I have just been watching an excellent documentary from BBC,
100 seconds to greatness, the story of David Rudisha 800m Olympic champion and
world record holder.
I though that it was an excellent story on two fronts, first it really shows
what it takes to be a world beater as an athlete, it also shines the spotlight
on an unlikely coach, in the process giving a glimpse into some excellent
coaching ideals.
Why is David Rudisha so good? Undoubtedly he was lucky enough to be born with the genes that gave him a good physique for 800m running, but this is far from the whole story. Clues in the documentary hint
at the likely reasons.
To become world class in anything takes a vast amount of
hard work, something needs to happen in the mind of an individual to ignite the
determination, passion and interest needed to succeed. For David this happened
at an early age, with his father’s 1968 Olympic Silver medal ever present
through his childhood. If this wasn't enough, athletics at the time in Kenya were booming. Athletes were celebrities held in high regard.
Anders Ericcsson (1993) Outlined the theory that to be world
class takes around 10 000 hours of deliberate practise over at least a 10 year
period. His early ignition set David running at a young age, in the documentary
he says that he ran everywhere. In a community where a 10 mile run to school
and back every day is not unusual you start to get an idea of the miles he was
clocking up during his childhood. Add to the equation that he lived in the
highest area of the Rift Valley, at close to 2,500m above sea level, you can get a sense of the strong foundations for athletic achievement that David was able to put in place before he hit his teenage years. An academic from Edinburgh
University by the name of Yannis Pitsiladis spent several years studying top
athletes from Kenya and other African Countries. He expecting to find a genetic
advantage that they all possessed which their relative dominance in middle distance running could be attributed to. What he has so far found has in fact
contradicted this theory, but what he has found is that 10 year old boys living in the
area that David and 95% of elite Kenyan athletes are from, possess running
economy on par with elite level athletes.
Nobody makes it to the top of any sport without assistance,
both from the circumstances of the time and place they are brought up, and the
people in their lives. David was lucky to have supportive and knowledgeable
parents, and then just when he needed more, the guidance of a world class coach
in Brother Colm, who was at a stage in his life where he could devote all his
time and energies to David. He was also surrounded by other world class junior
and senior athletes who were able to push him to great things. His timing
couldn’t have better either, Athletics in Kenya was booming as he grew up, as
he came of age scouts were on the hunt for a potential world beating 800m
runner, and were keen to provide him with opportunities. All of these factors
helped make a champion, but ultimately it was down to determination and a phenomenal
amount of hard work that saw David rise above the rest.
The documentary is interesting in that it doesn’t just focus
on the athlete, but also turns the spotlight on the coach. Possibly an unusual
man to be a athletics coach? Brother Colm is a Christian missionary with no
previous experience in athletics, before he came to Kenya in the 60’s. Working
at St Patricks school he used athletics as a vehicle to reach the youth of the
area. The school and Brother Colm, can now claim many top level Kenyan athletes
as former pupils. What makes Brother Colm and St Patricks so successful?
As previously mentioned world class doesn’t come easily, it
takes monumental amounts of hard work, to keep going while all around are
giving up takes super human desire and determination. All around St Patricks
and in Brother Colm’s words, are subtle ignition cues to say, "you can do it if
you work hard enough." The plaques celebrating former pupils success at world
level is one example, “where are you going to be in 2012?” from Brother Colm is
another.
The regime at St Patricks athletics camps is set up to
promote the fact that success doesn’t come easily, “there are no short cuts,”
is uttered by most of the coaches in the documentary at some point. Days are long and gruelling. Honesty is
used when giving feedback, never do you hear you are a natural, that’s amazing
etc. The open mindset is actively promoted at St Patricks (See work by Carol
Dweck on mindsets)
One area that Brother Colm is very good at with his coaching
is making it student focused, he takes time to get to know each student individually
and works hard at making each athlete feel valued; his coaching is adapted to
suit the individual. Coaching like this is hard work and takes a lot of
practise, but is ultimately vastly more successful than aiming generic coaching
at the group. He clearly has good powers of observation, originally learning
his coaching skills from watching how youths in the area were training. Since
then it is obvious he has devoted as much time to studying athletics texts as
religious ones, his knowledge is encyclopaedic. He knew David Rudisha's fathers
PB at 400m, when David was unsure.
Making sure the basics are perfect is vital to build a top
performer in any sport, in athletics it is also important to help avoid injury.
During David’s first training session as a senior, Brother Colm just wants to
see David running at a reasonable pace “I
just want to see how you move” there is no pushing to get faster until he
is utterly confident the basics are in place. Just watch the Olympic 2012 800m
final to see the result of this insistence, David’s running style is beautiful
to watch from start to finish. In the last 100m the chasing pack start to look
more like a primary school sports day sprint, as the effect of fatigue, lactic
acid and the pressure take their toll.
World class requires a drive to always improve, and looking
to seek any way in doing so. Anyone who thinks I am the best, and stands still
doesn’t stay at the top of the tree for long. This applies to Athlete and
coach. Brother Colm questions himself, “am
I the best thing for David?” At no point does he give up, he just accepts
the challenge and tries to rise to it.
Finally a point about the facilities at the school and in
the area of Kenya that are producing so many world class runners. You would
expect state of the art right? No far from it. Basic is an understatement. This
is a phenomenon David Coyle discovers in his book ‘The Talent Code’ in which he
goes in search of some of the facilities around the world which have produced a
disproportionate number of world class sport performers, they are all dilapidated
old buildings with basic facilities, he terms them “Chicken wire Harvard’s”
Yannis Pitsiladis helps to shed some light on this. "On
a track in Kenya, say, you have a great number of Olympians and major athletes
all there at one time. They're all watching each other and pushing each other
all the time. Some of them are earning lots of money, but they're living in
camps with no electricity, no water, that are horrible, dirty, awful."I
remember saying to one of them 'Why are you staying here? This is a pretty
awful place.'
"He said: 'See that beautiful house up there on the mountain? That's my house. If I live there I'll become fat. Here, I'm sharing a room with a 17-year-old who wants to kick my backside. I'm not going to let him do that.'
"And he stays hungry."(Scotsman 2011 interview with Yannis Pitsiladis)
What can we take from this that can be applied to sailing? I think the key point to take is that success doesn’t come easily, it requires a lot of hard work which in turn takes a spark to inspire and motivate someone to put in the level of work required. But hard work alone won’t make someone an Olympic champion, they need to have a certain amount of good fortune with regards to circumstances and the people they meet at critical points in their lives. Take a look at probably the most famous Dinghy sailor in the world, Ben Ainslie. At age 6 he moved with his family to a house on the shores of Falmouth’s extensive harbour, which offered him the possibility to spend thousands of hours sailing after school and at weekends. An opportunity which he grabbed, however he would never have become Olympic champion if that is where the story ended, he was fortunate to have a local club with some very enthusiastic and knowledgeable parents who were just setting up a junior race group. He along with a few other local children got hooked on racing and pushed each other, to get better, when the next step was needed, he was again fortunate to have parents who had the time, money and belief in him to drive thousands of hours around the UK. Ben’s story continues along a similar vein with him enthusiastically grabbing opportunities as they arose along with a good dose of good fortune.
From a coaching point of view the road is far from easy. It has been estimated that to become a world class performer takes 10 years and 10 thousand hours of practise. To become a top class coach must take twice this time. In his book ‘The Talent Code’ David Coyle states that all else being equal, when selecting a coach go for the older guy or gal. Father Colm must be in his seventies and has been coaching athletics for over 40 years, and teaching children for longer.
A last thought is about religion, a lot of top athletes have a strong faith in a god. In moments of intense pressure on the biggest of human stages, to step up and produce your best form takes a special person. Believing you are not alone but have the power and best wishes of the almighty has been shown to be a great psychological benefit. David’s journey to Olympic champion had immense highs, but also immense lows, for himself and brother Colm, having a god to turn to during both was undoubtedly a great comfort for them both.
