Sports Thoughts

Some of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with were elite athletes. And some of the worst coaches I’ve ever worked with were elite athletes.Being great at playing a sport doesn’t automatically make you great at coaching it.The Pros: What Former Athletes BringCredibility: They’ve been there. Done that. Won that. Athletes listen differently to someone who’s walked the path.Empathy: They know what it feels like. The nerves before a big game. The pain of losing. The grind of training when you don’t feel like it. They can feel the game in ways non-athletes cannot.Technical Insight: They understand the nuances. The micro-adjustments. The things that don’t show up in coaching manuals but make all the difference on game day.Network: They know people. Other athletes, coaches, administrators. Doors open that wouldn’t open for others.The Cons: Where Former Athletes StruggleCoaching Skills: Playing and coaching are completely different skill sets. Most elite athletes have never been taught how to teach, how to communicate, how to design sessions, how to manage a group.Patience: “I could do this at your age, why can’t you?” The assumption that everyone should learn the way they learned, train the way they trained, think the way they thought.Leadership and Team Building: Being a great teammate is not the same as building a great team. Managing egos, resolving conflict, creating culture; these are learned skills, not inherited ones.The Curse of Excellence: They were exceptional. They often don’t understand why others can’t just “do it.” The things that came naturally to them must be explicitly taught to everyone else.The Bottom LineFormer athletes bring unique insights and experiences that no coaching course can replicate. Their credibility and empathy are genuine competitive advantages.But without intentional development of coaching skills, communication skills, and leadership skills, they often struggle.The best athlete-coaches are the ones who recognise that coaching is a profession that must be learned; not just an extension of their playing career.Are you a former athlete who coaches? What’s been your biggest challenge?This is What CoachTED is Built ForMy mentoring program CoachTED - Training, Education and Development - helps coaches; including former athletes; develop the skills that playing never taught them:* Communication and connection with athletes;* Session design and coaching methodology;* Leadership, team building and culture creation;* Managing parents and stakeholder relationships.📩 [email protected] 📱 WhatsApp: +61 414 712 074 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithIntroduction:Your athletes look great in warm-up and drills but fall apart when it matters because you’ve trained them to only perform skills when they’re comfortable. Let’s try something different!Three Critical Learning Points:* The typical session structure — warm-up, drills, skills, THEN conditioning means skills are only ever practised fresh.* If athletes only own skills when rested, they don’t own them at all.* The fix is simple: integrate technique work INTO your hard sessions, not just before them.Training is More Than Just Training!Let me describe a typical training session.* Warm-up. * Easy movement. * Get the body ready.* Then drills and skills learning. * Technique work. Everything nice and controlled.Then the main session. Conditioning. Fitness. The hard stuff.Then cool down. Session over.Sound familiar?Here’s the problem with this structure.Skills are usually practised when athletes are fresh, rested, focused and comfortable. Then we put the skills away and do the hard work.But in competition when do athletes need their skills most?When they’re tired. When they’re under pressure. When their heart rate is through the roof and their brain is screaming at them to just survive.And if they’ve never practised skills in that state they don’t have them when and where it matters.I’ve watched this happen a thousand times. Beautiful technique on Tuesday night at training: Falls apart completely at Saturday’s game.Some might call it “choking” or “nerves” or “not being able to handle pressure.”I call it a training design problem.If you only practise your skills when fresh, you only own your skills when fresh.Competition isn’t “fresh”. Competition is chaos!!! It’s often an insane environment of fatigue and pressure and noise and stress!So why don’t we train skills in those conditions?The fix is simple: stop separating skills from stress.Insert a technical focus DURING your conditioning work. Add a skill component to your hardest threshold sets. Make athletes think about form when they’re exhausted.That’s where skill mastery actually lives: not in the warm-up or in your early session drills practices but in the final quarter of training and competition when everything hurts.Final Thoughts:We’ve been structuring sessions wrong for decades. Drills practices early on in the workout followed later by the hard work: as if skills and stress are separate categories. They’re not. Integration is everything. Train skills under stress or watch them disappear when and where it matters.Two Practical Application Tips:* Move one drill into your main session. Take your most important technique drill and insert it halfway through your conditioning work when athletes are fatigued. Watch what happens to their form. That’s where you’ll find the real truth about their competition ready skill level.* Add a “technique check” to your hardest sets. Every 10 minutes during intense work, stop and ask: “Show me perfect form for one rep.” If they can’t do it tired, they don’t own it.Let me know how it goes.Wayne This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithIntroduction:We spend thousands of hours building stronger bodies and almost zero time building stronger minds.Three Critical Learning Points:* The brain is a “muscle”- “a mental muscle” — and like any muscle, it needs systematic training, not just occasional attention.* Mental conditioning belongs IN your training sessions, not in a separate “sports psych” add-on lecture.* Athletes don’t choke because they’re unfit: they choke because we never trained their mind to handle the moment.How Can You Train the Body WITHOUT Training the Brain?Here’s what I see in most training programs.* Warm-up. * Drills. * Conditioning. * Skills. * Cool down. Session over.Physical work? Tick. Technical work? Tick. Mental work? Where is it?????????Maybe once a month someone comes in to talk about mindset. Maybe once a season there’s a workshop on goal setting. Maybe — if you’re very, very lucky there’s a sports psychologist attached to the program.But here’s the problem: mental conditioning that happens separate from training doesn’t readily transfer to competition.You can’t teach someone to stay calm under pressure in a classroom. You have to create pressure in training and teach them to handle it there.The brain is your “mental muscle”. It needs reps. It needs fatigue. It needs progressive overload, just like your legs and arms and heart and lungs.So why do we treat mental training like an optional extra?Here’s what I want you to try:Build mental exercises INTO your training sessions. Not as an add-on. As a foundation.* Visualisation between reps. * Focus cues under fatigue. * Decision-making drills when they’re tired and stressed.If athletes only practise mental skills when they’re fresh and relaxed, they only own those skills when they’re fresh and relaxed.Competition isn’t fresh and relaxed. Train accordingly.The gym between your ears is the one that wins championships.Final Thoughts:We’ve been obsessing over physical preparation for decades. It’s time to give mental preparation the same respect. Stop treating the mind as separate from the body. They train together — or they fail together.Two Practical Application Tips:* Add a “mental rep” to every physical set. Before the next rep, have athletes close their eyes for 5 seconds, visualise the perfect execution, then go. Simple. Builds the habit of mental preparation under fatigue.* Create “chaos moments” in training. Once a week, introduce unexpected pressure — change the drill mid-set, add a time constraint, simulate crowd noise. Train them to think clearly when things aren’t perfect.Let me know how you go about brain training!Wayne This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithWith everyone trying to sell you everything — I thought I’d give you three things that will make you an even better coach. Three practical strategies you can do right now to enhance your coaching.And they’re free.I call them the 3 Ls of Coaching:1. LOOKWhen an athlete walks towards you, make a conscious decision to look directly into their eyes. With some athletes that can be a bit intimidating, so maybe start by turning towards them and looking in their direction. When people look at us, we know they’re ready to connect with us, to engage with us — and to...2. LISTENListening is seriously an underrated coaching skill. Not just nodding when your athletes talk. Not parroting them: “So you’re telling me you feel XYZ” or “I’m hearing you say ABC” — that way of listening died with the dinosaurs. Listen. Intently. Here’s a tip: count to three before responding. If your athletes know you’re looking at them and you’re listening to them — then the number one coaching skill of all becomes possible...3. LOVEThere are a lot of great quotes about coaches and coaching — but perhaps the best is this: Athletes don’t care how much you know — until they know how much you care. I’ve known a lot of great coaches. Some of them are real hard-arses. But even the toughest, most demanding coaches love and care about their athletes and want them to be all that it’s possible for them to be. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spoken to the athletes of a coach who seems like a real hard case — and the athlete will say: “Coach really cares about me.”Look. Listen. Love.What’s your best ever coaching tip?Wayne This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s talk about Talent Identification.Most countries, all professional clubs, and even a lot of schools do some form of talent identification.And most of them are doing it wrong.Let me explain.If you ask the world’s 100 greatest coaches this question: “What does it take to be great — to be a champion — in your sport?”The answers will include:* Resilience. * Commitment. * Dedication. * Persistence. * Willing to do whatever it takes. * Willingly do more than anyone else is prepared to do. * Passion. * Self-determination. * Integrity. * A love of learning and improvement.None of these 100 coaches will say “a large VO2 Max” or “long levers” or “fast twitch muscle fibres.”Yet look at what most talent ID programs actually test:* Sprints. * Agility. * Endurance. * Jumping. * Flexibility.Physical. Physical. Physical.If you have a talent ID program that includes all the usual suspects — but you’re not testing for the things that really matter — you’re making two of the greatest mistakes you can make in sport:* You will overlook many of the kids who have the potential to be great.* You will select a lot of kids who have the raw physical capabilities to succeed but lack the character, values and virtues essential to get to the top.In other words — you miss the right kids and select the wrong ones.The irony?We know what makes champions. Every great coach will tell you. But our talent ID systems measure the opposite.We test bodies. We should be looking for hearts.What would your talent ID program look like if you tested for character first?📚 I wrote the book on this: The Talent Myth — Why Character Beats Genetics Every Time https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Myth-Character-Beats-Genetics/dp/0987155792Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne Goldsmith“What can I do, Wayne?” — Signed, Desperate ParentI get this message all the time:“My daughter was a great gymnast at 8. Winning regionals at 10. Competing nationally at 11. Now she’s 15 and wants to quit. What can I do?”What they want me to say: “I can tell you how to motivate her to stay and make the Olympic team.”What I actually say: “Let her go. Tell her you love her. Support her decision. Tell her you’ve loved watching her train and compete — and whether it’s a break or permanent, you’re here for her unconditionally.”What most parents say instead: “Do you know how much money we’ve spent? How much time I’ve wasted driving you around?”Parents — listen to me. Please.The guilt trip does not work.All you’ll do is ensure they never come back — and destroy your relationship with them.Let them go. Leave the door open. Love them. Support them. Listen to them.Say something like: “If that’s your decision, I respect it. I’m a little disappointed I won’t get to watch you play — because I love that — but if that’s what you want to do, I fully support you and I love you.”That’s it. That’s the answer.The kids who come back to sport — and many do — come back because the door was left open.The kids who never return? Most of them had parents who made quitting feel like a betrayal.Don’t be that parent.What would you say to your child if they wanted to quit? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

When you start out in coaching, someone will come in and talk to you about skills and technique and drills.And the traditional model goes something like this:Introduce a new skill. Demonstrate it. Get the kids to try it. Make it fun. Make it interesting. Get them engaged.Then — once they understand the movement — get them to do it over and over and over again until they “master” the technique.There’s nothing wrong with repetition. If you’re learning piano or engineering or art — where you need to do the same thing precisely, in the same environment, over and over — mastery makes sense.But sport isn’t like that.The Problem With “Mastering the Movement”Human beings are not robots. And competition is not a controlled environment.In competition, athletes have to execute skills:* Against other human beings* At high speed* When they’re tired* When they’re under pressure* In unfamiliar conditions* Consistently, over and overIn other words — they have to do the skill when and where it really matters.And here’s the problem with the traditional model:We teach kids to do the skill. We get them to repeat it until they can do the movement well. But we don’t progress them through to being able to do it in competition conditions.We master the movement — but we never transfer it to performance.The Performance Practice ModelHere’s what I suggest instead.Once they can do the skill reasonably well, start adding layers.Layer 1: SpeedCan they do the skill at high speed?I don’t know many sports where you win gold medals by doing things really, really slowly. Add speed into your drills early.Layer 2: FatigueCan they do the skill at speed when they’re tired?Most sports are decided in moments of fatigue — either exposing it in the opposition or executing in spite of it yourself.Layer 3: PressureCan they do the skill at speed, when tired, under emotional pressure?State championships. School finals. Nationals. Grand final. The crowd. The moment.Layer 4: ConsistencyCan they do it over and over?Most sports — especially team sports — require athletes to execute repeatedly across 40, 60, 80 minutes. Not once. Continuously.Layer 5: CompetitionCan they do all of the above in a real competition setting?The Tuesday Night TrapHere’s the classic scenario.You’re training kids at home. It’s Tuesday night. Nice and quiet. Controlled conditions. And you think — wow, this kid can really do that technique well.Then you take them to state championships.They get no sleep because they’re sharing a room. They eat junk food for breakfast because nothing else was open. The warm-up pool is crowded and chaotic. It’s pouring rain. Freezing cold. Their family isn’t there.And they’ve still got to perform the skill — reasonably well, at speed, under fatigue, under pressure, consistently, in competition.That’s the real test.Break Free of the Old ModelI want you to challenge this idea of “mastering the movement.”Yes — it’s important that athletes learn to do things well. But don’t be obsessed with perfection. There is no such thing as perfect technique.What matters is whether they can execute skills that work for them — when and where it matters.And we do that by progressing drills through:* Speed* Fatigue* Pressure* Consistency* Competition conditionsThat’s Performance Practice.The Seven Skill StepsI’ve put together a simple handout on the seven steps of skill progression — from learning the movement through to executing in competition.Over to YouHow do you teach skills?Do you progress your athletes beyond mastering the movement?What do you do to prepare them for the pressures of competition?I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment below.Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Your athletes can hit the time in training. They can execute the skill on Tuesday afternoon at the quiet local ground. They can do the task.But can they do it when and where it matters?After 10 hours on a bus. Sharing a room with teammates who stayed up all night on social media. Eating fast food because nothing else was open. In front of more people than they’ve ever seen. On a ground they’ve never played on. In a country where they don’t speak the language.That’s the real test.The Plank Exercise:Imagine a piece of wood — one metre wide, ten metres long — lying on the ground. Walk from one end to the other.Easy.Now imagine that same plank five kilometres in the air.Can you still do it?The task hasn’t changed. But suddenly you’re thinking about danger, fear, pressure, risk. Your mind is working against you.We haven’t trained you to deal with the environment.This is why athletes fail at their first state championships, their first nationals, their first international competition. They can perform the skill — they just can’t perform it there.Three Important Lessons for Every Coach and Every Athlete:1. Make training harder than the competition.If you’re preparing for state championships, train like it’s nationals. If it’s nationals, train like it’s international. Always prepare one level up.2. Out-prepare your opposition in every detail.If the number six is bigger, stronger and more talented than you — AND out-prepares you — you can’t win. But if you eat better, sleep better, rest more, train smarter, hydrate properly, recover fully — you give yourself a chance.3. Do those two things every single day.Consistency wins.The art of coaching isn’t preparing athletes to do the task.It’s preparing them to do it when and where it actually matters.What do you do to help your athletes prepare for the real environment of competition?y Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve spent 35 years in sport. Most of that as a coach developer — a coach of coaches.Tens of thousands of hours with coaches who’ve achieved remarkable things: Olympic gold, World Championships, Grand Slams, professional titles at the highest level.Here’s my gift to you — the top three things I’ve learnt from that living library of coaching genius:1. Learn something new every day. The best coaches are voracious learners. Open to new ideas. Hungry to improve at the fastest rate possible.2. Dare to be different. They take their sport in new directions. They don’t care when people think they’re crazy. Leaders lead. Copying kills.3. Care deeply about your athletes. I’ve spoken with some of the greatest athletes in the world. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve said: “I love the guy — he’s like my dad” or “She just gets me. She really cares about me as a person.” The best coaches care more deeply than you can imagine.A lifetime of experience in a few words.What’s your number 1 - your best - coaching tip? Please share it with our Sports Thoughts community.Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithWhy aren’t kids coming back to your sport?The answer — and the solution — is standing on your sideline.Your coaches ARE the experience. Every session. Every interaction. Every moment that makes a kid think “I love this” or “I’m done.”You can have world-class facilities, brilliant programs and big marketing budgets, but what the coach says and does on Tuesday night determines whether that family comes back next week and next season.Want to grow participation? Invest in your coaches. Train them. Support them. Value them.They’re your greatest asset. And your simplest solution.What's your organisation doing to invest in coaches? I'd love to hear what's working.Wayne Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

There is no magic pill. No secret sauce. No one thing that guarantees success.The internet is full of people — usually selling something — telling you the “only” thing you need or the “best” way to do it.30 years in this business taught me a simple filter for what’s real and what’s bulldust:RED FLAGS:* Absolutes — words like always, never, must, only, best = probably rubbish* Big promises — more than 2% improvement? Likely garbage — or not legal* Competitor bashing — if they trash others to sell themselves, their product is weaker than it looksWHAT ACTUALLY WORKS:* Consistent training;* Physical and mental health;* Never giving up.You can’t bottle these. But they’re free.What’s the worst “guaranteed results” claim you’ve seen? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithThis is part three of my trilogy on the Norway sporting success story.Part 1: Everyone wants to copy Norway — but you have to play like YOUR place. Part 2: I’d scrap all junior rep teams for under-14s. Part 3: So what SHOULD you do?Here’s my three-step framework:1. Learn from your legends. Stand on the shoulders of giants. Your sport has a legacy — people who figured out what works in YOUR context. Don’t throw out everything that came before just because their birthday was a few years before yours. Some of it still works. Keep it.2. Learn from the best of today. Study Norway. Study Scandinavia. Study whoever is getting results right now. Understand exactly what best practice looks like — not to copy, but to understand.3. Build YOUR way. Pull together what worked for you with the best of what’s working now. Implement a plan that fits YOUR unique context — your people, your culture, your climate, your history.Don’t be a follower. Be a leader.Change the direction of YOUR sport.What’s the ONE thing from your sport’s past that still works today?Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Parents — sometimes you have to say NO. And mean it.We all love our kids. I’ve got eight — I get it.But I can’t tell you how many arguments I’ve had with sporting parents whose child didn’t get selected in a team and who want to blame the system or the coach or the selectors or anyone and everyone they can find. Instead of saying:“You didn’t make it this time. I love you. I’ll be right here beside you as you work to get there next time — if that’s what you choose to do.”…….the parents abuse the selectors. They write letters to the national body. They whine about how the system is unfair, how it’s all geared against their child, how their kid is better than the others and a million other gripes.Every time a parent does this, the child learns: “The word “no” means my parents will negotiate a “yes” for me”.Kids need to learn they can’t win all the time.They need to learn that no matter how hard they try, life isn’t always fair.They need to learn they can’t always get what they want.Teach them to accept setbacks. To learn from disappointments. To move forward quickly without regrets.That’s not cruelty. That’s parenting.What’s the best lesson a setback taught your child?Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

What would you do if you had ONE session with a team you don’t know, in a place you’ve never been, sometimes in a language you don’t speak, in a sport you don’t understand?I am very lucky. I get to travel the world and work with coaches, athletes, teams and sporting parents everywhere.Often, coaches will invite me to visit their training sessions and spend time with their team. This can vary between taking a full session, to a “motivation” style talk or just to walk with the coach kicking ideas around about coaching.So I’ve got one shot - to coin a phrase - one opportunity to do something of lasting value for the coach and their team. The question is - what do I do with that one opportunity?Here’s my answer: I make them feel good about themselves.I can’t improve their physiology in one session — so I don’t try.I can’t fix their technique in a single workout — so I don’t waste their time or mine.What I CAN do is inspire them to believe in themselves — just a little. Be a spark in their hearts that could change everything.Coaches — our job, above all else, is to inspire people to believe in themselves and that anything is possible.Yes, we coach technique, tactics, speed, strength. But the effectiveness of our coaching comes down to one thing: our ability to inspire everyone we coach to believe in themselves — and in us.Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithThanks for the incredible response to the "Good Boys Make Great Players" video. A coach wrote to me and asked, "Wayne. How do I coach "good"? Great question.My answer: Stop seeing them as athletes. Start seeing them as people who do athletic things.This re-framing of your coaching is essential because you shift your focus from talent, skills, winning, losing, performance etc. to how can I coach this person standing in front of me to be the best version of themselves.You go from thinking in terms of coaching new skills, improving techniques and enhancing physiological capabilities, to how can I coach this person to be a decent human being first and foremost.You start to recognize coachable moments and coaching opportunities where their hearts and minds are open to learning and where you have the chance to maybe change their lives by teaching important life lessons.Have a great coaching day. Thanks again everyone for your support.Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

I was visiting the Collingwood AFL Club here in Australia.Impressive facilities. Long history of success. Well resourced. Professional football team.They had a guy whose job was to take care of the players’ boots. Clean them, repair them, dry them. He’d been there for years doing the same job — and he loved it.I asked him: “You’ve seen some of the game’s greatest players over a long time. What have you learnt?”He said — perhaps the most important five words you’ll ever hear about young men and sport:“Good boys make great players.”If you’re a parent of a boy, if you coach young men, if you aspire to be a great player - those words should be on a billboard outside your house in 50-foot high letters.Forget talent. Forget how much they can lift in the weight room.Help them to be good boys. They’ll become great players — and more importantly — good men.Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

A lot of coaches, club committees and sports administrators complain that the reason their program, their team and their athletes are not competitive is due to poor facilities.“If we had a better court, our kids would be able to train and play better” etc.In 30 years in this business I’ve seen kids in Africa train in dirty swimming pools with no starting blocks, lane ropes or backstroke flags - and win gold medals at the Olympic Games.I’ve seen kids in Fiji train on the beach and play on rough, barely grassed fields where the lines are marked in sand - and win gold medals at the Olympics.I’ve seen kids shooting baskets in Midwest-USA on courts that are cracked and broken and with the backboards hanging off and smashed - and win gold medals at the Olympics.But I’ve never seen a negative attitude built on complaints about facilities win anything. Here’s the thing.Sure - it would be great to have a world class training centre with brand new playing facilities, a recovery centre, a state of the art gym and a stack of the latest high-tech training equipment.But for most of us - that’s never going to happen.What will happen is kids will turn up to practice and look to you to deliver an exceptional experience: a fun, engaging, enjoyable, challenging session where they can learn, get better and have a great time doing it.Coaching is what matters. Your energy and your enthusiasm matters.Forget complaining about what you don’t have. Just coach with extraordinary passion everyday. I’d take a committed, passionate, happy coach over a new grandstand and a bigger strength training facility any day.Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

There are no 7 year old champions,There are no sporting super-stars at 9 years of age.There are no “great” athletes at 11 years of age. Recently a sporting parent said something to me that I wanted to share with you. I promise you - NONE of this is embellished or made up.“Wayne. I need your advice. My kid plays sport and he’s great at it. Everyone tells us that he’s a champion. I want to help him be the best. So I’ve set up a training track at home and I make him train on it every day. The other day I got angry at him because he wasn’t doing it perfectly. That’s what his problem is. He often starts training really well and does it perfectly then he loses focus and starts making mistakes. I tell him “you have to stop making mistakes if you want to be the best”. What can I do so he stops making dumb mistakes?”And the kicker…..THE KID IS SEVEN YEARS OLD.This is - without doubt - the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard from any sporting parent in 30 years in this business.Here’s what’s going to happen.* The kid will never be a champion.* The kid will quit by his mid-teens.* The kid will grow up hating sport, training and worst of all probably his parents.My advice? Let him be seven. Let him play. Let him make mistakes. Let him love it.What would YOU tell this parent?Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne Goldsmithn the old days, coaches talked a lot. We’d go on and on about what to do, how to do it, how many times to do it, why to do it.Now, athletes want something other than a “sage on a stage”. They want a coach who works WITH them — not AT them. They want more than telling and yelling.Questions are a powerful coaching tool.Why? Because when you ask an athlete a question, they stop, think and solve a problem.The brilliance: when the athlete solves the problem — THEY OWN THE SOLUTION.It’s THEIR sport. THEIR game. THEIR development. The more they own their learning, the faster they learn.What’s a question you ask your athletes that makes them think?Wayne Goldsmith This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Player Power doesn’t mean the players are in charge. It means they take ownership.Traditional coaching was simple: tell them what to do, yell when they don’t. Command and control.Modern coaching is different. The coach leads by painting a vision — telling the story of the team’s future with the same clarity as they can describe the past.Someone still needs to lead. Someone still needs to see the destination.But Player Power means athletes take ownership of the standards, attitudes, behaviors and actions — as individuals and as a team. The coach sets the direction. The players drive the car.In this video, I explain what Player Power looks like in high-performing teams — and how coaches can lead while empowering players to own their success.Who’s really calling the shots in your team? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithI’ve delivered sporting parent workshops across six continents — from South Africa to South Korea, Canada to Fiji — since the early ‘90s.In every session, I ask one question. The most important question any sporting parent will ever consider:Close your eyes. What do you see?Watch the video — then tell me what YOU see.Wayne Goldsmith.If you found this useful, hit subscribe — it's free. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithSo - you had to coach the local under 8 team because no one else would?As Douglas Adams would say - DON’T PANIC!There are millions and millions of people just like you all over the world - i.e. what we call “THE LAST ONE STANDING”.Let me guess.You took your kid to the local football or basketball or hockey or baseball club.They announced “Hey everyone. We’re looking for a coach for the team this year. Is anyone here interested?”And you looked around - no one put their hand up - so you thought “I guess it’s up to me” and you volunteered.Then….the reality hits…”What the h$&k I am supposed to do now? I don’t know anything about coaching!!!!”.Again my friends - DON’T PANIC!Take a deep slow breath. Say to yourself “I can do this” - and follow these three easy steps:* Make it safe;* Make it fun;* Keep them moving: It’s the game itself that is their best coach!Don’t be stressed or worried about designing practice sessions or finding the right drills or how to teach skills. There’s mountains of that stuff on the Internet, You Tube, Ai, the sport’s web site and other sources.Don’t worry about any of that stuff. It’s all available free on your device anytime you want it!Coaching can be a wonderful, enjoyable, rewarding career - but for the vast majority of coaches around the world it’s likely to be one season where you’re coaching because no one else would or could do it.My best advice is enjoy that year!!!Have fun yourself.Turn up at every session thinking of yourself as just another one of the kids.Run around.Don’t coach them: PLAY with them.Try to learn the same skills they’re learning.Just coach like you’re one of the kids and love every minute of it.A funny thing will happen. If you’re having fun - they’ll be having fun and it’s going to be a brilliant, unforgettable year for the kids, their parents and most importantly of all - YOU!Wayne GoldsmithCOPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithLet’s talk about what I call The Coaching Moment.That moment when you’re talking with an athlete - it’s only you and them and there’s real connection.In that moment where the only person in the world who matters is that person - that athlete - standing in front of you - you have the opportunity to coach them.A lot of people think coaching is about drills and skills.Others believe coaching is all about the balance of volume, intensity and frequency variables in their workouts.Some will tell you coaching is about tactics and strategies.But in the end, coaching is about coaching.Coaching is connecting with, engaging and inspiring the hearts and minds of the people we coach and in doing so - helping them to believe in themselves and in the reality that anything really is possible.So my question to you is - When The Coaching Moment arrives in your program, how will you grab that opportunity to change the life of the person standing in front of you?Share your thoughts in the comments so that others in the Sports Thoughts community can share in your learning and benefit from your experience.Wayne GoldsmithCOPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne Goldsmith Every coach loves technique.They love talking about it, studying it, recording it and coaching it.But the technical model most of us have been using is overly focused on “perfection” - and is not focused enough on coaching the athlete to be able to effectively execute THEIR TECHNIQUE - i.e. their own unique, individual technique, when and where it matters. Colleagues - forget the concept of technical perfection. Doing endless repeats trying to coach an athlete to hold their elbow or hand or leg at a specific angle that some biomechanics lab has identified as the optimal - i.e. “perfect” angle is largely a waste of time for you and your athletes.Instead, coach each athlete to develop their own technique.Stick to a handful of core technical principles that you know are important - which for most sports are the Hs - HEAD, HANDS, HIPS AND HEELS (feet) but then help each individual develop their own technique.Then coach them to be able to effectively execute their technique:* AT SPEED* UNDER FATIGUE* UNDER PRESSURE* CONSISTENTLY……AND* IN COMPETITION.We spend way too much time chasing the myth of perfection when what we really need to do is help every individual we coach to effectively execute their technique when and where it matters - in competition.Wayne GoldsmithCOPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Kids today are not LAZY - please write that down 100 times.Lots of coaches and parents tell me that kids today are lazy, they don’t want to work hard, they are all looking for the easy way - the short cuts, they’re all entitled…..Bulldu#t!Think for a moment.Did your dad or mom ever say to you, “Kids today are lazy. They’re soft. Not like we were in our day. In our day we had to…etc etc etc?”.Guess what??!!!Their parents said the same to them.And their parents said the same to them.And I wouldn’t be surprised if Plato’s parents said the same to him!Colleagues - it’s not that kids today are lazy: it’s that we need to change the way we deliver ideas, information and feedback to kids in ways that are relevant to them. We need to shift from holding long dull meetings, from over-loading them with video analysis and measurements and data to keeping all meetings to a maximum of ten minutes - ideally even less.The next time you think or say the words “Kids today are lazy” - I want you to think about your parents and their parents and remember that it’s not laziness that’s the problem: it’s our expectations that kids today will think like, act like and train like we did.If you connect with, engage and inspire the hearts and minds of the kids you coach, you will be astonished at how hard they’re prepared to work in the pursuit of their goals and in the expression of their potential. Wayne Goldsmith.Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Sports Thoughts 2026.This year I’ve decided to focus on video posts. There’s way too many Ai generated text posts out there - so I’ve made the commitment to record a lot more video for my Substack community.There’s a lot going on in 2026 and I hope you’ll join me as a subscriber - or at the very least a regular reader / viewer.Have a wonderful year!WayneSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

BY Wayne GoldsmithWelcome to Sports Thoughts Story Time. As a species we humans are at our best when we’re connecting with each other through story-telling. Story telling allows us to share more than the facts: it’s our opportunity to share our feelings, our emotions, our wisdom and our learning with others. Stories allow us to share our successes, our failures, our joys and our fears. Stories help us to learn and grow. This space - Sports Thoughts Story Time is where I’ll share some of the stories I’ve experienced in a lifetime of sport.This week - RUGBY IS ALL YOU KNOW!I had the pleasure of working in Australian Rugby for a few years. Got to know some amazing people - brilliant coaches, talented players - a wonderful experience.However, rugby in Australia - the same as it is in Hockey in Canada, Football in England, Swimming in the USA - tends to be insular when it comes to coaching and often it’s a case of coaches learning from coaches, who learnt from coaches, who learnt from coaches, who learnt from coaches and so on.This story is about a discussion with legendary Australia rugby coach John “Knuckles” Connolly and what I learnt from him that’s made a lasting impact on me and the way I coach coaches in all sports. Thanks John!Wayne Goldsmith.Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved.Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Three Important Things to Remember:* Talent is what people see on the surface - character is what creates champions;* The most "talented" kids often quit first when things get difficult;* Persistence beats talent when talent doesn't persist.Stop telling your kid they're talented. Seriously. Stop it right now.I've worked with Olympic gold medalists and world champions for thirty years. When I ask them what made them successful, "talent" never makes the top five. Know what does? Stubbornness. Curiosity. Resilience. The ability to get smashed and come back for more.Your "talented" kid might have natural ability, but here's what talent really teaches them: that success should come easily. When it doesn't - and it won't at higher levels - they fold like a cheap tent.Meanwhile, the "untalented" kid learns something infinitely more valuable: that improvement comes from effort, failure teaches lessons and persistence conquers everything.I've seen thousands of "naturally gifted" athletes plateau and quit. I've also seen "ordinary" kids with extraordinary determination become world champions. The difference isn't what they were born with - it's what they chose to develop.Talent is your starting point, not your destination. Character is your vehicle, effort is your fuel and persistence is your navigation system.Summary: Talent creates early success and eventual plateaus - character and persistence create champions.Two Practical Tips:* Praise Process Not Product: Say "I love how you kept trying different approaches" instead of "You're so naturally good at this"* Celebrate Struggles: When your kid faces difficulties, say "Perfect - this is where real improvement happens" instead of making excusesWayne GoldsmithCOPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDCheck out Wayne's new book THE TALENT MYTH - WHY TALENT ISN'T WORTH SH&T - available now on AMAZON BOOKS https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Myth-Isnt-Worth-S**t/dp/0987155733/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Sport has a teenage drop out problem.Every sport.Every nation.Kids get to their mid-teens and the vast majority decide it’s time to drop out of competitive sport and focus on other things.I’ve heard a lot of people try to explain this problem away….“It’s the parents’ fault. They’re all too busy to take kids to sport practice”.“It’s the Internet! It’s those awful online games like Fortnite and Minecraft that are ruining kids’ lives”.“It’s society! Kids are soft these days. They don’t want to train and work hard to achieve success!”.To quote Luke Skywalker…”Everything you just said is wrong”.Close your eyes. Try to remember when you were a teenager.What did YOU want from the experience of sport?* To have fun;* To learn new stuff;* To have friends in your team or squad or club;* To have a coach you respected and liked - and who you felt respected and liked you;* To feel like you were improving; * To feel like you belonged - like the club or the team was “your safe and happy place”.Kids have not changed that much.They still want - what you wanted when you were their age.So the question is - are you delivering the experience of sport that todays teenagers are looking for?If not - then that’s a pretty good place to start if you want to decrease your sport’s teenage drop out rate.Wayne GoldsmithCOPYRIGHT WAYNE GOLDSMITH - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the past 30 years I’ve worked all over the world with some brilliant coaches.Worked with coaches in the USA, UK, Ireland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, NZ and many many other wonderful sporting nations.Worked with coaches in football, basketball, cricket, rugby, AFL, rugby league, swimming, diving, triathlon, netball, Gaelic sport, tennis, golf….and more sports than I can remember. From junior local amateur sports clubs to the Olympic Games, Premier League football, NFL and Test Match level rugby and cricket, I’ve worked with exceptional coaches at every level of sport.So there’s one question you have to ask me: one question that you must ask of someone who’s been around as long as I have.“Wayne, what’s the one thing you’ve learnt - the one ultimate coaching tip - the best advice you can give to every coach based on all that experience?”Here it is……Coach - NEVER STOP LEARNING!It’s that simple. Wayne GoldsmithCopyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithWelcome to Sports Thoughts Story Time. As a species we humans are at our best when we’re connecting with each other through story-telling. Story telling allows us to share more than the facts: it’s our opportunity to share our feelings, our emotions, our wisdom and our learning with others. Stories allow us to share our successes, our failures, our joys and our fears. Stories help us to learn and grow. This space - Sports Thoughts Story Time is where I’ll share some of the stories I’ve experienced in a lifetime of sport.This week - The Remarkable Dave TaylorIn this week’s Story Time, I share with you the story of Ultra-Marathoner Dave Taylor who - after running over 600 miles (1000 kilometers) from Sydney Australia to Melbourne Australia - decided that he’d turn around and without a moment’s rest - run back to Sydney.It’s a wonderful story about determination, mental strength and resilience but more than that - Dave’s story tells us that no matter how tired you are, how fatigued you may be, how worn out you’ve become, you can always find just that little bit more…..Wayne GoldsmithCopyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved. Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Getting better at coaching comes down to a simple principle: think of yourself, your own learning, your own growth, your own improvement - in the same way you think about the learning, growth and improvement of your athletes.You expect your athletes to learn something every training session and at every competition: do you expect the same of yourself?You want your athletes to do their best in practice and at events: do you want the same of your coaching?It’s a simple principle - but it’s an important one.In this video I talk about applying this principle in every day coaching. Wayne GoldsmithCopyright Wayne Goldsmith - All Rights Reserved. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Coaches - we’re good at helping our athletes to realize their athletic potential.We’re great at inspiring kids to believe in themselves and that anything truly is possible.We’re brilliant at working hard and giving all we have to the people we coach.Want to know what we’re terrible at???Coaching ourselves.We tell athletes to work hard - then rest, recover and regenerate - but we don’t listen to our own advice.We constantly monitor our athletes for signs of fatigue and stress and encourage them to take breaks but then we allow ourselves to become exhausted and burnt out.We educate our athletes about the importance of good nutrition and hydration, then we skip meals, live on take-out food and survive on caffeine, soda and occasionally too much alcohol. In this video I talk about the vitally important topic of Coach Health and Wellbeing.I present some real-world, practical ways for coaches to take care of themselves - physically, mentally, emotionally and socially.Coach - take care of yourself!Having the world’s best facilities and the nation’s most talented athletes in your program is worth nothing if you’re constantly fighting fatigue, poor health, stress and personal difficulties.Please do me a favor.Please watch and listen to this video. Then send it on to one other coach. Or if you’re a parent please forward the link to a coach you know who needs to hear the messages.Let’s do all we can to help every coach thrive in the experience of coaching.Wayne GoldsmithCopyright Wayne Goldsmith - All Rights Reserved. Thanks for reading Sports Thoughts! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

It never ceases to amaze me that we spend most of our time as coaches writing workouts, practices and training sessions from a purely physiological perspective, i.e. we program around the physiological “big three” - volume, intensity and frequency. Yet - as far as I know - every human being on this planet has a “neck” - i.e. that every athlete you coach has a head connected to their body. That means, for every athlete you coach, there needs to be a physical / physiological element AND a mental / emotional element. This is a subscriber only video on the top of how to integrate mental skills like relaxation, focus and mindfulness into your workouts and training sessions. Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

By Wayne GoldsmithThree Key Points: * Coaches the world over are tring to figure out how to balance the traditional coaching methodologies of systems, programs, structure, order and discipline with the more contemporary coaching philosophies of connection, engagement, collaboration, athlete ownership and shared responsibility.* The secret isn’t to be a “hard” coach or a “soft” coach: it’s learning to adapt your coaching to the specific coaching context you face in any given moment, i.e. coach the athlete standing in front of you - right here, right now.* There will be times when order, structure, repetition and discipline are relevant in your coaching program and times when it’s about connecting, engaging and inspiring, i.e. coaching WITH athletes, not just coaching athletes.Self-Relfection Questions: Can you recall a recent coaching situation where you had to coach the same athlete in different ways a. In the same session? b. In the same week?How did you decide which of your coaching “personas” or coaching styles - was appropriate at the time, i.e. how did you know which was the right way to coach that athlete at the time?Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Sports Thoughts Story Time. As a species we humans are at our best when we’re connecting with each other through story-telling. Story telling allows us to share more than the facts: it’s our opportunity to share our feelings, our emotions, our wisdom and our learning with others. Stories allow us to share our successes, our failures, our joys and our fears. Stories help us to learn and grow. This space - Sports Thoughts Story Time is where I’ll share some of the stories I’ve experienced in a lifetime of sport.This week - That’s the Way We Do It here!One of the most destructive phrases in sport - or in any field of endeavour is “That’s the way we do it here”.These seven words have killed off more creativity, more innovation, more potential breakthroughs and more new ideas than anything else in the history of humanity.Too often, coaches and athletes will come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things, tell someone in their sport about their “Eureka Moment” and that someone will knock them back on their heels with the phrase - “Sorry - that’s the way we do it here”.The old ways are not always the best ways.Assuming all that “is” - is better that what “could be” is a great way to stop the sport progressing and being all it - well - could be.Don’t be afraid to challenge the old ways, to disrupt the current philosophies and to - if necessary - destroy the old myths that are denying your coaches, your athletes and your sport to realize it’s potential.Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Copyright Wayne Goldsmith. All Rights Reserved. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

This is my first paid subscribers only post - a video / pod on Periodization.We have got move on from the 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 periodization model, i.e. one week Microcycle, one month Macrocycle, one quarter Phase and one year Season.Athletes do not adapt to fit the convenience of the calendar.Instead of trying to make the adaptation of your athletes fit into the calendar, why not fit the calendar around your athlete’s ability to adapt?It does not make sense to believe that every athlete in your program irrespective of their:* Age* Training background / training age* Genetics* Recovery status* Hydration* Nutrition* Mental state and a thousand other things…...will all adapt to your training program at midnight on Sunday, then all move forward to train and adapt to your next Microcycle beginning on Monday morning. Bottom line - coach the athlete in front of you.Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

I've been inside million-dollar training centers where kids were miserable and seen grassroots clubs with rusty equipment produce Olympic champions. The facilities myth is seductive because writing checks is easier than changing behavior—but it's destroying programs.Three Key Points:* Great athletes emerge from relationships, not facilities* Money often masks fundamental problems instead of solving them* The most successful programs focus on people, not infrastructureAthletes don't care about your facilities—they care about how you make them feel. The most powerful “facility” in sport isn't a building; it's a coach who knows every athlete's name, goals, and challenges.Money can't buy caring coaches, supportive cultures, or communities where people feel valued.Self-reflection question: Are you investing more in your facilities or in the relationships that actually create champions?Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

"Parents are the problem." It's sport's biggest myth—and we created it. For decades, we've treated parents like enemies, then complained when they became demanding. We excluded them, refused to educate them, then criticized their expectations.Three Key Points:* Parents are sport's greatest untapped resource, not its biggest problem* Most "difficult" parents are simply scared and uninformed, not malicious* Excluding parents creates more problems than including themMost "difficult" parents aren't difficult—they're scared. They love their kids desperately and don't understand how sport works. When you educate and include them, they become your greatest advocates, volunteers, and fundraisers.The best sporting communities share regular parent education, clear communication, and meaningful involvement opportunities.Self-reflection question: How are you turning the scared parents in your program into informed allies?Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Every coach has "that kid"—the 10-year-old who dominates everything. Here's the brutal truth: most quit before 16. We've confused early physical development with talent, creating systems that celebrate genetic lottery winners while overlooking future champions.Three Key Points:* Early physical dominance is often just advanced physical development* Character and work ethic predict long-term success better than natural ability* Talent identification programs consistently fail because they focus on the wrong thingsThat record-breaking 12-year-old? Probably just hit puberty first. The overlooked kid working twice as hard? They'll make the Olympic team.Real talent isn't what you see at 10—it's working when no one's watching, bouncing back from failure, and choosing the difficult path consistently.Self-reflection question: Are you developing the "talented" athletes or investing in the ones showing true character?Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

After 30 years in elite sport, I've watched coaches worship spreadsheets more than athletes. The periodization obsession has created program deliverers instead of human developers—coaches who can't adapt when their beautiful plan meets messy reality.Three Key Points:* Periodization creates inflexible coaches who can't adapt to real athletes* The best athletes succeed despite their training programs, not because of them* Human beings aren't machines that respond predictably to predetermined inputsYour athletes aren't lab rats—they're complex humans with emotions, stress, and biology that changes daily.Self-reflection question: When did you last throw out your training plan because your athlete needed something different?Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Sports Thoughts Story Time. As a species we humans are at our best when we’re connecting with each other through story-telling. Story telling allows us to share more than the facts: it’s our opportunity to share our feelings, our emotions, our wisdom and our learning with others. Stories allow us to share our successes, our failures, our joys and our fears. Stories help us to learn and grow. This space - Sports Thoughts Story Time is where I’ll share some of the stories I’ve experienced in a lifetime of sport.This week - Finding Your Coaching Why and Why It Matters.I do a lot of workshops, training sessions and learning events where we work with coaches through the concept of “why” - i.e. helping coaches discover their reason - their “why” for coaching.This is important, because once your know your why - the what, the how and the when are relatively simple.In this week’s Story Time, I share a story of working with a New Zealand Rugby Coach and how his why - his motivation for coaching - is the sort of why that can move mountains.Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

It’s time sport took in a breath of fresh air…..Why the Pathway Failed - simply the Pathway assumes that every child who starts playing sport wants to be an elite performerContrast this with reality: most kids just want to have fun, make friends, and enjoy the experience.What the Pathway Gets Wrong: it turns sport into a selection and elimination process and it creates a narrow definition of "success" based solely on performance.And perhaps worst of all, it undervalues the importance of the actual sporting experience to kids, to families and to the communityThe Sports Experience Model (SEM) The SEM as a fundamentally different approach for sportIt prioritizes creating quality experiences for all participants, not just the "talented few"It measures success by engagement, enjoyment, and lifelong participation, not just medalsWayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Sports Thoughts Story Time. As a species we humans are at our best when we’re connecting with each other through story-telling. Story telling allows us to share more than the facts: it’s our opportunity to share our feelings, our emotions, our wisdom and our learning with others. Stories allow us to share our successes, our failures, our joys and our fears. Stories help us to learn and grow. This space - Sports Thoughts Story Time is where I’ll share some of the stories I’ve experienced in a lifetime of sport.This week - Tennis and Crayons. Imagine you’re a kindergarten teacher. You hand out a big box of brighly coloured crayons and some paper to every student. They pick up a crayon from the box and just as they’re about to draw something silly and funny like a horsey or a rainbow or a puppy - you stop them and say, “OK. Everyone listen to me. You need to hold your crayon exactly as I do - so that when you become a brain surgeon, you’ll know how to hold your scalpel”.Pretty dumb huh.So ask yourself, why - when a 7 year old kicks a football for the first time, instead of just letting them kick and have fun with a ball, that we make them do drills, patterns, structures and systems?Why do we treat every kid who jumps into a pool as if they’re going to be the next Michael Phelps?Just let them play. Let them discover. Let them be kids.In this week’s Story time I tell you about an experience with Tennis - or rather with a Management Group conducting a review for Tennis Australia - and how it led to me hearing some of the most insightful thoughts I’d ever heard about sport. Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Sports Thoughts Story Time. As a species we humans are at our best when we’re connecting with each other through story-telling. Story telling allows us to share more than the facts: it’s our opportunity to share our feelings, our emotions, our wisdom and our learning with others. Stories allow us to share our successes, our failures, our joys and our fears. Stories help us to learn and grow. This space - Sports Thoughts Story Time is where I’ll share some of the stories I’ve experienced in a lifetime of sport. This week - The Power of Choice.In his famous book, psychiatrist *Viktor Frankl wrote that the greatest power any human can develop, is the power to choose how to respond to the things that happen to them - or that are happening around them. This is a story about a young triathlete who had a broken leg - and how I taught him the power of choice.Enjoy.*Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force.https://www.amazon.com.au/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Five things you need to know about kids and early shows of talent:* What parents say versus what they really mean about their "talented" child can be very different.* The cold truth: There are no ten-year-old champions.* Development isn't linear - the talented 10-year-old might simply be physically mature for their age* What really matters: Is your child developing independence, resilience, and a healthy relationship with competition?* Love, value and accept your kids for who they - regardless of their sports performance. Win or lose - it does not matter. Love them - make the experience of sport joyful - and they’ll do the rest.Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Five things you need to know about Coaching, Teaching and Parenting “Inquisitiveness”:* As athletes develop, one of the greatest attributes they can learn is that of Inquisitiveness. * Inquisitiveness is an athlete asking - of themself - questions that begin with - “I wonder….” - e.g. I wonder what would happen if I…..”, “I wonder if I’d do it better if I….”* Inquisitive athletes progress faster than those relying on natural ability as they become personally invested in - and take responsibility for their own athletic destiny. If it is to be - it is up to me!* Five practical ways parents can develop inquisitiveness (ask better questions, model curiosity, celebrate learning, etc.)* There are some specific “car ride home” conversation starters that develop this quality, e.g. ("What's something you figured out today?” and “What’s something new you tried today?”)Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Five things you need to know about “THE CAR RIDE HOME”:* The car ride home is one of the most critical moments in youth sports development and sports parenting.* What's happening emotionally with your child after competition (complex feelings that are hard to process) - makes the car ride a very difficult experience for sporting parents to know what to say - and - just as importantly - what not to say.* Common parent responses that backfire ("It's okay, you did your best" / "Don't worry about it") - although well intentioned, often only make you - the parent feel good. * The championship approach: Say nothing, just listen; when they do speak, adopt a less-is-more approach.* Have a car ride home strategy - BEFORE the car ride home - so you know what to say and do whether they win or lose. Wayne GoldsmithSports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe

Five things you need to know about the Talent Worship Trap:* We all worship physical talent - and physical talent as an indicator of peak performance potential is over-rated.* There’s a stark contrast between what spectators think drives success (talent, size, speed) versus what many elite athletes and coaches actually attribute their success to (hard work, commitment, resilience, values, consistency, determination, respect, honesty, integrity etc.)* Talent worship creates a harmful illusion that success is predetermined at birth - when the reality is that the factors that can lead to success can be taught, can be coached, can be parented.* What appears as "natural talent" is usually the result of specific choices made consistently over time by athletes who have learnt the “power of choice” - and who have figured out that it’s the choices they make that determine their athletic destiny.* The great news….if you or your child or your athlete or your student have even been labelled - UN-TALENTED - who cares!!! You can learnt all you need to know to become as successful as you choose to be!!Wayne Goldsmith Sports Thoughts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit waynegoldsmith.substack.com/subscribe