The future

Firstly, an acknowledgement. It's clear I suck at this bogging thing. I have every intent of posting something new every few days. Then suddenly it's two weeks later...

I promise to do better in future.

And on the subject of the future, it was both pleasing and more than a little bit scary to watch the progress of the NZ under-17's a the World Cup in Nigeria.

Pleasing because the team achieved something no other New Zealand side had - made progress to the second round. It was scary, however, because all the games, and particularly the 5-0 loss to Nigeria, showed just how far we have to progress if we wish to become contenders.

To be clear, I don't want to knock the efforts of the Junior All Whites. Their efforts were history making and something we have to build on. But that's the question - how do we build on it?

In his book The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle explains how greatness isn't born, it's grown. He describes the three key elements that work together to form myelin, a microscopic neural substance that adds vast amounts of speed and accuracy to your movements and thoughts. The three things: Deep Practice (specific kinds of practice can increase skill up to ten times faster than conventional practice. 10,000 hours of deep practice leads to world class skills), Ignition (not just motivation but a higher level of commitment - passion - that accelerates development) and Master Coaching (the world's most effective teachers do things differently, and better, than the rest).

Coyle shows that it's not just money or location or any of the usually cited things that determine whether someone is world class. It's a good read and I recommend any aspiring coach get hold of a copy, read it properly and apply the lessons immediately.

A study on this country's so-called elite athletes would be fascinating. I'd suggest our rugby players, netballers, leaguies et al, wouldn't need to come anywhere near the approach explained in The Talent Code because the measure of what is world class in those sports would be far less than what it takes to be world class in sports like football. Why? Because the global depth of talent in those sports is negligible, so you don't even need to be all that good of a sportsperson to be considered a great.

I'm not for a second suggesting the people representing our country at those sports don't work hard. I'm sure they do and I'm sure they've put in the 'hard yards'. It's just that those hard yards wouldn't stack up if these sportspeople wanted to emulate Tiger Woods, Alberto Contador, Roger Federer, Lionel Messi or Kaka. We're talking two completely different concepts of excellence here. Our rowers and cyclists, on the other hand, will no exactly what's required to be the best.

Anyway, bringing this right back to where we started: how do we improve the quality of talent coming through the footballing ranks in New Zealand? It won't be easy, of course, but I believe it all starts with our levels of expectation. Every young player, parent, club coach and fan must expect more and contribute more. I know we can't just flick a switch and make that happen, and I know we're infected by the 'just enough is good enough' outlook I explained above, but we have to try. And if we fail then we try in another way. And again, and again, and again.

My personal interest in this is the rapid aging of my two sons (man, they grow up quick!). As a parent it's my duty to set standards and expectations, show them the way and support them 100% in what they choose to do. Naturally, they'll both choose to be footballers, so I'm going to have to ensure they have the best opportunity of reaching that goal. And I'd prefer they aim to be like Kaka or Messi rather than some journeyman international sportsman like Dan Carter or Richie McCaw.

I've got my work cut out for me.