The Rowing NZ Coaches Conference was held in Wellington over the weekend, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.
Working as a public servant, for an agency going through another round of changes, things feel a bit grim. So, to be able to listen to a fantastic line up of speakers was a nice distraction.
I got way more out of the weekend than I had anticipated. I mentioned to ...Mark Weatherall that it was Professional Development in disguise. An opportunity to hear from others about their approach to coaching and leadership and how they inspire and work with their athletes.
As well as reflecting on my own coaching style, just about every session was transferable to either the way I lead people at work, interact with friends, or how I can better understand my own adolescent kids.
I had a couple of ahha moments in Kathryn Berkett's red/green brain and stress response session. Her point about letting kids find out that if you DDSIH (do dumb shit it hurts) and as a parent this means giving kids the space to try things and be in situations that requires them to build resilience.
'The Talent Trap' session led by Leigh Ashton made me think about how we give value to unreliable predictors of success. As Leigh said, "there's no such thing as an elite 10-year-old." When we fall into the Talent Trap we enable a misdirected, biased process to determine who should and shouldn’t be supported - instead, we should encourage a more holistic approach to encouraging participation and competition.
Both Clarke Laidlaw (the Hurricanes Head Coach) and Tony O'Connor's (Coach of the Olympic NZ Men's 8+) sessions drove home the importance of putting people in the centre. It was like listening to a Ted Lasso Masterclass - make things fun, use language that means something to the receiver, and ask for feedback.
Heaps of other great sessions, and opportunities to meet other coaches from across Aotearoa. Thanks Rowing NZ - that was just what I needed!
We are looking forward to being a part of this - such important topics.