There has been this ongoing debate mostly in human development fields —about this thing framed as nature versus nurture. The nature-camp says that successful people are born with traits that make them successful. The nurture-camp counters that successful people are successful because they were nurtured and taught in a positive environment.
From personal experience and observing what goes on in the workplace, I believe that a combination of both is the key, but a heavy dose of nurturing sure does seem to make a difference. An athletic person needs to learn the specifics of his sport, as someone with maths sense needs to learn calculus. Top golfers practice thousands of hours, batsmen need to spend long periods in the nets and footballers need to get proper training on and off the pitch as well as put in the work on their own, continuously getting instructions on how to do what they do well — better.
As important as it might seem for a coach to be a hero; more importantly, coaching can be a catalyst for making heroes. Here’s how: giving athletes opportunities to fine-tune hero skills; opening their minds to possibilities; helping them see their superpowers and putting them in situations that will evoke their higher nature rather than they are lower.
Let’s take a look at examples around us. For me, I can easily refer to the Dennis Lawrence scenario. Clearly, he has been a hero for T&T as a player, scoring that memorable goal against Bahrain thirteen years ago. Yes, this past Friday made it thirteen years since his header propelled this country to its first ever World Cup Finals in Germany 2006.
A hero then and fast forward to present day, he is now serving the role as a coach trying to make more heroes, giving his players an opportunity to fine-tune their hero skills. At least there are those of us hoping to see this follow through as skipper Khaleem Hyland and company look ahead to Gold Cup 2019 and Qatar 2022 World Cup qualification.
I read somewhere that as a coach, the performance, execution, character, and motivation of a team is the responsibility of the coach and all those involved, meaning the staff, the athletes themselves and the critical stakeholders. Note that I said the critical ones because we all know and have seen it ourselves where not all stakeholders will always have the same ambitions and hopes. The quality of these defined areas is a reflection of what we are, what we teach, what we learn and what we believe.
Being a coach with a defined style, he's continually looking for ways to improve the programme, looking for feedback from his players through their performance on the field, their execution of the skills taught, their display of character on the field and in the dressing room, and their enthusiasm toward their responsibilities on and off the field.
Just as athletes have chosen to be a part of this special fraternity, there are those of us who make up the support staff and have a role to play, must commit to doing the right things on and off the playing field as players and coaches. Our actions in both environments have a direct impact on our team and define our character. We are reminded time and again that players look up to coaches and the example they lead by will be transformed into actions by our players.
It has been said that success as a coach is not just about the “wins” but also what the young men, who came through the program, do beyond the playing field. The emphasis on goal setting is implemented in our football programmes by having our players identify their strengths and weaknesses.
This provides the players with an opportunity to overcome their obstacles by identifying their resources for help and advice. It is very important for coaches to identify their style and philosophy because it is their trademark. A coaches’ trademark is designed to define what he/she is all about and what they stand.
Listening to members of the National Senior Men’s team indicates that there are a clear vision and understanding at the moment of what is required in the current program being led by Lawrence.
"It's already competitive in training. It's a love in our team and everyone is ready to work for each other. We have been taking on what he has been giving to us. Dennis played at this level so I myself looked up to him when he played. When he gives information, we can trust that it is something we can use to help us as a team," European based defender Sheldon Bateau said last week.
"The coach has very good ideas on what he wants from the team. The team spirit, love and energy keeps getting better every time we are around as a team. The coach has a good relationship with everyone and I appreciate that" midfielder Ataulla Guerra added. "His plan is to keep us together as a unit."
Skipper Hyland also noted, "Everyone is taking things on board, working step by step on things to fix what we want to accomplish on the pitch. Everyone has taken Dennis on board and trying to implement what he wants from us and how he wants us to carry ourselves as professionals. He knows what he wants for this team and he has been carrying on with his vision and philosophy and we as players have been taking things on board and trying to push forward with it as a team."
Editor's Note: Shaun Fuentes is a former FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He is also currently a CONCACAF Competitions Media Officer and has traveled extensively because of sport and media over the past eighteen years. He is also a certified media trainer for athletes.