Main speaker, Alberto Castellani (Professor & President of GPTCA)
Had a great explanation of the 4 basic human emotions. The typical behaviour when we experience those emotions, and the needs of the different emotional states.
- Happiness
Behaviour: Go towards
Need: Share - Sadness
Behaviour: Be alone
Need: To accept - Fear
Behaviour: Run away
Need: Help - Anger
Behaviour: Aggression
Need: Reevaluation
Further Alberto had the following 3 one liners that especially caught my attention:
“We don’t know what we don’t know”
He expanded saying that “We need feedback in order to develop”
That lead me to propose the question and challenge myself on whether I’m good enough at asking for feedback both personally and professionally.
“The most energy comes from being scared or feeling fear”
Scary and thought provoking at the same time.
“What is something that others tell you, that you don’t accept?”
This last one really made me think.
…arrogant! I’m sometimes told that I’m arrogant, which is certainly not a conscious decision and the times I have been told, I have felt really ashamed and it continuously makes me think twice in many situations before I decide to open my mouth.
Martyna Nowak, PhD in Sport Psychology and Sport Psychologist at the Polish Olympic Committee.
Challenged all of us to be more specific in our communication. It’s not enough to say “Focus”, “Be confident” or “Be positive”.
We need to help players know WHAT to do & HOW to it.
She exemplified why doing the same task; walking a 5 meter wooden board, can be very easy when it’s on the ground and extremely difficult if it’s in 25 meters height in between 2 buildings. The task hasn’t changed but the circumstances certainly has. The same principle is experienced by tennis players when they practice and when they compete. When the circumstances change it’s crucial to focus on the task, of walking the wooden board, not on how nervous or scared you have become because of the height. Focusing on what to do and exactly how to do it, will provide you with the biggest opportunity of succeeding.
I presented a frame work of Cultural Leadership.
A framework with the purpose of making it easy for coaches and parents to get conscious about the environment that they create around the tennis players they work with. No matter whether we are conscious or not we will always lead the culture in a certain way. The question is if we are leading it in the direction we desire and whether or not we facilitate an environment in which we provide the players with the opportunity of acquiring and developing the desired concrete behaviours that we wish them to master.
Step 1) What is the characteristic?
Step 2) What are the desired actions?
Step 3) What pedagogy considerations do I need to do?
Step 4) What behaviours do I need to reinforce and praise?
Step 5) What questions do I need to ask myself to evaluate?
While it’s difficult to determine good and bad culture — the culture needs to fit to the desired task. Completely different cultures can be very functional in different contexts.
Have you consciously made up your mind about what kind of environment and culture you would like to facilitate?