David Rudisha, 'We salute you'. Coach Brother Colm O'Connell reveals 'the secret'

I watch the documentary on the inspiring story of this great athlete.  A Masai warrior, family man and god fearing.  My primary interest in the story was to gain an insight into his coach, teacher, mentor, missionary and friend 'Brother Colm O'Connell.  An interesting character who by virtue of his position (missionary) allows him to influence his athletes to a far greater extent than most coaches would have the opportunity to.  Coupled with an extensive knowledge base of the game makes him a formidable coach whose evidence of successes and failures that maketh the man.

I empathize with his comments relating to 'poor runs of success and failures,' causing him to doubt himself and his methods. Although its the athlete that endures the physical pain, coaches are equally subject to the psychological impacts of winning and losing, success or failure, both good and poor performances.  Coaches need athletes to believe in them, to buy into what we're selling and equally as important coaches need athletes who also believe in themselves, however  this is not a one way street as athletes also need coaches to believe in them.  You cannot measure belief but we intuitively know if it is absent.

David Rudisha came through Brother Colm's junior academy and progressed to become World junior champion. He decided to stay with Brother Colm as a senior athlete and qualified for the 2009 Olympic games, a hot favorite to do well but failed to make the final.  Overcoming his disappointments he bounced back to become senior World 800M Champion and world record holder breaking a record that had previously stood for 13 years.

Then came the 2012 Olympics and the rest is history.  If you missed it the first time around then here it is again, be mindful to behold what you are watching and contrary to what others may say, THIS is the greatest race in history, the last man to finish would have won gold at the previous THREE Olympic games.

World 800M Champion, Olympic 800M Champion, World 800M Record Holder (1.40.91 sec), and he led from the front.  I am willing you to break the 1.40.00 sec barrier.

I will leave you with this great quote.

THE SECRET

'The secret is in the head, not the legs.  You won't see or hear anything that'll tell you, its determination, the passion, the interest, the commitment, the focus, the dream.  These are not secrets, these are true of any successful person in life, of any person that can rise above the ordinary.'

Coach Brother Colm O'Connell

Reference
BBC documentary  David Rudisha
http://www.thescore.ie/david-rudisha-to-run-in-galway-1049751-Aug2013/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN7WgImgpbM

Peak4Karate performance days

‘Perfection in not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence’– Vince Lombardi

Introduction

In our pursuit of excellence we present three workshops aimed at developing both the coaching process and athlete performance through education, goal setting and training sessions designed to test and challenge participants and therefore suitable for both developing  coach and athlete.  Each workshop will consist of the follow:

• Strength & conditioning session
• 2 x Karate training sessions
• Performance analysis (classroom based)
• Guidance on areas such as, sports injury prevention, nutrition, strength and conditioning

9 Aug 2014 - Workshop 1

In this session we will further breakdown the key components of performance and evaluate your perceived abilities in each;

• Technical – executing the criteria of good point scoring
• Tactical – strategic awareness / decision making
• Physiological – components of fitness / energy systems
• Psychological – Emotional readiness

16 Aug 2014 - Workshop 2

In this session we will build on the previous session;

• Technical – world class point scoring within given scenarios
• Tactical – strategic awareness through programming responses
• Physiological – training methods to develop energy systems, speed and power
• Psychological – Coping with pressure

13 Sept 2014 - Workshop 3

In this session we will build on the previous session;

• Technical – execution of world class point scoring
• Tactical – execution of strategic awareness during match play scenarios
• Physiological – training drills using specific energy systems, speed and power
• Psychological – Fostering a 'must win' attitude

English Karate Federation members only

EKF Licence checks will take place on registration