information from the rest of the group about the

doing that is close to that of each of the domain

experts. I need this grasp because technical problems
dont typically form at the heart of a domain; they
form at the boundaries between domains. This is yet
another reason why that big table culture of being
in each others shorts is so important because its
when were looking outside of our individual domain
silos that we can begin to recognise issues, risks and

mastery and human sensitivity, that Im a good reader

PERFORMANCE

10

FEATURE

He accepts that of the three functions necessary

to survive and prosper in successful high
performance teams leading, managing and
and coaching; I get others better at it than me
to do the detailed managing. Thats not strange
because I think that good tactical managers

Even before the team is pulled together, the idea of

the mission has to be accepted by the organisation.
As with many major project industries, there
is what amounts to a bidding war to have your
project approved, funded and resourced. The way
in which relatively small projects, and even those

the moment this may only be a two-man team

but its no surprise that the other guy is San
There is also the same competitive bidding process
in the space world as in other talent industries.
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

right words] communicate the value. When I was

said that I would be a good inventor, promoter and

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
as few as three people working on the idea. Once

he would have the same drive and passion if his

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 Heavens 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
colleagues along with the arrival of the leader. As
we know, managers arrive at football clubs and
an entire senior team often arrives with them.

its the actual mission thats important and its no

coincidence that these space projects are termed
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 mans reach should exceed his grasp,
is now committed to leading a mission to Mars
in 2020. The task is to gather samples, seal them
in containers to be delivered back to Earth. At

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not know whats out there, but he certainly knows

how to reach for it.

If you find a guy who you know

can add value to the team then
find that guy, or create for that
guy, a pentagonal shaped
role to fill.

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

PERFORMANCE

12

READING LIST

dedicated to executive
search in Sport

The
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

Travelled

The Talent Code

Greatness Isnt
Born. Its Grown

M. Scott Peck

Drawing heavily on
his own professional
expertise, psychiatrist Dr
M. Scott Peck explains
how acknowledging our
problems enables us to
reach a higher level of
self-understanding. A must
for getting athletes in the
right frame of mind.

Daniel Coyle

Award-winning journalist
Daniel Coyle explores
the presumptions
surrounding inborn ability
and comes up with some
astounding conclusions.
Utterly fascinating.

Periodization
Theory and
Methodology
of Training

Tudor O. Bompa &

G. Gregory Haff
The go-to resource
for producing an
outstanding long-term
training programme.

Success is a Choice
Ten Steps To
Overachieving in
Business And in Life
Rick Pitino

Superstar life coach Ray

Pitinos best-selling volume
looks to inspire its readers
into becoming all they can
be by setting demanding
goals that force them to
be positive at all times.

Nolan Partners Ltd 1 Duchess Street, London, W1W 6AN

Tel: +44 (0)20 3005 4404 www.nolanpartners.co.uk

PERFORMANCE

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COVER STORY

Masterclass
There is more than a generation of football
followers who have simply not known a
time when Ryan Giggs has not been right
at the top of his chosen profession. Chris
Brady asks Giggs about achieving and
maintaining excellence.

n the same day Performance magazine sat

down with Ryan Giggs, another interview
given by his former manager Sir Alex
Ferguson was published in the Harvard Business
Review (HBR). Comparing the two interviews,
what is striking is the similarity of the language
the two men use regarding the central facets of
high performance; not surprising given that they
spent more than 20 years working together. In
particular, one word dominated winning.
When asked what types of characters he believes
are essential to successful teams, Giggs answered
immediately winners. How did he explain this
common but elusive concept? He says: Winners
are people who will go to the edge to make sure
that you win the game; and that includes in the
week as well, in training. They would kick their
teammates; they would do whatever it took. It
would ruin their day if they lost a five-a-side
game; it really means that much to them.
It is this winning characteristic that high
performers seem to value above all others but

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has to be the most important one in the club.

Reliable or maverick, athletes must remain in
peak physical condition to be able to perform on
cue and the physical regime that has given Giggs
career its longevity is now legendary, but how
did it evolve? He says: I remember the moment.
We were playing Bayern Munich at Bayern. I
must have been about 28/29 and the day before
the game we were training at Bayerns stadium
and I was playing the next day; the Gaffer had
told me I was playing and he said, `swap teams
because one of their players was a bit of a dribbler
so he wanted me to dribble against our guys. So,
anyway, I got the ball and started to dribble and
my hamstring just went. At that moment, I was
feeling really good, I was flying, I was beating
players easily. I remember that I went back to the
dressing-room and I was gutted because I wanted
to play it was Bayern Munich versus United in
the Champions League. I thought that I really
needed to do something about this because Id
never had bad injuries, Id never been out for
more than six to seven weeks but my hamstring
just kept recurring. So I talked to the physios, I

next on Ryan Giggs list was dependability and

reliability: You need a group of seven or eight
players who are going to be reliable week in and
week out.
Pushed to reveal what marks out the other three or
four players Giggs was, perhaps surprisingly given
his own reliability, not overly concerned. These
players would include those who are considered to
be game changers and who can, to a certain extent
and for the benefit of the team, be accommodated.
The solid citizens in the team will put up with
their relative unreliability for the benefit of the
collective, Giggs thought. In this respect he may
be slightly at odds with Ferguson, who explained
in his HBR interview: There are occasions when
you have to ask yourself whether certain players
are affecting the dressing-room atmosphere,
the performance of the team, and your control
of the players and staff. If they are, you have to
cut the cord. There is absolutely no other way. It
doesnt matter if the person is the best player in
the world. The long-term view of the club is more
important than any individual, and the manager

Winners are people who

will go to the edge to make
sure that you win the game;
and that includes in the
week as well, in training.

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

read up on anything I could find and from then on

I changed my routine. I got a more comfortable
car, not messing about changing cars every five
minutes, changed my bed, changed my diet. I just
tried to tick every box. I tried acupuncture, I used
an osteopath which I still do to this day and I did
yoga as well. I just tried to cover everything so that
this wouldnt happen again. You know, Champions
League, injured, missing the game. I never did
it to prolong my career; I just did it to play.
Ultimately, great players need to play, they need
to be great and they need the stage upon which to
demonstrate their greatness to the world. Ferguson
puts it perfectly when he says: I expected more
from the star players. I expected them to work
even harder Thats why they are star players
they are prepared to work harder. Superstars with
egos are not the problem some people may think.
They need to be winners, because that massages
their egos, so they will do what it takes to win.
What drives them on is the need to meet everincreasing challenges. Asked why he never
played abroad, Giggs answer was simple:

PERFORMANCE

COVER STORY

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www.leadersinperformance.com

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Ive always wanted new challenges and I

thought that every year at United theres 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 couldnt be beaten. I was 27 and wed
just won the treble so it never occurred to me.
Ive 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
Fergusons 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
people a chance, you not only create a longer
life span for the team, you also create loyalty.
They will always remember that you were the
manager who gave them their first opportunity.
This has been the United way from the glory
and tragedy of the Busby Babes through Tommy
Dochertys 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
way in which they are received and dealt with in
the dressing room. He explains: New players are
coming into a good dressing-room, which makes
transition easier. Also, training is probably more
competitive than theyve been used to [IN his
HBR interview, Ferguson asserts that a key to the
maintenance of standards was never allowing
a bad training session. What you see in training
manifests itself on the game field. So every training
session was about quality. We didnt allow a lack of
focus. It was about intensity, concentration, speed
a high level of performance.] Each individual
is welcomed according to their own personality.
A player can come in and have a compatible
personality from the start. Ronaldo, for example,
wasnt at the standard he is today in the first
couple of years but he was a likeable lad, he wanted
to learn, he was a bit of a joker and he came into
the dressing-room quite easily. Others, who are
quieter, they can earn the respect of their new
teammates by what theyre doing on the training

To be a United player theyve

got to be strong mentally to
be able to put up with some
of the stuff in the dressingroom and on the pitch.

ground and in games. Robin [van Persie] instantly

became a success because he was scoring winners
every week. That made him difficult not to like.
Both Giggs and Ferguson believe that building
and maintaining mutual trust is a key element of
high performance and as such has to be integral
to the acculturation process. As Ferguson puts
it: I would remind the players that it is trust
in one another, not letting their mates down,
that helps build the character of a team.
Similarly, Giggs cites trust between the players as
an important component of team performance.
Interestingly, previous research in this area
seems to challenge this assertion. Taking NCAA
basketball as his basis for trust and its relevance to
performance within NCAA basketball teams,
Kurt Dirks found that while trust is essential
between the players and the coach and can even
be an indicator of future performance, it does not
appear to have any statistical significance
between players.

However, are the same acculturation factors

equally true of younger players, the lifeblood
of Uniteds philosophy, as they come into the
dressing room? Giggs has strong views on this.
He was reluctant to say in my day but in a sense
it was inevitable. Sometimes, the problem with
the occasional young player is that they expect,
and get, rewards before they have really achieved
anything. In my day I was told that rewards would
come as a result of consistent performances
over time. Dont get me wrong, there are some
great kids out there; I just dont think theres the
hunger in young players in enough numbers as
there was 20 years ago I dont just think that, I
know it. Because theyre getting the money early
on and theyre getting cosseted, the hunger goes
quite quickly. To be a United player theyve got
to be strong mentally to be able to put up with
some of the stuff in the dressing-room and on the
pitch. Youve got to be able to withstand getting
kicked by Vidic, or Roy Keane or me and rising
to it and being able to handle it. Youve also got

to welcome the pressure of the traditions of this

massive club. Walking into the club and seeing
the famous pictures Charlton, Best, Law and
Cantona on the walls and saying to yourself:
Thats where I want to be in 15 years time.
Thats what it means to be a United player.
Ferguson sums it up: The idea is that the
younger players were developing and would
meet the standards that the older ones had set.
He would be proud of Ryan Giggs who has,
virtually from his debut in March 1991 as a
17-year-old, set the highest standards for his
successors to follow.

PERFORMANCE

MASTERCLASS

18

GIGGS
The Coach

iggs is now formally employed as a player/

coach by Manchester United and will surely
become a manager one day. Having completed his UEFA `B Coaching Licence in his early
thirties and his `A Licence more recently, he is now
part way through his UEFA Pro-Licence. He demonstrates his professional dedication to performing
as a player by his ability to almost completely separate the two activities. He tells an interesting story
about coaching Antonio Valencia on a particular
aspect of wing play and then deriving pleasure
from seeing him performing the manoeuvre in a
game. What was interesting about his explanation
was the casual aside that he had seen the event
just after he had been involved as a player in the
same game: I got subbed against Liverpool and
was watching the game and saw Antonio do exactly
what wed worked on and I was really pleased.
I asked Giggs if theyd discussed it after the game.
No, he said. Wed lost.
Giggs explains his ability to separate his two roles
thus: The coaching is the hard part, the training

19

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

RYAN
Ryan Giggs made his debut for Manchester
United in the 1990-91 season and is the
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
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

and playing is what Ive always done, and its almost

a relief to get back to just playing. I dont believe
that I overthink the game; I think Im playing
just as a player. Youve got your tools in your bag,
youve been in the same situation thousands of
times and you pull those tools out automatically.
This ability to be able to pull out relevant tools
as a consequence of hours of practice is now a
common theme of modern performance theory,
the ten thousand hours made popular in Malcolm
Gladwells book, Outliers, and the power of
practice. Giggs could be the perfect poster boy for
the repetitive practice theory. As an example, he
says: I wasnt a good crosser, I didnt need to be. I
ran with the ball, I dribbled passed people. So, later
in my career when maybe I needed other options
I just had to get better at it and so I practised
as often as I could. I practised from different
positions on the pitch, on both flanks, ten yards
into the oppositions half, 20 yards, level with the
penalty area, on the by-line (thats where I was able
to help Antonio). Practise, practise, practise.

What about the age-old and surely now non-debate

about penalties? Can they be practised? Of course
they can and should. Failure to score, according
to Giggs is predominantly about indecision:
Penalties are mental, not technique. When I
practised for the European Cup Final my mindset
was that Im going to put it in the same spot. If the
keeper saves it, he saves it. I took 15 penalties and
out of those 15 I scored 14 and hit the post with
the other one. Youre not walking up to the spot
thinking, should I put it left, should I put it right.
Forget the keeper, its going where I practised. And
dont worry about missing in practice.
Indecision can be caused, as Marc Sagal
mentions elsewhere in this edition, by a failure
to concentrate which in turn can be caused by
overthinking the consequences. This is surely
the explanation for the world footballer of the
year, Roberto Baggio, and his compatriot, Franco
Baresi, voted the second greatest AC Milan player
of all time, both missing the target by a good two
feet in the 1994 World Cup final shoot-out against
Brazil. Indeed, Giggs tells how his teammate

Anderson, demonstrated a complete ignorance

of the consequences when he too scored in the
sudden death phase of the Champions League
final against Chelsea: In Moscow, Anderson came
on with two minutes to go in extra time. Hed never
scored for United, hes got that carefree character
and he scored. Thats probably because he didnt
think too much about it; he just struck it down the
middle.
Whether it is supreme confidence in their
own ability or a lack of concern about the
consequences, the ability to be able to perform
perfect technique under the greatest pressure
is a mark of all great champions, like Giggs.

PERFORMANCE

20

PRE-SEASON

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 different
high performance environments NBA team Dallas Mavericks
and South Africa Rugby Union side, the Stormers
BE PREPARED! Casey Smith, head athletic trainer
of NBA side the Dallas Mavericks, believes that
pre-season can be the best time for athletes as a full
assessment can be carried out without distractions.
One of the most common words used today to
We are assaulted by this word at every turn,
but the key is to use this relatively distractionfree period to full advantage and make sure
the correct breadth of screening is included.
We commonly think of assessment in
biomechanical and musculoskeletal terms, and
while this clearly forms the basis of programming,
we need to be mindful that this time is used
to screen for additional variables as well.
Medical screening for blood markers, pulmonary
function, allergy testing, ophthalmologic testing,
nutrition counselling, and baseline medical
imaging are often left to last minute pre-season

participation screenings. But these measurements

could be carried out earlier, giving time to
address issues without the pressures of the
built-in schedule of the regular season.
Another critical use of time is for measurement of
baseline indices. Anthropometric measurements,

musts to assess fatigue, formulate recovery

protocols, and rehabilitate correctly during the
regular season component of the schedule.

READY, STEADY, GO Of the three main phases

in the rugby calendar (off-season, pre-season,
in-season), it is the pre-season that is probably the
most challenging, says Stephan du Toit, strength
and conditioning coach of the DHL Stormers.
In the pre-season phase Strength & Conditioning
(S&C) are integrated with coaching sessions,
although the balance tilts more towards
coaching and further from S&C. Physical
improvements from the off-season are put to
S&C trainers work hand-in-hand to ensure the

does the start of the regular season creep up

on us and we privately admit that we could
have done more quantitative assessment?
Holding ourselves accountable will help hasten
our ability to formulate the correct return
to play protocols when the inevitable bumps
in the road appear during the season.

CASEY
Casey Smith is Dallas Mavericks head athletic trainer,
where his primary duties involve daily medical care, injury
rehabilitation, physician liaison and travel arrangements. He
was previously head strength and conditioning coach and
assistant athletic trainer at the Phoenix Suns. He has served as
athletic trainer for the USA Mens Senior National Basketball
Team since 2005, including the gold-medal-winning teams at
the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 FIBA Championships and
2012 London Olympics.

improving the physical element of the players,

culminating to an initial peak in performance

The question that everyone wants an answer to

in pre-season is does a player need to be rested
or can he be exposed to more stress during
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.
It is also important to ensure that the NPS
(non-playing squad) is put under the same
readiness when they are called upon. The best
conditioning is to play a match, but that comes
with the risk of injury. If a practice match is not
available, try to create a conditioning session
that can match everything except the collision.

STEPHAN
Stephan is Strength and Conditioning Coach for the
Stormers Super 15 side and for Wester Province
Rugby. He was previously high performance consultant
at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa.

PERFORMANCE

22

ENVIRONMENT

23

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Excellence
as Standard

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

Benita Fitzgerald
Mosley

Breaking through barriers

or at least overcoming them
is something Im used to
doing as a hurdler, jokes
Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, the
new Chief of Organisational
Excellence for the United
States Olympic Committee,
but its clear that the athlete
who claimed gold in the
100m hurdles at the 1984 Los
Angeles Olympics couldnt be
more serious about her role.
As Chief of Sport Performance for USA
Track & Field, she helped deliver her
countrys highest medal count in 20 years
at London 2012, and this year has seen her
assume even greater responsibilities. She is,
effectively, the COO of one of sports most
iconic institutions, and here she explains to
Chris Brady exactly what that entails
What has worried you and what has
excited you about your new role?
I havent been here long enough to get
worried, but I suppose if it would be
one thing it would be the athlete career
programme. Thats near and dear to
my heart because I know how difficult
the transition from sport can be and
at the moment I dont have anyone to
lead that programme, so I worry a little
about getting that recruitment right.
Maybe its not a worry but definitely
my biggest and earliest challenge.

What excites me? Strangely, I love strategic

planning and not too many people do. We
had our first offsite meeting with the senior
team and Scott [the CEO] this week and Ive
been told that it was a success and as Ive
said that excites me. It was invigorating,
insightful and full of great camaraderie.
Returning to your US track and
field days, how did you achieve your
record medal haul of 29 medals?
We had a focused strategic high
performance plan for 2012. The former
CEO had already set a target of 30 medals
before I arrived, so that was the monkey
on my back coming in. However, the good
news was that I knew that the athletes
were capable of achieving the target. I
just had to ensure that the environment
surrounding them in the build-up and
on the ground in London would enable
their performances. So, that was where we
focused. First we looked at sports science,
medicine and technology. We knew that we
had great knowledge in these fields but we
also felt that that expertise did not always
get to the people who needed it. So, we
created a Sports Performance Workshop
programme, a series of workshops located
around the country to which athletes and
coaches were invited to attend and discuss
cutting-edge developments. We actually
provided more than 800 hours of service
to athletes in 2012 alone and we saw a
measurable difference in performance
enhancement between those who attended
and those who did not. Those who attended
improved performance around two and a
half times more than those who did not.
Next, we created a four-tier system that
enabled resources to flow to the most

beneficial athletes and coaches. Over 85

per cent of medallists were from the tier
system. We also focused on those events
that provided low-hanging fruit, events
where we had potential in the athletes
but also as importantly where we had
great coaches. And what appeared like
a tiny detail ended up giving us a huge
lift. We got those great coaches increased
access through part-time validation to
their athletes on the warm-up tracks.
Believe it or not but that was not a given.
Whats next for USA Track & Field?
I saw nine fourth places and realised how
close we had been to overachieving, and
the same in Moscow this summer. I dont
think it would be that difficult a leap to
turn those fourths into medals if we were
to analyse what was the difference between
fourth place and the podium. Thats where
I would have concentrated had I stayed in
the job; thats where we need to focus next.
If you look back in five years
time at your tenure at the USOC,
what would success look like?
I would like everyone in the organisation,
either on or off the field, to feel that they
are genuinely connected to one another,
the organisation and the programmes. For
me, that would be even more gratifying
than winning 30 medals at the Olympics.
These people put their hearts and souls
into their jobs so I would want them to
know how much they are valued. As long
as they can say that today is better than
yesterday and tomorrow will be better than
today then that will constitute success.

I just had to ensure

that the environment
surrounding them in the
build-up and on the ground
in London would enable
their performances.

25

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AUTUMN 2013 | 01

MENTAL

Its All in
The Mind

JOHN
Dr. John P. Sullivan is a Clinical Sport
Psychologist and Applied Sport Scientist
for Providence College, the University
of Rhode Island, and within the ranks of
the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLS, Olympics,
and the elite performers of military.

Experts John Sullivan and Amy

Athey explore the critical factors to
consider in properly integrating human
performance technology and secondgeneration sports psychology.

AMY
Athey is a Clinical and Sport Psychologist
at Clinical and Sports Consulting Services.

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 brains abilities, including effective decisionmaking and complex reaction time. Often, this information is less
about selection and more about improving player development

4. Wellness as a
foundation to performance

DELTA .COM

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.
2013 Delta Air Lines, Inc.

PERFORMANCE

Chelsea Warr

26

TALENT ID

27

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Unlocking
The Potential
Talking Talent

Chris Brady talks to Chelsea Warr, Deputy Director of

Performance, UK Sport, about the research and development
going into creating tomorrows world-beaters.

as a nine-year-old for what I would describe as

walked in with hundreds of other kids and stood
in front of a lady called Ju-Ping Tian the Dragon
Lady who was the National Head Coach of
Australian Gymnastics at the time. If she pointed
left, you went and played in the foam pit for four or

Deputy Director of Performance earlier this year.

Essentially, the remit for Chelsea and her specialist
technical team is to constructively challenge, yet
actively support, all Olympic and Paralympic funded
sports to embed world-leading performance

UK Sport, the high performance agency in the

UK, through its World Class programme which
invests in sports based on their medal potential
over an eight-year cycle and continually monitors
and reviews performance against agreed targets
through its widely admired Mission process.

responsibility is to enhance the chances of Team

GB winning more medals at future games. One

In effect, UK Sport chooses how to invest more than

355m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding
over a four-year period to enable summer Olympic
and Paralympic sports to enhance their own systems
of performance development and ultimately build a
stronger, more sustainable system. That investment
is distributed in line with a no compromise
meritocratic approach which, as Chelsea explains,

you went into a room with all the top coaches for
So recalls Chelsea Warr on her introduction to
the world of talent selection and development.
Despite that inauspicious beginning, Chelsea

says. After a degree in Sports Science and several

post graduate degrees, her career started as an
exercise physiologist at the Australian Institute
of Sport in Canberra. She was then appointed to

in Australia, resulting in 156 State and National

Junior champions, 11 World Junior medallists
before being recruited by British Swimming
and Diving to develop and implement its World
Class Development strategy. She then moved
to UK Sport in 2005, where she consulted on
high performance programmes, becoming head
of athlete development in 2009, and eventually

the effectiveness of how all funded sports are

locating and developing medal winners for 20202024. I challenge myself, and my team how can
we enhance, innovate and accelerate the levels of
sophistication by which sports currently unearth
and construct their eight-10 year development
programmes? How can we inject pace and greater
And given the backdrop of more countries now
taking a greater market share of not only medals,
but gold medals, our work is about proactively
responding to this challenge. The answer is not
just throwing money at it. Its all about high
challenge, high support, high accountability and a
willingness to work in partnerships with sports

Currently that means investing in 714 development

athletes (known as podium potential) across
are already well into their journey for podium
success in 2020.These athletes are supported by

in sports that are winning now. However, as

commonly observed in good venture capitalists,
we also consider the relative future potential of
that sport, the direction of travel what they are
capable of doing in the next eight years. In other
words, how strong is the evidence to suggest the
current athletes targeted for 2020 podium success
could actually reach these levels of performance,
and how strong are their systems and structures in
place to enable this to happen? We want to invest

The ultimate investment decisions are based on a

range of data and insights, some of which Chelseas
team contribute to. There are currently four
key workstreams that the Performance Pathway

Team delivers, working in close partnership with

Paralympic sports we currently fund twice in a

contrast the sports development systems against

what we consider are the worlds best. During this
process we benchmark sports across more than 100
metrics that are determining factors in implementing
and development programme. We then activate
improvement programmes at either a system-wide
projects active at any one time in the cycle. The
from a wise colleague of mine who taught me that
critical challenge is three times more likely to be
accepted and acted upon if immediately proceeded
with help and support. Thats the underpinning
principle of our benchmarking work stream.

The purpose of this work is to deploy key staff into

the sports for extended secondment periods in
order to answer questions like how do you create a
Paralympic potential? How many athletes do we
need in the pipeline now to achieve our medal
ambitions in Tokyo 2020? Is it possible to transfer

PERFORMANCE

28

TALENT ID

sporting talent from one sport to another? How

old is too old and what sports transfer best? What
does an exceptional development environment look
like and how can we create, replicate and sustain it?
What role does the art of science and coaching play
in identifying and developing extraordinary talent?

Performance Pathway Education Programme is

designed to accelerate the knowledge and skills of
our Performance Pathway Managers who have the
lead responsibility to unearth and develop future
Olympic and Paralympic medallists. The structured
programme unfolds over an 18-month period and
comprises of seven, two-day intensive residential
modules delivered in collaboration with individuals
leading authorities in identifying and developing
precocious talent. For example, we have worked
with the European Space Agency to understand
how they identify and develop astronauts, clearly a
process they have to get right. We also collaborate
with institutions of development excellence such
as the Royal Ballet School, the Yehudi Menuhin
School and the Royal College of Surgeons to
constantly benchmark ourselves against gold
standard organisations. Finally, we will be taking
our P3 Learners on a world talent tour whereby
they will systematically study 13 institutions
that can demonstrate sustainable success and a
constant production line of talented individuals

The fourth workstream is about cutting-edge

serial gold medallists, starting from the age of six

years old to when they won their medals was
nearly twin, someone who should have made it,
but didnt. This world-leading piece of research has
allowed Chelseas team a greater in-depth insight
into the discriminating factors that are required
to achieve not only success, but serial success in
were constantly asking ourselves three questions
about this very special cohort: what do we know?
What do we think we know? What do we need to
know in order to enhance sports ability to identify

He warns that leaders assume their current

success is automatic and turn their attention to
the next big thing, leaping into businesses, products,
activities where there is no advantage, taking actions
inconsistent with core values and neglecting the
core principles that created those values in the
and provides both a warning and advice for all the
sports with which UK Sport interacts. The key to
sustaining and replicating the success achieved by
sports such as cycling, sailing and rowing is, she
really important things that got you there in the

real killer questions that, if we were able to answer

them and apply those answers to our methods, it
would enhance sports chances of identifying the

great coaches, not by chance, but by design, and

engineering environments that worship the notion
of constant progression and excellence. This is British

way. Weve initiated many different applied research

proactively connecting it to an intensive incubator

with world-class coaches and support staff, and, most

One recent, highly innovative piece of work that

will be revealed later this year across the World
Class system is the Serial Medallist study (and

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

IF THE
GLOVER
FITS

UK SPORT TALENT ID
ATHLETES HAVE PRODUCED

Helen Glover

elen Glover had no rowing experience as a

22-year-old in 2008. Four short years later,

gold at the London 2012 Olympics.

So, what does the future hold to help deliver that

sustainable success? According to Chelsea, after
having been recommended to read business guru
Jim Collins most recent work How The Mighty Fall
- Sustainable Success Is A Tough One. Collins argues
that it is not apathy and arrogance that is mostly
responsible for the demise of great organisations

translating it into real-life practice. Chelsea explains:

back into the front line solutions team in real-time

and, of course, into the P3 programme. It keeps the
whole programme fresh and curious, and this is an

29

Chelsea concludes by recalling one of her

favourite quotes which comes from T.S. Eliot, to
explain the mission of UK Sport and her role in

From rowing novice to top of the world, in large part

programme launched by Sir Steve Redgrave in
February 2007, aimed at unearthing tall, powerful,
talented contenders who could be fast-tracked into
sports, particularly rowing, handball and volleyball.
Although Helen came from a sporting background
playing high-level hockey, tennis and swimming, as
well as running for England it was only when she
came forward for Sporting Giants that she was able
to take her sporting ambitions to a GB level.
S
I remember being in a room at Bisham Abbey and
someone saying: A 2012 gold medallist could be sat
in this room. Look around you. I thought: Right, Im
F
to the hugely successful GB Rowing teams Start
programme in Bath and was coached by GB Rowings
Paul Stannard.
C
of faith, committing to a new sport, and pursuing an
all-encompassing lifestyle with commitment, tenacity
and dedication. Its an exemplary example of how
programmes can impact on the world stage. The
selection process was long and demanding, assessing
what applicants could do now but also, more
importantly, what they could do in the future an
examination of their headroom; their trainability;
their ability to respond and commit.
ts 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

359
121
2
1
17

International
Appearances
International
Medals
40 gold

Olympic Medals
One gold (Helen Glover,
(Lutalo Muhammad,
taekwondo)

Paralympic Silver
Karen Darke
Paralympic cycling

World
Championship
Medals
10 at junior level
and seven at senior
international (four gold)

38
10

World Cup Medals

at Senior Level
19 gold

European
Championship
Medals
Two at senior level

18

European Cup
Medals at Senior
Level
seven gold

World Record
Para-cycling

PERFORMANCE

30

P8 SUMMIT

31

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

About the

A leader is a guide. Some people

need leadership; they need
a guide, someone to follow. If
they feel he/she isnt right,
they look for another one. A
leader should comprehensively
compound fear, pride and
excitement into the team.

P8
I

The next P8 takes place in New York in November

sport mixing with their peers from abroad. We
look forward to unveiling who took part in the next
footage and key conclusions published for all readers.

Manager, Arsenal FC

Addressing issues head on

is key for the team culture.

n April this year, eight of the worlds leading

sports performance practitioners met for two
days in a secret location to share best practice
and uncover some of the latest techniques in the
world of sports performance. Organised by Leaders
and called the P8, no-one else was allowed in the
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
are some behind the scenes pictures from the P8
with a selection of quotes taken from the report.

Arsene Wenger

Stuart Lancaster
Head Coach, National
English Rugby Team

The quickest to
react will gain
the competitive
advantage.
Sir David Brailsford

Performance Director
British Cycling & General Manager
Team SKY

The professionalism
in the approach will
determine its success.
Andy Flower

Performance Director &

National Team Coach, ECB

PERFORMANCE

32

FUTURE OF SPORT

The Future
of Sport

33

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

DAVE
Dave Hancock is director of training and
conditioning for the New York Knicks. He oversees
all aspects of medicine and rehabilitation along with
conditioning. He is a chartered physiotherapist who
previously worked in the UK, most notably as head
physiotherapist at Chelsea FC and Leeds United.

Dave Hancock

Objective
Factual
Direct
Observations
Countable
Reproducible
Unbiased

Subjective
EXPERTISE
Theres a lot of good
stuff in there!

Opinion
Judgment
Preference
Belief
Rumour
Suspicion

In each issue of Performance magazine,

Dave Hancock will interview one of the top
sporting minds from around the world to
find out where elite sport is heading.

I have played a part in winning cups and titles but

Ive also experienced losing, including relegation and
my team going into administration. Along the way
Ive seen how sport has changed; where progress
and improvements can be seen and where things are
held back by the traditions of a sport and its culture.

Sports science and monitoring

One area of change is sports science and monitoring.
Our understanding of training and stress on the
body has improved and the physiological basis
of what an athlete does and when is constantly
improving. The knowledge and expertise of sports
science PhD minds in the areas of exercise,
physiology, nutrition and sleep, to name a few, have
transformed and revolutionised what we see on
training facility, where on-site testing and immediate
feedback is available. With such a narrow margin
between winning and losing, every advantage is vital.

Data
There has also been a data explosion: GPS,
accelerometers, heart-rate monitoring, wellness
scores and RPE (Relative Perceived Exertion)
have all come to the fore. The athlete and his
daily routine are under the microscope like never

before and we can now collect objective data,

compared to just having the coaches and players
subjective views. Today, the expert is a coach
with both an analytical and a subjective mind.
With such a volume of data collected on a daily
basis, comes the onerous task of analysing and
studying it, before deciding what to actually do with
it. Analytics conferences are becoming the newest

to have THE answer to performance and injury

prediction. Software has become the new coach.
Though Im a fan of objective data and analytics,
it doesnt provide the complete picture on the
points per season but have no real idea of how to
use this information to have an immediate effect
on the training pitch and in the performance
of their athletes. Teams and professionals
can become swamped by their own various
different data collections. Data is only relevant

For years, many coaches have been successful based

on just intuition and experience. Now they need to

get a better understanding of the huge technological

resources out there. For modern technology to
have a true effect on sport, it is the coach, and
to a lesser extent the athlete, who needs to be
educated by the sports scientist as to what the data
means, how it can be analysed and how to use it.
And if it has a positive impact, then it needs to be
shown that this can be replicated for science and
technology to have a true bearing on performance.
Of course simple physiological data sets, such as
distance covered and heart rate, can give immediate
and direct feedback to affect. But the athlete is
a very complex individual, and looking at all the
variables that can affect them we end up with a
conundrum. From psychological to biochemical,
to sleep deprivation, one needs to discover the

Mathematical geniuses
What
scientists and mathematicians, who can take these
large data sets and run regression analysis and
form neural networks to see which data point is
more relevant to that individual when looking at a
or injury prevention. With their help and with
computer modelling, performance can become

very reliable as long as the data sets are valid and

there are enough over a prolonged period of time.
And the ability to run multiple simulations can
duplicate scenarios hundreds of thousands of times
of the end result. Perhaps in the future, teams will
not only have large sports science departments
but also mathematical geniuses on their payroll?

The next frontier

The next frontier is the brain. We can now
undertake brain mapping and assess brain waves
and patterns when an athlete performs. This opens
up a huge door as we can see the difference
between an athlete making a mistake and one
achieving a successful outcome. The brain is the
most powerful tool any athlete has and it is a
we can understand its data sets and analysis, we
could truly enhance the athletes capabilities.

NEXT ISSUE
Ill be talking to Michael Gervais, one of the worlds
leading sports psychologists. Michael works with the
Seattle Seahawks, and consults for Red Bull and I am sure
he will give us some true insights into the power of the
mind and its ability to enhance athletic performance.

PERFORMANCE

34

MENTAL

35

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Mastering
The Situation
Sports psychology experts Marc-Simon Sagal and
Geoff Miller discuss how concentration is the key to
performing in high-pressure situations.
By Chris Brady

Skills Coach for the Atlanta Braves, while

weighing up the difference between a physically
the ones who consistently execute are the
ones who understand how to use their talents

the synergy between concentration and attentional

style (the way in which individuals attend to the
world around them and the way in which they
process information internally) and the effect of
that synergy upon performance which grew out of
the work of Robert Nideffer, who in the 1970s and

Miller explains that underperformance must not be

reappear on its own. Indeed, Miller believes that the
the real problem. In a recent Daily Mail column it
try to give them a process, to get them to stop
seeking the results you want but to seek a process
that will bring you the results. It is this process

the effects of concentration upon performance.

Miller and his colleague Marc-Simon Sagal who
together in 2001 helped found Winning Mind,
an organistion that highlights the importance
of human factors in the pursuit of excellence
believe that it is self-imposed pressure that usually
impedes underperforming athletes. The issue is
of matches because athletes do not perceive
training as a pressure situation. Miller thus sees
people to deal with self-imposed pressure by
helping them to understand the consequences
and their own expectations of how theyre going

Their primary tool is a system known as the

TAIS (Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style)
inventory. This is an assessment tool used in the early
stages of engagement with a client that focuses on

Nideffers work indicated that within sports,

attention takes different forms during exercise and
individuals manifest different styles of attention.
In order to characterise individual attentional
styles, Nideffer developed the TAIS personality
inventory. The test is comprised of numerous
categories that describe the individual differences
within attentional abilities that can indicate
an individuals strengths and weaknesses.

that he started trying too hard and lost sight of

who he was as a player. When Pellegrini took over,
allowed the striker to get back to being himself

While the TAIS methodology aims to identify how

individuals will actually respond under pressure, it is
Nideffer contends that concentration can be
learned. The most relevant theory here is Donald
Normans pertinence model, which contends
that an inability to concentrate occurs when
the individual is required to select a response.
Therefore, in order to learn concentration we
need to learn how to exclude irrelevant stimuli.

get them to focus on the bigger picture: to think

life more than career, career more than season,

their interpersonal skills that are the key to enabling

look at the attentional and interpersonal variables
and ask, what kind of mistakes is this person most
is this person going to do? People react in a variety

For both Sagal and Miller you will only have failed
if you have allowed your self-imposed pressure
to disable your natural level of performance. If
interacting with sports psychologists, or for that
matter any advisor, can avoid such failures then
it must be worth giving it a go mustnt it?

MARC-SIMON
Sagal has delivered assessment, training and performance coaching
to a wide variety of organisations, including J.P. Morgan, Liverpool
FC and the US Army

GEOFF
Geoff is the Mental Skills Coach for the Atlanta Braves and
has provided mental skills coaching services to two other
Major League Baseball teams, spending 2005-2009 with the
Pittsburgh Pirates and 2010 with the Washington Nationals

PERFORMANCE

36

TECHNOLOGY

Innovation in
Player Injury
Regenerative
Medicine
A cutting-edge new technology that harnesses the
bodys own healing cells is helping to get athletes
back in action faster than ever and has the potential
to transform injury treatment across elite sport.
There are few things more frustrating for an athlete
than spending time on the sidelines because of injury,
but sadly its an all too common occurrence. Studies
of elite football clubs have shown that a team with
a squad of 25 players can expect approximately 50
injuries every season. Around half of these injuries
will keep the player off the pitch for at least a
week; as many as eight or nine will result in the
loss of that player to competition for more than
four weeks. Thats a huge amount of time for a
key performer, one who has possibly cost the club
millions to recruit and retain, to be out of action.
Interestingly, almost 87 per cent of these injuries
affect the muscles, tendons or ligaments of the leg,
with re-injury and the extended recovery times
it inevitably brings a consistent and unwelcome
presence. If you dig into the stats a little deeper, the

conventional standards
of care. However,
all that is about to
change, thanks to a
revolutionary new
technology, the
Celution System.

37

THE CELUTION SYSTEM

The entire process takes 90 minutes and
is generally conducted as an outpatient
procedure under local anesthetic.

Step One
A sample of the patients body fat is taken
by their point-of-care physician via a
simple liposuction. An amount roughly the

Regenerative Cells
The Celution System
was developed by
Cytori Therapeutics,
a company based in
the United States that
traces its origins out
of novel clinical work
carried out at the
University of Californias
Los Angeles School of
Medicine (UCLA)
work undertaken with
the goal of advancing

medicine. Celution
System received
European regulatory approval (CE Mark) in 2007
and recent expansion of its labelling enables
physicians and patients to access the technology
and therapy today. Celution is being used for
general surgery procedures to facilitate healing
muscle and fascia, soft tissue wounds, ulcers
ischemia or radiation injury and tissue ischemia.
The Celution System enables a surgeon to
process a small amount of the patients own fat
to yield a clinical grade heterogeneous population
of the patients own autologous adipose-derived
regenerative cells, otherwise referred to as ADRCs,
which are then used to treat the presenting
injury. This all happens within a few hours.

Step Two
Adipose-derived regenerative cells
(ADRCs) are harvested from the fat
via Cytoris patented equipment.

Step Three
The ADRCs are applied to the affected
tissue, improving its ability to regenerate
and repair itself, resulting in a swifter
and more complete healing process.

body. Until now, physicians have had limited

access to a medical technology that could
extract and harness these regenerative cells
to aid the patients own body to heal itself.
The procedure, like many good ideas, seems
remarkably simple when you boil it down. A small
amount of fat is removed from the patient via
liposuction, and the ADRCs contained within it are
extracted by Cytori-developed medical technology
no larger than a conventional dishwasher. These
ADRCs are then injected into the damaged
tissue to aid in the bodys healing process.
The way to think about your own ADRCs is in the
same way that your body goes about healing itself
if you, say, cut your arm playing football during the
weekend you would clean up the laceration and
cover it with a bandage and expect a local healing
process to form a scab and eventually form new
scar tissue at the injury site. Well, imagine if your
doctor could take a small amount of these same
healing cells from another part of your body and
place this concentration of healing cells available at
the injury site to improve that healing process?

even more apparent. A study of leading clubs playing

in UEFA competitions between 2001 and 2008 saw
4,483 injuries picked up across 566,000 hours of
activity (1,937 in 475,000 hours of training and 2,546
in 91,000 hours of match play). The single most
common site of injury was the thigh muscle, with 525
hamstring injuries and 218 injuries to the quadriceps.

more than 40 countries around the world to treat

their patients acute or chronic non-healing injuries
using the patients own regenerative cells with highly

our clinical work includes the treatment of more

than 6,000 patients across a variety of indications,

Cytoris experience in treating patients with acute

and chronic wounds and cardiac disease provided

few, if any, medical therapies are being developed

It turns out that the fat we once thought

of with negative connotations is the richest
source of regenerative cells in the human

repair and preservation of muscle that should

be applicable to use in skeletal muscle and using
ADRCs in sports injuries. The mechanism of action
of the cell therapy involves better angiogenesis,

leaving injured athletes with few alternatives to

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Innovation

improved viability of tissues after surgery. The

administration of ADRCs in both acute and chronic
muscle injury represents a promising approach
to more rapid healing and return of function.

at the headquarters of the RFEF for our Medical

Conference in January of this year. What Cytori
presented to a large number of doctors from
our clubs and football associations about stem
cell therapy in the recovery of sports injuries,
particularly football injuries, I found very interesting.
We see the great potential in the Cytori technology
Juan Espino, Head of the Medical Committee
at the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

Next Steps
Further clinical evaluations of ADRCs in sportsrelated injuries are being conducted in a number
experience in ADRC therapy and work with
leading physicians, league and player associations,
teams and athletes around the world to
make this promising new approach for sports

Faster, more complete recovery? Sounds

like the answer every injured player, and
manager who has ever sat powerless during
a lengthy recovery period, is searching for.

PERFORMANCE

38

TECHNOLOGY

The
Breakdown
What do ADRCs do to damaged tissue?
The data collected by Cytori via clinical trials
suggests strongly that ADRCs improve blood flow,
moderate the inflammatory response that happens
when human tissue is damaged, stimulate local
repair cells and keep tissue at risk of dying alive.
What sporting injuries can they
most obviously be applied to?
Skeletal muscle injuries (e.g. hamstring,
ligament, tendon, straining a bicep, contusions,
avulsions and detachments) are an obvious
starting point, but Cytori foresee a wide range
of applications including chronic disorders
from sporting injuries such as osteoarthritis.
How does that affect the normal healing process?
Healing following skeletal muscle injury
progresses through inflammatory and proliferative
phases. ADRCs have been shown to be capable
of influencing both of these phases of healing
by minimising the inflammatory response
and promoting recruitment of skeletal muscle
satellite cells and angiogenesis (the growth of

new blood vessels). ADRC treatment has been

shown to have beneficial effects in animal models
of muscle injury and in veterinary muscle injury
case reports. As with skeletal muscle injury,
strains and tears of the tendons and ligaments
follow a well-recognised pattern of healing
involving inflammatory and proliferative phases
of repair, both of which ADRCs enhance.

CYTORI
The Inside Line
For further information
visit www.cytori.com

Cytori was founded in 1996 and

provides patients and physicians
around the world with medical
technologies that harness the
potential of adult stem and
regenerative cells from adipose tissue.
These technologies enable the
research and practice of regenerative
medicine in a way that, until now, has
not been possible.
Regenerative medicine is an emerging
lost or damaged tissue function due
to the effects of injury, disease, and
ageing.

INSPIRING
GENERATIONS
OF ATHLETES

PERFORMANCE

40

5 MINUTES WITH...

41

Years in the sports industry?

18 years working in the industry.

First job in sport?

I was hired by the USSA six weeks after I
wrapped up my competitive skiing career. I
retired from competing because I felt that our
team wasnt being managed in a way that would
facilitate top-level performance. I could see a
great number of ways we could improve the
fortunes of our team. I painted that vision for
the Board and they hired me shortly thereafter!

MINUTES WITH

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Best advice you ever got?

Tom Cooper, a former GE executive, told me
that your competition will always catch up to
you, and when they do, you had better already
have moved on to somewhere else. The most
exciting thing in sport is that there is only one
#1, and everyone wants to get there.
How will your job have changed in 10 years?
In 10 years, my job will demand even tougher
decisions about what to engage in and what not
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
what will drive the biggest impacts will be vital
you cant prioritise everything.
If you could change one thing about
the industry, what would it be?
To eliminate the attitudes that lead to doping.
Sport is ultimately about bringing your best to
the field, and it is the pursuit of excellence that
drives innovation, commitment and collaboration. I do feel the attitudes are changing, but
the pressures are still there.

LUKE
BODENSTEINER
EVP Athletics, US Ski and
Snowboard Association

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 necessary to innovate, and was committed to being
the best even if that meant we gambled and
failed at times in the process.

LUKE BODENSTEINER
A two-time Olympian and NCAA champion
Luke Bodensteiner oversees the integration
strategic plan, emphasising high performance
services. He started with the USSA in 1996
was named cross country manager in 1997
nordic director in 2001 and associate athletic
director for high performance in March 2008.
He took over his athletics leadership
position in November 2008.

In 10 years my job will

demand even tougher
decisions about what
to engage in and what
not to engage in.

Whats the last thing you do at the

end of the day?
I spend a moment thinking long-term and creatively about how we can improve our system
and enhance our odds of success. Then I kiss
my family goodnight without their support
I couldnt put in the efforts that are required.
But its thinking about what my competitors are
doing that keeps me up after that!

PERFORMANCE

42

RASMUS ANKERSEN

43

If it Aint
Broke, Fix it

RASMUS
Rasmus Ankersen is an ex-footballer, a bestselling author,
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

how successful organisations can learn to kill complacency.

Rasmus Ankersen

any successful athletes, teams and

businesses fail because they become
obsessed protecting what they have,
developing a psychological attachment to what
worked in the past. Ex-footballer, best-selling
author, and speaker on performance development
Rasmus Ankersen claims that what they need to
understand is that change shouldnt happen when it
is necessary. It should happen when it is possible.
On 13 April 1997, a 20-year-old kid destroyed
the international golf elite and won the Masters
by an incredible 12 strokes. What he showed
that day at Augusta wasnt just dominance, it was
golf from a different planet. It was one of those
performances that sets a new standard and opens
up a path that people couldnt see before.
The kids name was Tiger Woods, a young man with
a laser-like intensity and a supremely powerful swing.
At two years old he was introduced to golf by his
captivated by the sport at a late age and had decided
to train his son to become a world-class golfer.
Then followed two decades of dedicated training in
order to build the perfect athlete with a swing and
mental resilience that would be almost impossible
to beat. Tigers spectacular win that day was clear
proof that the mission had been accomplished.
But if Tigers performance at the Masters was
astounding, two months later he took an even
more remarkable decision. He decided to re-invent
his swing. And it wasnt just the minor tweaks that
players are forever making to their swings. We are
talking about a structural overhaul, whereby a player
transforms the very shape and pattern of his swing.

that isnt broken? Why take such a big risk when

you are the best player in the world? But Tiger
knew his swing wasnt as consistent, controlled,

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

Joseph Schumpeter
Economist

18 months of rewiring, frustration, and mediocre

results followed. But slowly Tigers new swing
got better and better. With no loss of power,
he could hit any type of shot on demand, more
accurately than ever before. The pay-off was a
record six straight wins starting in late 1999.

economist Joseph Schumpeter. He had three

declared goals he wanted to be the greatest
economist in the world, the greatest horseman in
all of Austria and the greatest lover in all of Vienna.
Later in life, he declared that he had achieved two
of his goals, without going into detail about which!

order to create. They assumed continuity: that

tomorrow would be like yesterday; they tried to
protect the past rather than embrace the future.
The concept of creative destruction is no less
relevant today. All successful companies, whether
TV stations, technology companies or toy
manufacturers, are built on a business model they
can successfully repeat right until somebody
comes up with a better model. In order to
survive this threat, successful companies have two
choices: destroy yourself or wait to be destroyed.
It is in this shift from one business model to
another, from one product or technology to
another, where many successful businesses fail.
So, back to Tigers swing change, which is relevant far
beyond the golf world. In their attempt to reinvent
themselves, many successful companies face exactly
the same dilemma. Why change something that
works well? Why challenge a success? Faced with
this dilemma, they often hesitate and ultimately
end up being destroyed because they become
obsessed with protecting what they have and get
psychologically attached to what worked in the past.

Schumpeter certainly became one of the most

Blockbuster is a great example of how the lack of

courage to re-invent oneself can lead to failure. In
the late 1990s Blockbuster collected more than
$800m in late fees. It was a cash cow until Reed

thinking about innovation. He described how

destruction precedes renewal, with the capitalist

fee and rent as many movies as they wanted with

no late fees. Hastings idea left Blockbuster with

and technologies continually destroying and

replacing old ones. In that way capitalisms
pain and gain are inextricably linked. Some

ignore them. They chose the latter, because copying

Schumpeter claimed that there is no such thing

as a static market, but to his frustration many
successful businesspeople of his time ignored
the fact that sometimes you have to destroy in

their existing business and saying goodbye to

improve and grow and suddenly it was too late
for Blockbuster. Their unwillingness to destroy
themselves and reinvent killed them in the end.

Tiger Woods

Successful businesses or athletes dont fail because

they dont have the ability to change, but because
they lack the courage to re-invent themselves before
it is too late.
The more success theyve had, the more prestige
and privileges theyve earned, the less willing they
are to challenge themselves and to change. Success
changes the language of people and organisations.

something unique and extraordinary to protecting

what you have.
Entire companies can become paralysed by their own
success when they are caught in the intersection
between the continuous demands for innovation and
the fear of decline and losing what they have.
The dilemma is clear: take risks, but do not fail!
Or let me put it in another way: with great power
comes great fear of losing it. However, in a world
of unprecedented change, there is only one way
to protect yourself from destruction do the
destruction yourself. Change shouldnt happen when
it is necessary, it should happen when it is possible.

PERFORMANCE

44

DATA & ANALYTICS

TECHNOLOGY

Changing The Game

Over the past five seasons, the NBA has experienced a data
revolution, with the advent of motion capture technology meaning
everything that moves on the court can be tracked 25 times a second.

of providing teams with information they can

Analytics: A Guide for Coaches, Managers, and Other
skill level of the people who work with the data.
Years back we had basic game summary information,
which could give you some statistics to look at,

however, with the announcement from Stats LLC

and the NBA that all 30 teams would have the
cameras installed and get access to the data. So
now a complex and incomplete data set that was
the sole property of a few teams will become a
complex and complete data available to all. The
sudden completeness of the data now means every
moment of every game is tracked and makes the
analysts jobs that much more straightforward.

The NBAs technological revolution has, in

truth, been slow, almost an evolution. When
available, each NBA team had the option of
installing the technology in their arenas at their
own cost. Some chose to be early adopters,
and by the time last season came around the
total was up to 50 per cent of teams.
These sides had access to this highly complex
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
the challenge that the data presents and started
to build their own mechanisms for accessing
the data and gleaning information from it, while
others relied on the data provider Stats LLC.
Naturally, there were limits to the usefulness
of the data, as it did not cover every game of
the season, or even every game that a team

information that decision makers could utilise.

expensive so it hasnt been the easiest thing to

implement. But theres no choice now, every team
share. The fact that data is now available for every
game means that analysts now have complete
information to go on, which means our ability to

But this also creates what may be a far more

complex set of challenges. There is now no structural
reason why the data cannot be used in every
aspect of basketball operations, but the complexity
and newness of this data means that there is no
established road map for how to get best value
from it. Each team will have to create a strategy for
gaining a competitive advantage by utilising the data,
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

45

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

uses of the data for their organisation and deploy

their resources accordingly. The teams that do this
best will be able to have information on teams and
players in the league that other teams do not, which
will give them an undoubted competitive advantage
on the court so much so that Alamar laughs
when the idea of a free sharing of best practice and

when I try and identify the people I work with, that

ability to be a good statistician and spot useful trends,
but also that ability to communicate with people
who dont have a statistical background. Fortunately
the students and people Ive been lucky enough

academic hat on thats a great idea, but with my team

hat on thats terrible why give away what youre

Its not a question of stumbling upon one single

thing thats going to change the team forever, its
about constant communication between us and
the coaches, telling them what were noticing,

disadvantage if they dont use the information

properly. Its a pretty complicated process that is still
pretty new to everyone so it will take some getting

performance and then pushing on from there. Its

a hugely exciting challenge, one thats going to be

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 were collecting and turning it
into something useful. Australian Rules Football is
interesting because they use it to monitor the chance
of a player picking up injury, but really everyone is

BENJAMIN
Alamer has consulted with a variety of teams in the NFL

But how useful is all the data that is collected? How

easy is it to convert the information into something
players and coaches, who are unlikely to have an

Thunder and is the founding editor of the Journal of

academic journal for research in sports analytics.

PERFORMANCE

46

DATABANK

47

AUTUMN 2013 | 01

DATABANK

Goal Machines
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
looking at the amount, location and type (e.g. header,
penalty) of shots to generate how many goals they
would expect them to score from these shots.
This is then subtracted from how many goals they
actually scored to give the values on these graphs.
For example, between August 2009 and now, Robin

van Persie has scored about 18 more goals than

we would expect based on the amount, location
and type of shots hes taken clearly making him the
form striker in the Premiership over the last three
seasons, while Jermain Defoe clearly had a season to
forget in 2010-11.

Cristiano Ronaldos transformation from a roving

winger into Manchester Uniteds spearhead
becomes apparent when you look at his
shooting positions stats, while John Arne Riise,

AVERAGE OPEN PLAY

SHOT LOCATIONS
Premier League

August 2006 Present

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

Powered by

Xabi Alonso and Adel Taraabt stand out as the

kings of the long distance strike. The stats also
suggest that Ashley Cole might be best advised

PERFORMANCE

48

PLAYERS PERSPECTIVE

PLAYERS PERSPECTIVE

Jerry Stackhouse of
the Brooklyn Nets
The two-time NBA all-star talks leadership, training technology and
the pre-game ritual thats stuck with him since he was 10 years old.

eadership is crucial to any team. Good

leadership starts with having a constant
dialogue between the coaches and support
staff and the players, particularly the players
identified as the leaders within the squad.
The most important thing to communicate
is what a players 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
is, what type of player they should be, and that
can only happen if the coach hasnt clarified
their role. Thats a sign of poor leadership.
I love technology, but it cant do everything.
I think analytics has a really good place in
the game. The ability to see what plays work
or monitor your training is amazing. But Im
a believer in everything in moderation I
dont think the numbers you can pull off an
iPad are going to give you a better idea of
whats inside a player than looking them in
the eye during a crucial period in the game.
Conditioning is a huge part of playing in the
NBA. We play so many games [82 matches over
four and a half months in the regular season]
that it can take a new guy a while to get used to
it. Coming in as a rookie I expected to continue
the success that I had at high school and college
but I had a rude awakening as to how demanding
the schedule and standard is. I only won 17 games
in my first year, but the fact that it was so tough
taught me what I needed to do to play at this level.
I dont 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.

I played with Michael Jordan in his last year in

the NBA. I remember before a game against San
Antonio Spurs Jordan was convinced that Bruce
Bowen this great defensive player was going
to guard him. When the game came around,
Bowen lined up to guard me which was the
smart move when you think about it because I
was our leading scorer. That moment stuck with
me. Even at the age of 40 Jordan was convinced
he was the best player on the court, the guy their
best defensive player should mark. That ego is
what powers an athlete, that conviction theyre
the best. Its the coachs job to manage those
egos and use them to drive the team forward.
I have some pre-game superstitions. If Ive played
well the game before I like to do the same thing I
did the day before that game at least until I play
a bad match! But the only thing I always do is eat
gummy bears before a game. Ive done that since I
was 10 years old. That one isnt going anywhere

New York
conference

PERFORMANCE INTERVIEW
OCTOBER 2013

Delta

50