The Olympics are an incredible feast of sport! And there’s some real progress in recognizing the important role that coaches play in guiding athlete success.

The ICCE Global Coaches House has been strongly endorsed by the IOC (International Olympic Committee). It is providing coaches the opportunity to learn from an amazing line up of world class coaching experts. Every day there’s a series of presentations and discussions, and the opportunity to meet leaders in coaching from around the world. An example from today is Eddie Jones, formerly Australia’s national rugby coach and now currently occupying the same position for Japan (see photo). After describing his analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese team, and the innovative strategies he is using to overcome some of their limitations, he was asked about his openness with this information. His answer, which I hope will stimulate some thought (and comments) among those coaches and sport scientists that think you need to hide information from others, was that you need to be confident enough as a coach to welcome people to see what you’re doing – and then ask them how they think you can improve! He went on to say that by the time you’re finished copying what we’re doing, we’ve moved on to something different. But it’s how well you can execute – everyone knows how Manchester United or Barcelona play soccer, the challenge is to do it better! So, practice being confident by opening up!

Eddie Jones, head coach, Rugby Japan.

The IOC included a Coaches Oath during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and also held a Coaches Night on Wednesday, featuring a panel discussion with Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), Kobe Bryant, Clive Woodward, Sergey Bubka and chaired by Angela Ruggiero (USA Hockey). Kobe made an interesting comment: “Best is when the coach gives me a framework and lets me make decisions and adjustments.

 Kobe Bryant, USA Basketball.