Coaching Edge 33 2013 | Page 28

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COACHING EDGE |GAINING AN EDGE |

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Games last year, with a viewing to giving them
an extra winning edge.
‘We applied a strength-based approach; superstrength, in fact, focusing and concentrating on
those things we did well,’ he said.
‘This was a concept we borrowed from English
cricket, and is an effective way to stay focused
and retain a positive mindset. This was
invaluable and helped to relax anxieties,
particularly with all the extra pressure of it being
our home Games.’

Teams can gain that extra half-yard by working together
as the England Women’s Hockey team proved

Eduardo Perez y Medina is director and head
coach at Huddersfield Heat Basketball Club, as
well as a tutor at sports coach UK. He believes
the key to gaining that elusive extra advantage
is through experience; of the players but
equally, if not more importantly, their coach.
‘The more experience, the better the decision
making. Better tactical and physical experience
results in consistently good decision making.
Ultimately, this is down to experience.’
He believes players can be encouraged to find
their own way and to develop their own
techniques for improvement: ‘There’s too much
fundamentalising of kids. I think you must do
this, do that. The key in the early stages is to
teach them to learn to play.’

© Ollie Uffindall

As with much of coaching, it is what you get
into your players’ heads and how you work on
this that is so important, over and above
physical skills.

against teams of a broadly equal skill level,
and can make a massive difference to the small
margin between success and failure.’
The university lecturer in health/sports
coaching, and physiotherapist, continues:
‘Having a tighter unit than their opposition, in
whatever sport, having a shared opinion and
ethos can be a massive gain in itself. Good
coaches will recognise this and work hard to
foster it, and it pays off in all manner of ways.’

Picking up on Blake’s points, Medina says: ‘It’s
true that the players of a higher IQ can pick up
more quickly on the extra advantages they can
gain, and can pick up on what you are
teaching them.’

‘Some athletes are
born with the mental
toughness needed to
succeed, others have
to harness it. A good
coach will differentiate
and not attempt
broad brush strokes.’

He widens this angle to explain that whole
teams, and even clubs, can gain that extra halfyard by working together. ‘Teams can gain the
advantage, not just individuals. I’ve seen it on
so many occasions. A cohesive team will back
themselves, back each other and back their
decisions. This can be a vital extra weapon

Danny Kerry, performance director at England
Hockey, offers some interesting and thoughtprovoking ideas on the subject. He gave some
fascinating details on how he prepared the GB
women’s squad for The London 2012 Olympic

Medina’s Huddersfield Heat have gone from
strength to strength in their 20-year history, and
are proud double winners, taking the EBL
Division 3 North and National Shield in 2012–
2013. Their success is built on their coaching
model, and of players making the absolute best
of what they have.

Blake, who was appointed as one of The FA’s
national coaches six years ago, says much of
this particular key skill is all in the mind: ‘The
likes of Fabio Capello and Roberto Mancini
have talked a great deal about mentality and
mindset, and for me these are key issues and
ones which are crucial to success.’
He believes the skill players can develop, of
starting a run at a certain split-second time, or
making sure they have the perfect angle of the
body at an optimum moment, is largely down
to spatial awareness. ‘A mind that thinks quickly,
reacts to vital clues and anticipates will help its
body immeasurably,’ says Blake.
The 51 year old, who as a player also played
with distinction for Stoke, Bradford, Dundee
and Exeter, adds: ‘The coach must look at four
factors in their player: mind, body, technical
and practical elements – all rolled into one.
‘A great player will always have an open mind.
He will advance and improve because he is
receptive to everything. Some players do not
like to be told, they need to be guided, but the
truly great player, or potentially great one,
always retains the ability to learn and keep
learning.’ And on the downside, no matter how
hard a coach tries to help, some players will
not maximise their advantage and work on
widening it: ‘A closed mind is not open to extra
speed of thought and movement,’ adds Blake.
Medina addresses the iss VR