Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hi, it's Steve Vindigat's Bortlaw. Leave me a message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Hey, Steve, it's Dina. You aren't going to believe what just came across my desk. We need to chat. Give me a call.
Welcome to the latest episode of Sportopia. We're so excited to share our knowledge and have conversations about healthy human sport. This episode, we have two special guests with us today to lead a discussion on designing team alliances. Loren Bret is a leadership coach here at sport Law and also a former national team athlete and coach in the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. Loren has been specializing her leadership practice by working with sport coaches and athletes to enhance their leadership skills, learn how to reflect before reacting, strengthen their emotional intelligence, and learn how to communicate with greater skill and compassion. Sounds like we all might need a little bit of Loren and everything she has to bring in our lives. We also have Ed van Hoof. Now, Ed is the head national team coach in men's artistic gymnastics at Gymnastics Canada. And we're going to invite Loren to speak a little bit more about Ed in a moment. But before we do, Loren, what's coming across your desk?
[00:01:35] Speaker C: This know. Hi, Dina. Hi, Ed. It's really wonderful to be here again.
So what's coming across my desk is a club reached out last week with a request to help a team of seven coaches. Things have been feeling a bit prickly in their environment. They've lost their mojo, and they really just want to get it back. So, first of all, like so many, this club is feeling, I would say, topsy turvy. Those effects of the pandemic, still, people are reactive. They're tired, they're on edge. And the club has seen some changes. And because of the turmoil, the head coach has lost a bit of confidence. They're not sure if they want to stay in sport, saying things like, it's not worth it anymore. So that's where I started. I started working with the head coach. I just had a couple of sessions now, but after these first few sessions, the head know, they just reported to me that they're feeling hope, which is a word that you and I love. Dina, there's glimmers of the old days are showing, and so we've done a bit of work on shifting their perspective. Because, Dina, as you know, how you see, your world becomes your world. So if you go in expecting the worst, if you go in looking for proof that the environment is horrible, that's what you'll find. And so if you challenge yourself. And this was their challenge, was to look for the glimmers of joy, look for people doing amazing things. And you'll also find that, too, doesn't put aside those things that are feeling clunky, but it just allows for another perspective to also be true. So there's still work to do with the whole team, which I'll start shortly. But already there are shifts. For the first time in a long time, this coach says she really feels hope. So I'm really inspired by that. So that's what's coming across my desk. I wonder about you, Dina. What's coming across your desk?
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Well, I love that it's so powerful to just honor when we ask a different question, it can change our world. So rather than focusing on what's going wrong in your world, it's like, what are the glimmers of joy or possibility that you're experiencing or witnessing and seeing how that shifts the energy? I love that Loren was coming across my desk. I just had an amazing conversation with one of the founders of Racing to zero.
So this is a retired athlete now, Shay, who sport law does offer pro bono services to retired national team athletes who are doing amazing things in the world. So we've supported people like Becky Scott and spirit north and then Diana Matheson and Karina LeBlanc and Christine Sinclair and Rhianne Wilkinson when they had this athlete speaking gig that they were doing.
So we love doing that. And Shay's organization, called racing to zero, is really trying to ensure environmental stewardship. So I've been connecting with him as part of a strategic planning process that we're helping to facilitate for them and just feeling so grateful that we can contribute to the. What next? What happens when an athlete retires and they still want to do amazing work in sport? And for many of them, there's a sense of, I've had to leave my community behind. I've had to leave my entire known way of being. And that can often be. It's a loss, right. There's grief after my time and tenure in sport. So to be able to support athletes in their what's next feels very rewarding. So that's meeting me today.
[00:05:23] Speaker C: Thanks. I love that. I wish that I had that when I was.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Well, you know, for those who are know, game plan, a program from the Canadian Olympic Committee, I think there's a lot of good work helping to socialize athletes in that. What's next? And athletes are finding their way for me, especially those who might be struggling with grief and understand that I can help them position, their lived experience from a grief and loss literate way. So I think the sector itself now is becoming a lot more aware of some of the challenge, the particular challenges that athletes and I would say coaches experience after they leave sport because there's so many attachments, so much part of our identity. Right. That has been formed and shaped over our time in sport. Yeah, so that's what I've been playing with over the last week, Lorenz. So I would love to just invite you to welcome Ed. I'm just so delighted to learn from this exemplar and, yeah, so tell us a little bit more about Ed and then, you know, dancing a little bit with the two of you, but just really excited to be a part of this conversation.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm really thrilled to be here alongside Ed. And I had the privilege of getting to know him through the design the team alliance program that we launched several years ago to support healthy and holistic coach and athlete relationships. But before we dive into that, here's a little bit more about Ed. So, before coming to Canada, he was the architect for the british men's artistic gymnastics program from 2016 to 2018. And that's when the team had this phenomenal rise from 23rd in the world to become a world and Olympic medal winning nation. So he was an olympic gymnast himself and as well as an olympic coach, and he's a former international BRV judge, and he received his MBE from King Charles. I guess he was the prince back then. But in May 2017, he's also got a ton of accolades, including a high performance coach of the year in the UK and overall sport coach of the year. So we are absolutely delighted to have him here. So, Dina, can you see why I'm super excited that Ed agreed to share his experience with us?
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I can absolutely feel that and see how this is so important for us to be sharing stories, know, make examples of exemplars. So, Ed, we'd love to hear a little bit more about the support that you have provided to coaches and athletes through the designing team alliance and maybe share a little bit more about the positive impact that you have seen it have on your athletes.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: Well, thank you for inviting me. Really excited to be doing this podcast. And a big thank you to Loren for the work that she did with our national team members last September and then again this January. The impact, I think, has been exceptional. That's the only way I could describe it because it related so much with me in terms of what I'd been working with in the UK in all of those years. And then to be able to transfer that actually from a period of almost crisis in terms of a competition result that we had in May last year, which was almost the start. That's what really got us together as a small group at that time, at that competition and the feedback. But then the opportunity to work with Lorraine in this team alliance situation just resonated so much with me that I was very comfortable going into it because the conversation that we had just meant everything was going in the right direction and what I believed in, somebody else believed in. And it was that support of doing that which really helped me to push the team and the coaches and the support staff into this situation where we can get behind everybody and it changes the thinking, the culture, the values that the group of people that I work with actually held. And now we're all coming together and we're all singing from the same hymn sheet, as it were, and on the same page, and have this openness that has been promoted through the team building. It's fantastic.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: I love that this shared language and especially in moments of crisis. Right. Being able to rely on this, know, we've done the hard work first. We've gotten to know each other. We've worked through some of the kinks so that when crisis, we're. We're already starting from a foundation of trust. So, Loren, for people who don't know what this designing team alliance looks like, maybe walk us through the experience that you have with clients and anything else that you want to. Lauren.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's interesting, often, and as you just said it, that organizations bring us in to do team building. And I look at this, you and I are often, and the other coaches at sport law are often brought in to coach an individual. And this is more like team coaching. And often they're looking for team building. But the way I see it is that the team is already built, even if it's new and just coming together. But rather than building the team, we're focusing on developing the team, and there is a difference. Right. So with team coaching, we explore the relationship dynamics of a team or a system in this case. Right. And I think it's really important to understand that the goal is not to fix or solve problems or complete some tasks. It rather focuses really on the team dynamics and how the team interacts with one another and how we create efficiencies and really build the strength within the relationships and almost like, amplify the power of the relationships in the system and the relationships actually do the work. So, in a nutshell, design the team alliance. Well, the full name that we call it is designing the team alliance for respectful engagement. It's a process that we take teams through to talk about how they want to be together. Basically, that's it. What's important to them, how they want to work, how they want to play, compete, interact with one another, and in accordance with their values. And so the process is not only for teams who are having some difficulties, but it's also for teams who want to go from good to great, right? And this is kind of where the starting point was for the men's artistic gymnastics team. And so it's a conversation, basically. And what happens is from this is they get to declare sort of what I call cultural agreements or social contract with one another. And I think this is one of the most important conversations and agreements that we should need to make with one another. Because what it does is it allows everyone to get clear on what the expectations are that we have for one another. And so rather than one person, like the executive director or the head coach or a board, telling everyone what the expectations are and how they should behave, the whole team, the coaches, the athletes, for example, in this case, they consciously co create the culture that they wish to have, so they co design it. And what happens when they co design it? And everyone's voice is allowed to have weight. Everyone takes ownership and co responsibility for what happens in this whole environment. And so I take them through a series of questions, and it's things like, what do you need from this group in order to work really well together?
But then I flush it out. I start to coach them as a group. Like, how do you know you have that? Like, if you ask for respect, how do you know that there's respect in the environment? What needs to be happening? How are people behaving? Right? They might answer while we talk to each other in calm voices, maybe. It might mean we listen intently to what the other person is saying, right? We don't jump all over one another in judgment. Things like that. We talk about what the atmosphere. So that's where I'm pulling words like, do you want it to be calm? Do you want it to be engaging? I think the men's artistic has been asked is like, we want to be exciting. We want it to be vibrant, right? We want to be full of life. We want to be cheering one another, right? That's not how all teams, like, some want it to be more calm and relaxing.
Or I also really encourage them to talk individually with one another, right? Because how I might like the environment might be different than somebody else, so mindful that the group atmosphere might feel a little bit overbearing for people. So there might be some individual conversations that need to be had, but really it's about talking. Know, what can we count on from each, know when we're at our best? Like, who are we? What are we doing? What do we want to be known for? Right?
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I see Ed wants to jump in here. Ed, what's popping for you?
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Pick up on something that Lauren was saying in terms of where gymnastics has come from, because traditionally it's been very much a coach led sport, dealing with youngsters from very young ages, seven, eight, nine years old, right the way through into their adulthood. So those formative years are usually fairly, not sure if regimented is the right word, but it's very directed in terms of what's necessary to give those athletes, those young people, the foundations to be able to take their sport to a higher level. And that involves all of the work on flexibility, strength, conditioning and basic technical skills. And that's very much coach flip, because at that age, those youngsters, they don't have any real knowledge about the sport that they're getting into. So sowing the seeds of good development will give them the opportunity to go further in their sport. But it also means that the coach has to adapt and evolve as that young person grows and becomes an individual.
And I think what a lot of the problems that we've had in terms of historical maltreatment, poor coaching practice and things that have come to light, most of it was not intentional. Most of it was just habit. And the problem is, changing habits is one of the hardest things that you can ever do. So re educating or evolving and reflection is critical to how a coach develops those young people going forwards. And I've always encouraged, this was from within the GB situation that the youngsters who came into our lowest age group, squads, nine to 14, were also engaged in the program.
You discuss with them what today's plan is or what the numbers of repetitions are going to be, and you come to an agreement. Yes, it's coach led, but you have to give the athlete a voice, even as young as that. And I think that's where the team alliance has realized or openly given the gymnasts a realistic approach to being part of that process. And as they're in the national team at 18 years plus now, they're young adults. They've already been in the sport 1215 some of them so many years, they have a lot of knowledge around the sport. And we have to tap into that as much as direct that. And that doesn't mean that leadership stops at all, because there still has to be this structure. It's a very regimented sport. It's a judged sport. So you know that there are rules and regulations that have to be followed. The routines and exercises that they perform in competition have to conform to those regulations, but it has to be on a two way basis. So encouraging their own personal coaches to take their responsibility with the athlete's responsibility and to try and get the two to marry hand in hand is pretty difficult. And it's challenging for some of the coaches. It's challenging for some of the athletes because they're not used to that environment to a certain extent, it's being directed. So that whole thing about ownership of the program, to me, is critical, but it goes beyond that because when they're that young, in the early years, their parents are critical to this as well. So having parents on board with the whole program is also a vital part going.
And I think what Loren did and why I was never threatened. It's easy for an outsider to come in and threaten somebody.
Not threaten, but to challenge their thinking and the way that their program is now. Okay, I've got a big enough ego, if you like. I knew where we wanted to go, but Lauren was able to direct that even better. And her relaxed style really encouraged the athletes and coaches to open up because they're not used to talking in an open environment. So it was really fantastic in that respect. And some of the answers and the things that they came out with in terms of their values and what challenged them or what motivated them opened my eyes as well. A simple question. How would you like to be coached?
It seems so obvious, but in actual fact, I don't actually know of a single coach in all my years in the sport who has ever asked that to their athletes.
And it's so simple, and then do the reverse of that to the athlete, what do you expect from your coach?
And it was this two way interaction that really opened up everybody to their thinking. And I guess to a certain extent, they're a little bit more open to it now because of the success that they've just had from the world championships last year, which was preceded by the first session that Loren did with the team, and they qualified for the Olympic Games, first time in 16 years. So I'm over the moon. They're over the moon. Everybody's joyous. But to me now, that's only the first step in terms of building that team and strengthening the team, so expanding it to the 15 members of the national team rather than just the six boys and their coaches who went to the world championships. Now we have this chance to put the word out there that this isn't a weakness. This is actually a strength and should be seen as enhancing the program. So it's a real positive step in my book.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: I'm going to use the word honoring. As I was listening to the two of you.
I love the sowing the seeds of good development because this is actually what we're speaking about. And I'm a parent of three now adult children. But as you were speaking, I often find that when I coached athletes, coached soccer players, I would borrow on my skills as a parent for how I wanted to ensure that this young child, that their souls were left intact and in fact, that they were flourishing through my guidance. So I had that kind of infusing the way that I coached them. And then in other ways when I was parenting, I would sometimes use my coaching hat to invite them into the conversation, which is what the two of you were speaking to so beautifully. So I want to acknowledge that.
And Ed, you shared this, right, the system of sport right now, and let's agree, the entire world needs a bit of a modernization, if you will, that helps us get out of our own way, that allows us and invites us to have these human based conversations. And what I loved about what you were saying, too, with athletes, when they feel safe enough to speak up and they feel that you are respecting me, whatever the age is, 812 15 2055.
I want to stay in that environment. I want to be a part of that culture. So maybe share a little bit more about how do we encourage the frontline workers so people that are the support staff, coaches, ists, the leaders to adopt this more human centric coaching style to encourage more voice and choice for.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: Well, you know, Dina, I think really it begins with understanding that we as coaches, and I use myself because know have been a national team coach and a recreational coach, all of those things. We have a huge responsibility.
We have a human being in front of us, first and foremost, that happens to be an athlete. We must not look at them as a commodity. There's a really wonderful book called the Conscious Parent, and it talks about when we look at our children as they are, their extension of us. And so we're pushing them in ways that we want to more. It's about self actualizing ourselves. And I think in terms of coaching, oftentimes there is a really hard time to differentiate between me, the coach that coaches athletes and that athlete over there, and when that athlete goes onto the floor or onto the field of play, whatever that is, it can be hard to let go of that piece of me that is that athlete over there and recognizing. And it takes a lot of work internally as a coach to be able to let that aside. Some people call it ego, some people call it confidence, whatever it is, to be able to set that aside and understand that once we've done our job, they're over there. But really, it's about the long win, right? In the words of Cathid Bishop, it's the long win. It's a long game that we're playing, because long past the time that they are with us as a coach, they are living a life that is informed by how they experience their life in sport. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's really what was burning for me, that we have to look at it from a lot, much longer perspective, that we have a huge responsibility to raise happy, healthy human beings first.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: And I can pick up on exactly that because it resonates very much with me. And when I was doing the elite coach course in the UK, we all had to do what was our coaching philosophy and have a little video of it. So my real thing for coaching was to pass on as much knowledge as I have. I don't see knowledge as being power, which is often used as a phrase in terms of I sit here at the top because I've got all the knowledge and I keep all the knowledge to myself. Well, for me, growing the sport or growing the individuals, that doesn't make any sense at all because there will be no legacy from it. And my whole thing was to pass on as much knowledge as I have, rather than keeping it internalized and within me, because when I'm gone, then it goes with you. Once you're dead, all of your knowledge has gone with you and there's no point taking it to the grave. It's got to be out there into the sport so that others can actually learn from that. And I've read a book a couple of times now and I read it again while I was away. It's called legacy and it's about the all Blacks rugby team. And it's fantastic in terms of team culture, team ethics and what it is to be an all Black, which in New Zealand rugby terms is the be all and end all of everything. And there's a quote in there that literally you just said that, Lauren, in different words, and it's from a historical thing. Plant seeds that you will never see grow, because when I go to the grave, I want to have sown seeds that will grow into strong human beings who can take the sport even further. And that's through coaches and through the athletes that they're dealing with. So the whole idea of being holistic or humanistic resonates with me, because everybody who enters the sport, and I always say this as a coaching philosophy, the day one, they walk through the gym door as a six, seven, eight year old toddler or whatever, treat them as a potential world champion, don't wait five years and then say, oh, they've got talent or they've got ability. Start from day one, because it's easier then to direct them into where their strengths are. And they may not be suited to the sport as they go through adolescence. They grow, they get school, they find girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, whatever.
And there are so many distractions in life. And I'm going to do a talk coming up, a presentation, and I was just going to use some examples. Our great Britain team had people who had ADHD, OCD, single parent families, all sorts of issues, but they were focused and committed to doing the sport. And these were some of the most successful people in the sport. And what worries me recently was that we had some super successful athletes who then couldn't handle the success, and then they don't know what to do with their lives while they're successful is great. They're in the media, they've got earning potential, but their actual understanding of success kind of gets lost. And I've seen examples of people, as we would say, they get derailed in their life. And I find that pretty saddening, because I feel then that we've kind of failed in terms of giving them all the tools in the box that they need to be able to expand and grow their lives, because it just seems such a tragedy.
So, yes, I do see that. I treat everybody another saying in the room as a potential for growing as a human being, whatever that may be. So the team alliance very much encourages that, because, yes, you can still set boundaries and you can still set targets. There are rules, but the team, in the wider sense, can make those boundaries and those rules because they have the tools now and the voice to be able to engage with everybody without fear of repercussion or that there's going to be something in the past, if somebody spoke up, they would be fearful that they wouldn't get selected for the team or they wouldn't be put onto the team.
That doesn't happen, not anymore. And so I'm very pleased to say that that ownership and the discussion around what leadership looks like very much on board. And thank you to Loren for reinforcing all of that because that actually then motivates me to go further.
[00:30:04] Speaker C: You made it easy for me, Ed, because you were so on board from the second. And that makes it easier when there is a champion who believes in this. And I make up that you got them ready for the discussion so that they were open to it. But this is not easy work. I mean, we are teaching them a new skill that people don't have. And I mean, oftentimes when I'm working with people, they're like, oh, now I have something in my toolkit, right? So if athletes have never been asked what their opinion is, they might not be so articulate, right? So where there's going to be bumps and tripping up as we go along, but they are learning a skill that they didn't have before. So it's a remarkable process. It really is. And I love what you were saying, ed, about success because that's one of the questions we ask is, like, beyond winning medals or placement, how are you going to measure success? Because not everybody wins. And so what are the things that you're going to look for? To know that, you know what, that was a great meet.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: And the presentation I'm going to do is going to be to the full cross section of men's gymnastics in Canada, and that every one of them can contribute to the program. And it's not just the five that are going to go to the Olympic Games. Everyone in that room has an opportunity to grow and contribute and help the more they improve. Everybody else has to improve to keep their level in terms of high performance. But it's that growing as a human being and recognizing, okay, I'm not necessarily going to be good enough to get onto the olympic team, but in my future, I want my gymnastics to go as far as possible. Maybe I'll get involved in judging. Maybe I'll become a coach, maybe I'll be motivated in a different way.
I have an example of a british boy who was on the olympic team in 92 and he was in the RAF Royal Air Force and he became when he doing both at the same time, gymnastics career and RAF. And they gave him the years off that he did the course later. So he became a navigator in fast jets, in typhoons.
He was one year too old to be the pilot, they said, which is crazy, but that's the way their selection policy went. But he spent 16 years flying fast jets as a navigator and then when he retired, because they could retire at that time, his family had a gymnastics facility, so he became the manager, but he's a very smart guy and he became a judge or got involved in the judging. Very academically minded, mathematically, exactly what our sport judging is. And now he sits on the European Union Gymnastics technical committee. So he has a new career, but it's all based from what he did, even as a youngster with the RAF training and then his whole career. And I just think, wow, there's a role model for somebody because you don't ever think that a gymnast is going to be a fast jet pilot or navigator.
What a career that could be. So whoever knows what's in the room with you, their opportunities are there and we should be enhancing them to take those opportunities and make the most of their lives.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: You've spoken the two of you to legacy leaving. Really, can we, through our intentional developmental approach to child development, first, right, and then athlete development, as they maybe become more focused on a higher, more elite experience, can our legacy be that they come back to the sport in different ways because they loved their time with us? That's what I was hearing the two of you speak to. And in indigenous practice, the language they use often around legacy leaving is seven generations.
Can we actually trust that the seeds that we plant that we may never see will actually bloom into something that we had some small part in shaping? So I loved that the two of you were speaking to that. And I think as we wind down the conversation, I'd love to speak about hope. We kind of started with hope and now maybe we'll bookend it around, even though things are complex right now, and we can stay focused on all the complexities so that we address some of the concerns around maltreatment in a proactive, ethical way? We also want to turn our heads and hearts and vision to what's hopeful about what is happening right now in the system so we can learn from exemplars like you, Ed. So I'm curious, as we continue to transition towards more modern, humanistic, inclusive practices, or what we're calling it sport loss, sport 2.0, what is your biggest hope? Curious what your biggest hope is? Loren and Ed?
[00:35:10] Speaker A: My biggest hope is that coaches, not just coaches, but the athletes and everybody involved, are realistic about where they sit in the big picture, not in terms of what their careers might be or might not be, but they can look at themselves in the mirror and say, you know what? I did a good job. And I think they have to be able to reflect on how they do their job and how they live their lives, because I think that's something that seems to be lacking a little bit.
There's a degree of selfishness that really is unhealthy, even in the sport environment. And I think we're trying to say, look, everybody's different. There is no normal. That's one thing I've really learned in all of this. There is no normal because everybody has individual traits, whatever it be, even within the same family. So siblings will be different. And I think it's giving them the tools and the voice that they can make good decisions for themselves rather than just going with the flow or following that. They are enough tools, as I say, to make good decisions and good choices in life. That would be my hope.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: Love that. See if you can top that one. Loren.
[00:36:38] Speaker C: Wow.
Well, I think there's a lot of pressure in sport to do better, and my biggest hope is that sport makes a deliberate effort to make sure that funding is available in their budgets. So allocating funds differently in their budgets to incorporate learning and development for their people beyond the X's and O's, beyond the technical. It's what you and I call Dina, the other factor, the other dimension, that human dimension, and give people the tools. That's what they do out in the corporate world. You're a new manager, a new leader, you're given training, and we don't do that in sport. There are incredible human beings working inside this sport system that's crumbling. And in order to move beyond where we are now, we need to support them. And so this old system is falling away, and the new system is emerging. So we need to be investing in and supporting people to be able to build and sustain healthy relationships with one another. So that's my high hope.
[00:37:41] Speaker B: Love that.
[00:37:42] Speaker A: Sorry, just chipping in. I think sustainability is probably one of the key things to that, so that that legacy is built and developed on generation. On generation, indeed.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: Thank you to the two of you. This metaphor of sowing seeds really speaks to me, because I think there's an honoring when we see children, as you said earlier, Ed, and look at them with wonder and awe and say, I believe in you, and I'm not sure if you're going to become a fighter pilot or navigator or an astronaut or a teacher. Doesn't matter. I just want you to know I believe in you, and we're going to be intentional about you connecting with your body through the sport of gymnastics, and you're going to grow strong and you're going to learn things and I'm going to be your ally as your coach. And I believe in you. So I loved that you started with that language of I believe in you. I also like that you spoke about some of the derailleurs that we, as humans, adults, we can get in our own way and we can feel scared when we feel like we're being judged and transacted. And so this balance between understanding that my role really with this young human is to be their cheerleader and to provide them alongside their parents, often with a sense of I feel safe and supported and I know people are going to care about me regardless of the score I get. So that really that foundation of trust that you were speaking to, I also loved that you spoke about athlete voice. The more we can engage all the people in the ecosystem more intentionally by asking them, what do you need to thrive in this sport? And allowing their voice to shape that experience. I think that power that you spoke to Ed dynamic then becomes a shared responsibility. So from power over to power with right, this co responsibility, what's mine to contribute?
I really appreciated that and know when I'm not doing this work in sport, I'm a grief coach. So I work with people, the bereaved, the broken hearted. And there are a lot of athletes and coaches that are finding their way to me because they're leaving sport broken. And so there's something around evolving our ethical practice, right? As coaches, as leaders, as stewards, how do I ensure that I am becoming very self aware of my own fears and limitations and egos and limiting beliefs so that I don't impose that on the people that I'm here to actually support. So ethical practice is a part of my work as a grief coach. And as the two of you were talking, it's like, how do we ensure that coaches, sport coaches, also are very reflective in their ethical practice and those are new skills that they have to learn because they're not being taught this in coaching schools around reflective ethical practice and all of this self inquiry that is now an important way to ensure that we don't cause harm, however unintentional it is. So those are some final little threads that I wanted to offer, and before we close, any last words or things that you would love our listeners to hear before we close off, maybe I'll start with you. Lorenz.
[00:41:32] Speaker C: I think I just want to say that I feel like there is a new day dawning. I think people, organizations, are waking up to understand that they can push against the status quo and it takes work. It's not easy. I was that coach who did it because, well, that's the way we do it. And if we are patient and compassionate with those that are trying to figure it out, I think that there's a lot of hope right around the corner.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: I love that a new day is dawning. New seeds are being planted. Over to you, Ed. Any final musings?
[00:42:15] Speaker A: I totally concur with that. And I think what we've found is that the team alliance has opened the door for all of the athletes and coaches to be engaged. We talked about the ownership and the direction that a program might go and follow, but I think the team alliance, and I'll use the word team, as in team together, everyone achieves more, and I think that kind of sums up where we can go. And I think historically, I'm all on board with people having a voice, but I think their voices should be heard.
They can criticize, but it should be constructive criticism as to how we make things better, not just pointing the finger at what was bad and just criticizing almost for criticizing sake. So, yes, criticize. It's hard to take sometimes, but I think as long as it's constructive, it will help everybody become stronger and better. And I think that that will then lead into the team being stronger and better and the results that they're trying to achieve. They will raise the bar and they will keep raising the bar, even if it's.
I have a little motto for them. Every go counts. They should be attempting everything they do in the training hall. They're in the gym for 3 hours. Every go counts. Use that 3 hours.
Don't just think about it outside the gym, please do. But when you're in the gym, be in the gym and just say, every go counts. And together as a team, everybody achieves more.
I'm excited by the prospect, and I know the next six months are going to be very challenging and the results from the olympic games will be high up on everybody's expectations. But we have to learn to live with that expectation as well. So we do our best. As long as they do their best at the right time, on the right day, the results will look after themselves.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: Beautiful.
Well, this was an enjoyable way to spend this beautiful day. I'm so grateful to the two of you. I've noticed that my energy has shifted, my heart has expanded just by being in your presence. So thank you so much on behalf of the team at sport Law for sharing your time. With us, ed and loren, to you for modeling a way of being for our clients, right? And how when we design these team alliances, things can shift. Who knew? So in the episode notes below, you're going to find some sport law blogs where you can find more information related to our conversation today and a link to my book, values in action. Thank you so much to our listeners. We're so grateful to share our vision of Sportopia with you as we all look to elevate sport. As always, to have your say in Sportopia, email us at hello at Sportlaw, CA or on social media at Sportlaw, CA to let us know what you want to hear about next. Maybe there's an exemplar that you would love for us to feature, so let us know. Stay tuned for the next episode.
