Creating a Culture for B S C-What Can We Learn From Rugby?

Creating a Culture for Barrington Swim Club—What Can We Learn From New Zealand Rugby?

I recently read and article about Sir Graham Henry, former Head Coach of the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team. The piece was about how Henry took over as the coach of an already successful program and what he did to empower individuals to create an amazing culture of Excellence and Leadership. Here are some things that we can learn from the All Backs Rugby Team at BSC to keep pushing our team's culture to the next level and begin empowering our athletes for leadership.

1. Have A Goal: With the All Blacks it was winning Rugby Matches and having every teammate understand their role in that success and training to be their best in that role. At BSC we always have performance goals--”I want to go x time”. Let's take it a step further and start to create training, technical, strength and nutrition goals that all lead to the accomplishment of that performance goal at the end of the season. Understand what it takes go after it and stay after it. How does my goal help the Team?

2. Hone your Metal Tools: Coach Henry talked about the mentality of excellence and leadership being like any other skill and the need to work on it constantly by challenge in training and every teammate knowing the why of the challenge. Young people especially need to be taught how to manage the pressure of performance, focus and do their best. Understand and control one's emotional state, verbalize what it is, and move past mental barriers. BSC Swimmers need to understand what and why they are doing. Then they should help teammates work through the ups and downs together as a TEAM. Understanding yourself is a key to Leading Others.

3. Actively Participate in Your Training: For the All Blacks it was reaching a point where players could give coaches accurate and meaningful feedback in regards to their training. Part of Team and Personal Excellence is teammates talking to coaches openly about what is going on during a training cycle—6mos. In duration. What is working, What isn't working, What is the next step, What needs to be done to either keep moving forward or getting back on track. These types of conversations start happening at the Mustang Level and get more involved as athletes progress through the Maverick and Senior Levels. This encourages our older Teammates to help younger Teammates learn and work through training most effectively.

4. Constantly Restate Team Identity: With the All Blacks it was their Haka—pre-game ritual dance. This was a connection to their identity as a Team as well as a Nation. Everyone past and present knew what it meant to be a member of the All Blacks. For BSC we need to develop that sense of TEAM Pride in who we are and who we are becoming. We have a rich tradition of Excellence over the Past 35 years—We need to be PROUD of it! Everyone should know that to be a BSC swimmers stands for Superior Attendance, Superior Work Ethic, Superior Attitude, Superior Toughness, Superior Attention to Detail, and Heartfelt Caring for Each other!