State of Origin never ceases to amaze sports fans. One man in the sin bin. Another forward ruled out for the game. Queensland was on the ropes. We’ve heard it all before, and so those final seven minutes shouldn’t be a surprise but we witnessed another Maroons miracle.

Billy Slater’s men have left the NSW Blues shell-shocked, running away 26-18 winners at Adelaide Oval to take a 1-0 lead as the series heads to Suncorp Stadium for Game 2

This lead me to question…how is Coach Slater creating environments to create better people as well as better players, leaning into expectation of their state as opposed to fear of results? How is he allowing them to express themselves, try and fail in many scenarios seen in Game 1 whilst showing commitment to their own outcomes? Are we as coaches committed to creating passionate players, willing to explore and test their ideas and skills, or conforming footballers, focused on the perceived correct ideas and techniques, offering standard outcomes with minimal risk?

As the AFL world spotlight shines on Adelaide this weekend for the inaugural Gather Round, excitement shall be at an all time high for many players and fans. However, not many teams are showing as much enjoyment on the field as Collingwood Football Club. Before their loss to Brisbane last week, it was commented on how much fun and exciting footy the players in black and white were displaying.

So how do we as coaches create our own DisneyLand in our sports environments? there’s some key messages from these comments such as explaining and understanding the importance of a growth mindset, creating an environment of honesty, openness and fun and most importantly, coaches being genuine, coaching to their personality and true selves with the importance of building strong relationships with their athletes to tie all these points together in a socially dynamic situation.

F1 is back in 2023 and in many ways, starting how it was left off in 2022. Red Bull and Max Verstappen are setting the pace with all other teams wondering how they follow. This includes 7 time World Championship winner Lewis Hamilton, who ran him Verstappen close (with the help of a couple of red flags!!) in Melbourne early April. However, some of Verstappen’s comments post race again made me question his mindset within the sport compared to the senior racer, Hamilton.

There is no doubt Verstappen in this example is a very capable driver and will be regarded as one of the best ever drivers yet if Hamilton or others start to challenge him and Red Bull’s dominance, can his mindset seize the opportunities of growth and development he is potentially offered?

I’m really excited to share this blog post, combining my thrown together ideas with the brilliant mind of Gordon MacLelland from Working with Parents in Sport. We have been chatting ideas around understanding what good coaching looks like for parents and where we might see examples in HP sport for parents to watch and reflect on. This discussion has coincided with English Premier League concluding for another year; the last weekend seen Man City edging Liverpool on the last day to become champions and the top 4 are now set for Champions League Football next year. However, the strange part of this conversation is that the most successful team in the Premier League era, Manchester United was part of none of these conversations; not fighting for top four or the league title come the final weekend. So, Gordon and I shared ideas and opinions and shall follow on with a podcast conversation considering what has gone wrong at this extremely successful club and was their clues along the way?

An interesting couple of months with Ash Barty retiring while reigning AUS Open Champion and World #1 and NFL GOAT Tom Brady retiring only to change his mind and rejoin his Tampa Bay side for 2023 season. However, the different announcements made me consider what is motivating these athletes at. Particularly, Barty’s comments and the fact she had to do a second press conference make me contest and ask that why do we as a society question her desire to seek other challenges or respond to her gut, knowing her passion and drive is now away from the tennis court? Why do we not understand and acknowledge that even when on top of the world, we should lean into where or how we draw our happiness or energy from like highlighted by Barty?