Coaches Corner

I’m curious to know how people define high performance (HP), and would appreciate it if you shared your definition in the survey below. My primary plan for this is to create a word cloud from the responses, so please limit your responses to single word (or common 2 or 3 word expressions if you must). Please try to limit the number of answers you have. I would rather have someone’s three most important words, than just generate a list of everything they can think of related to the topic. This isn't just about descriptors, it is about the essence of HP. I would like to note that I am making a clear distinction between high performing, and 'High Performance'. For the purposes of this survey High Performance has a very specific outcome goals: to win a medal at World Championships or Olympic Games. That is not to say the behaviours for High Performance cannot be used in any other areas, but this is the focus for this survey. If you are interested, please click on the

Analytics is the answer to winning lots of games. This shows you what the averages are. What the odds are. This is what gamblers use when they are trying to find market inefficiencies of 3 or 4 percent. It means that, over a long period of time, you are very likely to come out ahead. Analytics doesn't win you matches. Scouting is the answer winning single games. Scouting (good scouting) gives you tendencies of players and coaches, of systems and philosophies of play. It is specific to the particular match you are about to play. A great example of scouting is with a beach volleyball team I used to have a bit to do with. They were playing the top team in the world in a major competition final. They had a great game plan against the team. In the final they had one match point in the third set, and created a situation where there were very high odds their opponent was going to do a particular thing. Except, for the first time in the match, they didn't. Scouting doesn't wi