About the Sport Principle Everybody over a certain age (and Liverpool fans of all ages) remembers Liverpool’s European Cup final ‘miracle’ in Istanbul in 2005. 3-0 down at half-time, nobody thought they could turn it around, but they did, winning the final and going down in history in the process. Even this awesome achievement was […]
About the Sport Principle: Life in the Olympic village: This year, the Olympics will be very different. Due to the global pandemic, there will be no international spectators and the competitors themselves will be in and out of the village, only permitted to stick around for the duration of their event. But perhaps this won’t […]
About the Sport Principle Think of a bike. It is always slightly off balance, either to one side or the other. Actually, this is precisely how it stays balanced. Life and work are like this. Don’t be fooled when you hear people talking about work/life balance, as though there is some kind of Utopia out […]
About the Sport Principle In most sports, there are tricks and short cuts for the learner that will fast-track the beginner and accelerate their early progress, to a point. Ways of bending and stretching the rules to the very edge of acceptability – the easy wins we might say. But these are no replacement at […]
About the Sport Principle There is a power in team sports that those of us who primarily engage in individual sports routinely miss out on. I loved my few-and-far-between chances to play rugby union at secondary school. That’s perhaps partly due to the kamikaze element in my character, honed even then, by years being smashed […]
About the Sport Principle Together Everyone Achieves More is a great acronym, and it’s absolutely true; but it’s not the whole story: teamwork is essential in sport and in life, but try telling Barcelona fans that it’s all about the team after Messi has just scored five goals in one game! Barcelona are a fantastic team, but they […]
About the Sport Principle Many top athletes are driven by a fear of failure more than a need to achieve: it’s not so much the thought of the gold medal that drives them on, but rather the thought of missing out on a medal altogether, or the final, or even qualification for the games themselves! […]
About the Sport Principle When you are training, whatever your sport, if you want a laugh, train with a beginner. If you want a workout, train with somebody of a similar standard, but if you really want to improve, find somebody to work with as a training partner who is much better than you. It […]
About the Sport Principle The 80/20 principle is well known: 80% of insurance claims are made by 20% of claimants; 80% of road traffic accidents are caused by 20% of drivers; 80% of wages are earned by 20% of workers; 80% of alcohol is drunk by 20% of drinkers, etc. The variables don’t matter here. […]
About the Sport Principle Rugby League is essentially a very simple (and brilliant) sport in its aims and objectives: gain territory. That’s it. Everything is geared to winning ground and moving forward. This principle reminds me of a brilliant book called ‘extreme ownership’ about US Navy Seals in Iraq by Jocho Willink (all elite special […]
