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Quotable
"To give yourself the best possible chance of playing to your potential, you must prepare for every eventuality. That means practice."
- Seve Ballesteros
Great to have all the new readers with us over the past weeks. Mark, if you passed our newsletter on, I really appreciate the support as we grow.
I thought the Super 14 final on Saturday was a celebration of high quality rugby played in front a full house of highly charged people... and plenty others like me, in front of their TV sets.
On most weekends when I was growing up I was fortunate to go to Newlands rugby and cricket grounds. My lasting memories of these ventures are about how the many great players left their legacies on these famous fields. Their ability to show off their unique talents under intense scrutiny often left me pondering as an enthusiastic 12 year-old, if I would ever be able to do the same. I guess somewhere in my thinking at that time, I was given the motivation and was driven by this desire to do the same.
Saturday's Super 14 final would have left many a fortunate 12 year-old with the same feeling. Thanks to a match between two fantastic and well organized franchises, where the players were permitted to display their awesome talents without retribution.
I'm sure there were many youngsters running out of the stadium to go and find a piece of ground where they could go and play out there own final.
For me what was more important and notable than the result how every player gave everything he had, both mentally and physically. As it turned out, the difference was a piece of individual brilliance, usually booked for the special elite who have an intense belief in their ability. Bryan Habana is one of those!
I will always remember this occasion as a great day for South African rugby. A shining example of how a top level sporting organization should be managed. The two coaches were empowered and supported to make decisions about the team and the strategy. And 40 players were empowered by their coaches to bring their own unique style of play to the game.
I was fortunate to listen to a talk from Heineke Meyer a couple of weeks ago and was hugely impressed by this unassuming man. He is humble to a fault, passionate, highly organized and honest - qualities that have gone a long way to set him and his team up for success.
The Bulls is a massive brand, bolstered by the fact that the way they play their rugby at the highest level is filtered down throughout their structures. There is complete alignment with regards how all the rugby players within this region are striving to be.
They have a complete understanding of what they need to do, in order to one day walk out on the hallowed Loftus turf. The Bulls have been set up for success. Surely we can duplicate this model and run it through all our sporting franchises?
The custodians of any sport are the players. They are the ones who will have the lasting impact on the future of the game. They are the heroes out there. If the players are compromised and the organization does not provide them with the best possible chance of consistent success, the organization damages the future survival of the game.
We continue to see people vying for status and power in our professional sport. How sad is this and how damaging. It's time for the RIGHT people (knowledge, passion, humility and honesty) to be given centre stage and to begin setting all our sporting organizations up for sustainable success. After all, we owe it to our 12 year olds!!!
Until next time
Gary
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