Craig Joubert gives coaches insight into building a successful team in the Powerade Performance Academy

Questions and answers from Craig Joubert

Powerade launched its first leg of Performance Academies taking place across major cities in the country. The Academy, hosted at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground, saw several performance experts running an interactive one-day seminar.  Among these experts was Craig Joubert, South African Professional Rugby Union Referee and a Referee Talent Development Coach at World Rugby, who challenged and empowered the Durban-based coaches with critical knowledge to optimise their players’ performances.

For the 2018 campaign, Powerade has drawn attention to coaches by Celebrating Everyday Coaches. This campaign will see the everyday ‘ordinary’ coaches who do extraordinary things by refining young talent that goes on to do exploits on world stages. This is because coaches contribute greatly to the success of their teams/athletes and act as mentors and influencers for many sportsmen and women.

Craig Joubert – World Rugby Referee Coach

(Question) What was the objective of your session with the coaches?

(Answer) I wanted to teach the coaches about how we managed to produce a high-performance environment. We have a team of rugby 7s referees that we are taking to the Olympics in 2020 and  we want to create the best high-performance environment for them to operate in. Individually and as a group we want them to be the best that they can be.

I wanted to share with this group of coaches at the Powerade Performance Academy some of the learnings that we have taken out of how to create a high-performance team.

Our first objective was to create an optimal performance team. I wanted to share ideas as to why culture is important to an effective team and some of the key values that they live by that contributes to success in their environments.

There are a lot of similarities between the team that we are sending to the Olympics and what the coaches find at their schools.

Hopefully the coaches learned something from my presentation and they take it back to the schools to create effective and high-performance teams.

(Question) What feedback did you get from the coaches?

(Answer) In my environment we use the teams “Trust” and “Honesty”. I was pleased to see that a lot of the feedback and questions that I got were around “Trust” and “Honesty”.

In a team “Trust” and “Honesty” needs to start with the management team and coaches. When athletes see you embody “Trust” and “Honesty” and they start to emulate you.

“Honesty” does not only mean that you don’t lie to a player, it also deals with information that you give to a team. This includes good and bad news. You earn respect when you are honest and transparent in difficult decisions that you have to make. An example of a difficult decision is where you look a player in the eye and tell them about a selections decision that you have made as to why they did not make the team.

We have found that through “Honesty” players respond well, and they trust you more and are more honest with you.

Even when someone gets bad news, if you do it in an honest and transparent way, it will inspire them to improve.

(Question) One of the things that you talk about is getting the players to learn from themselves, how do you get the coaches to enable the kids to learn from themselves?

(Answer) All the values and behaviours that we have as a referee team were not dictated to by the management instead we allowed the team to come up with them themselves and because they came up with the values themselves they can hold themselves accountable to their own values.

The job of management is make sure that they continuously commit to the values that they came up with.

School children respond well if given the responsibility to review their own performance. If they do well then, they must look at why they did well, if they do something less well then, they should look at what did not work out, learn from it and do it differently. This responsibility makes them far more committed to changing what they do and improve.

For very young kids you can ask them to tell you “what the team is all about” once they have done that you will see them work towards that goal.

We often underestimate young people but by giving them the responsibility to create their own team goals you will be astounded as to how they react, and you will benefit from it.

(Question) How do you deal with pressure and how do you learn from criticism?

(Answer) Criticism is a big challenge for school sport coaches.

Coaches give their time freely and willingly. Parents should be appreciative for what a coach does to further a kid’s development. Some criticism from parents and school sport players can be quite vicious which is similar to what referees can get. I encourage the coaches to try to put the criticism into perspective. The fiercest criticism for a referee comes from the guy that is on his couch at home. They have access to all the replays and all the technology that they need to complain.

For school coaches you will find that most parents will only come through on weekends and not during the week. Some of them think that their kids are better than what they actually are. The reality is that their kids are most probably not as good as what they think they are. What they don’t know is that coaches are trying to do their best to help these kids and these are not the people that you should worry about.

I tell coaches to surround themselves with the people whose criticisms they respect. You never stop learning and constructive criticism will help you become a better coach. Be selective about who you listen to. A lot of people out there with opinions and they are not knowledgeable in the sport that you coach, and they also are very emotional because you are coaching someone close to them. Respect these peoples emotions but do not listen to them.

The next leg of Powerade Performance Academies will take place in Port Elizabeth(July), Cape Town (September) and Johannesburg (November).

For more information, visit Powerade Facebook page (@PoweradeZA) and #AlwaysForward.  

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Speakers for Performance Academy in Durban

Craig Joubert: South African professional Rugby Union Referee and a Referee Talent Development Coach at World Rugby

Topic discussed: Creating a high-performance environment

About Craig

Joubert officiated in domestic first class matches in South Africa since 2003, in matches in the Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup competitions. He refereed on the World Rugby Sevens circuit in 2003–04. He has been included in the Super Rugby refereeing panel since 2005 and has also refereed international test matches since 2005, making his debut in a match between the United States and Wales.

Joubert took charge of Super Rugby finals in 2009, 2013 and 2014 and has officiated in Tri-Nations / Rugby Championship matches since 2009, refereeing matches between Australia and New Zealand in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. In the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Joubert refereed four pool games, a quarter final, a semi-final and the final. He refereed the deciding Six Nations match in 2012 and one of the British and Irish Lions games on their tour to Australia in 2013.

He retired from refereeing 15-a-side matches at the end of 2016 to take up a role as a Referee Talent Development Coach at World Rugby

Dale Bekenstein: Former Dolphins and Protea’s player and now Protea’s Batting Coach.
Topic discussed: Adapting professional coaching techniques at school level

About Dale

Dale Benkenstein is a former South African cricketer. He was named coach of Hampshire County Cricket Club, England, in 2014 and previously also worked as a batting coach for the Sunfoil Dolphins in South Africa. He is currently head coach of Hilton College First XI in the Kwazulu Natal Midlands, South Africa.

He coaches aspiring professional cricketers from around the world and offers coaching and cricket camps for young cricketers.

Zipho Sikhakhane: Global Speaker, Writer & Business Strategist

Topic discussed: Leading from within

About Zipho

Zipho Sikhakhane is an international speaker and business strategist. She has held management positions in industry leading corporations worldwide and is the first black South African to complete an MBA at the top-ranked Stanford University in the USA. In 2016, she received the Outstanding Young Achiever Award from the UNESCO Center for Global Education. In the last 15 years, she has presented in four continents, including a TEDx Talk in the USA on Africa’s potential. She delivers inspiring keynotes, workshops and poetry on Africa’s potential, leadership, entrepreneurship, youth and women in business. She has been featured in numerous publications worldwide and is published as a contributing author in Singapore in a book on inspirational women. She is also a weekly Business Columnist for the Sunday Times in South Africa. 

Powerade awards five schools with an individual cricket training sessions hosted by ex-Proteas coach Ray Jennings

This past week saw Powerade announce the names of the five South African schools who have won cricket Powerade Performance Sessions as part of the Powerade Schools Programme. The Performance sessions will be taking place from Thursday, 23 October, to Tuesday, 4 November, and will be hosted by ex-Proteas coach, Ray Jennings

Powerade believes that there is power in every game and is committed to providing young South African sportsmen with a passion for rugby, soccer and cricket, with the platforms to achieve sporting success by giving them access to the best coaching and training through the Powerade School’s Programme.

The winning schools of the cricket Powerade Performance Sessions are:

•           23 October Hoërskool Oosterland – Secunda (Mpumalanga)

•           24 October Hoërskool Wonderboom – Pretoria (Gauteng)

•           28 October General Smuts High School – Vereeniging (Gauteng)

•           30 October Creston College – Port Shepstone (KwaZulu-Natal)

•           4 November Wynberg Boys High School – Cape Town (Western Cape)

During the cricket performance sessions, these sportsmen will be exposed to the science of correct training and the benefits of hydration to help enable them to reach peak fitness at the right time, while local cricket legend Ray Jennings shares his wisdom and knowledge about the game.

“Powerade believes that by providing informative and interactive experiences like these to sportsmen, their passion for the game of cricket will be focused on a great future in the game,” explained James Maclachlan, IMC Marketing Assets Manager of Coca-Cola South Africa.

“We recognise that there is power in every game and through the Powerade Schools Programme, born sportsmen will be exposed to information and various means of training that will have long term benefits to their success,” Maclachlan concluded.

Ends. 

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HOËRSKOOL JEUGLAND FROM KEMPTON PARK WERE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAIN WITH A RUGBY LEGEND

John Mitchell, ex-All Blacks player and coach who is famous for guiding the Lions to Currie Cup Victory, went to Hoërskool Jeugland in Kempton last week to teach rugby teams and coaches about what it takes to “power through” from school boy rugby to Super Rugby and beyond.

He demonstrated new techniques, drills and gave guidance on other performance-related aspects of training, like hydration, before, during and after matches.

It’s not often that school boys get to meet man who has won the Currie Cup and knows what it takes to power through various types of adversity to become a success. The young rugby players from Hoërskool Jeugland were able to tap into his vast rugby knowledge and learn that they have all got what it takes to power through, as long as they know that they have to work hard and persevere in whatever they choose to do in life.

Hoërskool Jeugland invited the four primary schools in the area around the school to share in the excitement of having a Currie Cup winning coach and former All-Black share his knowledge with the school. In the end there were nearly as many coaches as players that attended the session.

Alec de Kock, deputy sport manager at Hoërskool Jeugland, and 1st team coach said it was great to have a famous coach like John Mitchell visit the school and share some of his knowledge with the coaches and rugby players.

"We were surprised that John would take a step back and recognise the importance of grass route rugby," he said. “We did not learn too many new techniques but we were encouraged by the fact that we are actually on the right path with our training techniques. John managed to show us that even though we were doing the correct training routines we were making small technical mistakes in these routines."

Hoërskool Jeugland have not had the best season so far but they do have one player that stands out’ “We only have one player, Darren de Bruin, that is in line to make the Falcons Coca-Cola Craven Week team so it is important that the team gels as a unit. We have been successful in doing this and hopefully it will be good enough."

Alec spoke a lot about the importance of what he is trying to achieve as a coach. He believes that through rugby the players can learn life lessons. He would like to see that what the players learn on the field they can bring into other aspects of life. “You do not necessarily have to be the best rugby player to benefit from playing rugby, you need to see what your aim and goals are and try to meet these goals. If you achieve these goals you can say that you have been a success.

"The players must also learn respect for their coaches, the opposing players and in doing that they will learn how to respect themselves.”

Wesley Higgs, Hoërskool Jeugland's 1st team prop said it was a great experience to meet John Mitchell. "He showed us that we have been doing the correct training drills over the last 5 year but we have not understood the true reason as to why we were doing those drills and we have been doing them incorrectly.

“I never expected that I would be coached by a real professional coach like Mr. Mitchell. He thinks differently from most of the coaches that I have played under because he thinks a lot more as to what needs to be done, how it should be done and why it should be done. Then he tells us his reasoning behind what he is teaching us. It makes it a lot easier to understand our training routines and makes it easier to understand when we can apply what we have learned in a match situation.”

Wayne Visser, the team's other prop said: "Mr Mitchell is a huge celebrity and a rugby legend, it was amazing to meet him in person. I never imagined that a person of this stature could be so approachable and easy to talk to.”

John Mitchell has not only coached a Currie Cup team but he has also coached Super Rugby teams and since Powerade is the official hydration sponsor of the Vodacom Super Rugby, John knows the benefits of what Powerade can offer sportsmen and women.

“Our goal in getting John to schools like Jeugland is to inspire and motivate young individuals to make sure they maintain their forward momentum and achieve their goals. We know that coaches also play the role of mentor and guidance counsellor and we want to empower coaches who will in turn inspire the players,” said Trivern Chetty, Brand Manager- Sports and Energy at The Coca-Cola Company. 

The Powerade Schools Programme does not end with the Powerade Performance Sessions. The coaches that come into contact with Mitchell during these campaigns will also be able to stay up to date with peak performance by means of signing up for the communications, developed by the ex-All Blacks and Lions coach himself. A select group of coaches will receive a training tips newsletter twice a month from John. This communication will take the form of skills training content, pictures and links to video demonstrations from the Powerade Performance Sessions as well as great competitions to participate in.

But the Powerade Schools Programme is far from over. The schools can continue to collect Powerade caps until 14th June. The school that collects the most caps will get tickets for the entire school to go and watch a Super Rugby game in their province.

HOËRSKOOL WONDERBOOM FROM PRETORIA WERE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAIN WITH A RUGBY LEGEND

John Mitchell, ex-All Blacks player and coach and helped guide the Lions to Currie Cup Victory, went to Hoërskool Wonderboom in Pretoria last week to teach four of their top rugby teams about what it takes to “Power Through” from school boy rugby to Super Rugby and beyond.

He demonstrated new techniques, drills and gave guidance on other performance-related aspects of training, like hydration, before, during and after matches.

It’s not often that school boys get to meet man who has won the Currie Cup and knows what it takes to power through various types of adversity to become a success. The young rugby players from Hoërskool Wonderboom were able to tap into his vast rugby knowledge and learn that they have all got what it takes to “Power Through”, as long as they know that they have to work hard and persevere in whatever they choose to do in life.

Etienne Hellere, flank and Hoërskool Wonderboom 1^st team captain enjoyed the training session and found John very approachable and easy to follow due to the passion that he showed during the Powerade Performance Session.

“John Mitchell was fantastic; as soon as he started with the training session he got immediate support from the players. His dedication to the training session, passion for the game and the fact that he was very serious about his objectives behind the training session helped get us to give all that we had and learn as much as possible in the 2 hours that we trained.”

The training session was not only of benefit to the players but also to the school’s coaches.

Braam Pretorius, coach of Hoërskool Wonderboom’s first team found the session interesting and informative.

“I cannot single out any part of the session that was of more interest as I found the entire training session very valuable,” he said. “John took us through various aspects of the game and then showed us how to put them together in various drills.

“For example, he taught us how to fall when tackled, how to put the ball in a position where you can recycle possession and then how the rest of the team should ruck over the tackled player to guarantee possession.”

“We also enjoyed the passing drills because it reminds the players of how important something simple like passing is and how you can make the ball do the work to gain the advantage line”

Hoërskool Wonderboom has two players that will take part in the Coca-Cola Youth Rugby Weeks taking place in July.  Prop, Ghan Snyders will play in the U16 Grant Khomo Week and Malcolm Fischer, inside centre is the vice captain of the       Coca-Cola U18 Craven Week Bulls squad.

John Mitchell has not only coached a Currie Cup team but he has also coached Super Rugby teams and since Powerade is the official hydration sponsor of the Vodacom Super Rugby, John knows the benefits of what Powerade can offer sportsmen and women.

“Our goal in getting John to schools like Hoërskool Wonderboom is to inspire and motivate young individuals to make sure they maintain their forward momentum and achieve their goals. We know that coaches also play the role of mentor and guidance counselor and we want to empower coaches who will in turn inspire the players,” said Trivern Chetty, Brand Manager- Sports and Energy at The Coca-Cola Company. 

The Powerade Schools Programme does not end with the Powerade Performance Sessions. The coaches that come into contact with Mitchell during these campaigns will also be able to stay up to date with peak performance by means of signing up for the communications, developed by the ex-All Blacks and Lions coach himself. A select group of coaches will receive a training tips newsletter twice a month from John. This communication will take the form of skills training content, pictures and links to video demonstrations from the Powerade Performance Sessions as well as great competitions to participate in.

But the Powerade Schools Programme is far from over. The schools can continue to collect Powerade caps until 14th June. The school that collects the most caps will get tickets for the entire school to go and watch a Super Rugby game in their province.

POWERADE & John Mitchell help school rugby coaches and players 'Power Through'

There are no limits when it comes to what you can achieve with peak performance on the sports field and Powerade understands what it takes to power through.  Together with former New Zealand All Black, and international rugby coach, John Mitchell, high school rugby teams will move to another level through the Powerade Schools Programme, a five month campaign tackling all aspects of rugby training as well as a competition to build camaraderie amongst all school athletes no matter what sporting code they participate.

 

The Powerade Schools Programme aims to help born sportsmen power through the challenges that face them at every level of excellence in their sport by motivating, inspiring as well as providing useful information on training regimes, and how Powerade intrinsically fits into all of these elements.

 

“School boys and girls make up a large proportion of sports drink consumers and our Powerade brand optimises excellence,” said Craig van Niekerk, Marketing Assets Manager, Coca-Cola.  “And we are aware of the South African youth’s insatiable thirst to be the best and achieve on the sporting field.  We are also fully aware that coaches play a vital role in the formation of players and we have therefore devised our programme around coaches and players.”

 

Mitchell, together with Powerade, has devised a programme to help both schools coaches and players excel in the sport of rugby. There are many facets to achieving this, and this programme is based around two events where John Mitchell will get to impart his wealth of rugby knowledge and experience. They are the Powerade Performance Academy Sessions with the coaches of the top schools in the country, and the Powerade Performance Sessions whereby John will travel to 40 schools around the country.

 

The one day Powerade Performance Academy Sessions coincided with the hugely popular Easter rugby festivals played in the north and south of the country. On the 29^th of March all the first team coaches present at the KES, St Stithians and St Johns festivals in Gauteng gathered at St Johns, with all the first team coaches at the Oakdale festival in the Western Cape doing the same on the 1^st of March.

 

The content delivered during these sessions was of a technical nature, and provided the first team coaches access to information normally only accessible to Super Rugby coaches. Content covered by John Mitchell on the day ranged from the latest technological and physiological trends, latest training and skills theory and game analytics to really pin point and discuss the elements needed to power through as a team. With all this to inspire the coaches to take performance to new levels, John also went into the importance of nutrition and proper hydration for players, the key element for overcoming performance limiting factors.

 

“I am passionate about coaching coaches,” said Mitchell.  “coaches are the key to generating higher performance in schools, and by focusing on developing the inner strength and abilities within the kids to overcome barriers, they will all be able to become the best they can be.  Through my association with Super Rugby I am aware of any rule changes and how these can affect the interpretation of the game.”

 

Post the session, the coaches will be able to stay up to date with peak performance through newsletters sent to all coaches twice a month. These will include skills training content, pictures and links to video demonstrations from the Powerade Performance Sessions, Powerade Performance update videos as well as great competitions to participate in.

 

The Powerade Schools programme then moves from coaches to the players through Powerade Performance Sessions. 100 identified schools in South Africa will be given a giant Powerade bottle that they will need to fill with Powerade bottle caps. During the time period of the 15^th of March to the 19^th of April, schools will have the chance to make this happen with the 40 top participating schools winning a Powerade Performance Session with John Mitchell.

 

The programme doesn’t stop there.  The second leg prize for all participating 100 schools on the Powerade Performance Session activation sees one school getting the opportunity to attend a live Super Rugby match in their region as a school. Selection for this great prize will take place on June 14^th, allowing all the schools plenty of time to collect the bottle tops needed for victory.