I concluded my stay in Canberra with two days of professional development with Dean Benton, Performance Director of Brumbies in Super Rugby, his staff and the coaching staff. I have worked with Dean for sometime and it has been great to see his professional growth. He has put together an outstanding program, the eny of any program I have seen in professional or collegiate sport in the US! When I spend five days with him in 2007 I thought what they were doing with the Brisbane Broncos (Australian Rugby league) was cutting edge but what they are doing now with the Brumbies is light years ahead. He has taken the concepts of Frans Bosch and adapted them and applied them to enable his players to make huge performance gains. He has worked closely with head coach, Jake White to integrate all the athletic development with the rugby. In my opinion this is crucial and a lesson that we need to learn in the US. The performance director and head coach need to work together hand in glove. In addition he has tapped into the resources of the AIS to give the program the latest cutting edge sport science support. This is a very unique situation. It will take them a couple of years to rebuild the program but they will soon be a force to reckoned with in super rugby.
I then moved onto Perth, Western Australia, It was my first visit to that corner of the world. What a beautiful city. I was really impressed with the fields and facilities available around the University of Western Australia. While there I taught a two-day workshop for the Western Australia Track & Field Coaches Association. Perth is definitely an area I want to go back to. It reminded me of southern California forty years ago.
I then spend four incredible days in Melbourne with Phil King. I first met Phil in 1996 when he was concluding his tenure at the head coach for Australian Athletics. Phil is a heck of coach, leader and organizer. He coached his wife Debbie Flintoff- King to the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles in the 1988 Olympics. He is now coaching Jana Pittman, world champion in the 400-meter hurdles in 2003 and 2007. Phil’s philosophy is to gather a team of experts and act as the CEO coordinating their services all designed to make Jana the best she can be. I was privileged to provide my input on some aspects of the program and closely obverse and participate in the training. Phil has a background in aquatics and he has made excellent use of the aquatic environment in Jana’s training. I must admit that I was skeptical until I saw what they were doing, but I was made a believer. They use the water to mimic land workouts that is not unusual but what I did find unique was the use of the water for lactate production workouts. It was interesting to see how it was sequenced and how it has worked. Getting to spend four days with Phil was informative and motivating. The main lesson I learned was that it is not technical expertise that is the difference; it is people skills and communication ability that is the key to coaching and leading. A very simple concept but yet quite complex in application, because no two people are alike, it was theme that was repeated over and over.
A word about Melbourne, I had never been there before but on all my other trips I had been told it was the sporting capitol of Australia. I thought oh sure they are just saying that. Well when I got there I know learned first hand what they meant. The training and competition venues are amazing. There is a passion there for sport that you can feel. Walking on the “tan” a dirt path around the Botanical Gardens was like being on hollowed ground, this is where John Landy and Ron Clarke trained! It is a sports paradise and you can bet I will return for an extended stay.
I concluded my visit to Australia in Sydney with an old friend and colleague, Lachlan Penfold, performance director for the Sydney Rooster in Australian Rugby league. I did a day of professional development with his staff and an enjoyable day exchanging ideas and sharing ideas with Lachlan. He is a consummate professional. I first met Lachlan twenty years ago at the NSCA convention in the US; when he was a young coach hungry to learn. He came and spent time with me on two different occasions when I was with the White Sox and another visit later on. It has been fun to watch him grow as a professional and to see that he is just as passionate about learning as he was twenty years ago. He has done some really interesting and unique work using and interpreting GPS data that I am keen to follow it as he develops it further. I found it interesting that they (He and the rugby coaching staff) are working to incorporate some the University of Oregon and Jack Blatherwick “overspeed” concepts to improve game speed.
I am just now getting over the jet lag and trying to absorb everything that I saw and learned but in summary it was an motivating and uplifting three weeks. It made realize how fortunate I am to have the freinds and netowrk that I have. Being invoved in sport is very special, it goes beyond the technical aspects, the training, it is about friendship and people. The visit to OZ only reinforced this, but you don't have to go to Austalia to interact with other professionals. In some cases if you are at a university or with a pro team walk down the hall and talk to someone else open your eyes and ears to the possiblities to learn and grrow that are around you everyday.