Durban - Led by Sharks coach and Glenwood Old Boy (Class of 2006) Warren Whiteley, The Making of a High Performer Symposium at Glenwood High School last week, saw sporting representatives and experts sharing their expertise on how to create the perfect high-performance athlete.
“A safe environment is prioritising connection,” said Whiteley, who was also Rugby First XV captain at Glenwood. “We must promote vulnerability and create a safe environment in which our students and athletes can thrive. We must prioritise connection among our peers.”
Whiteley said he was “super pumped” to be speaking at his former school and sharing his knowledge with pupils. His topic was relationships and their role in developing/making a high-performing athlete.
He shared the story of his time with the Lions rugby franchise. During one of their team meetings, a player opened up about being bullied in high school.
Whiteley said his dad, who had been the coach of the Lions at the time, was emotional.
“After Ruan (Ackermann) shared that story, everyone felt comfortable and opened up. The connection in the group went from 25% to 90%”
He said that if pupils and athletes were not able to communicate their vulnerabilities, the relationship would be superficial. He said a safe environment was the foundation of strong, healthy relationships.
“I feel seen. I feel heard. I feel valued. When we feel those three things, through connection and regardless of my job, my means will exceed my expectations and will achieve unbelievable things. My communication and relationships will grow. Then, I will reflect and get better,” he said.
Former Cricket South Africa Mens’ Proteas lead physiotherapist Craig Govender spoke about managing injuries.
“Meticulous planning with regard to injury management is important. We must understand that the player is the most important individual in injury management and they need to be involved in his/her process.
“We need to work as a team and not just a medical team,” said Govender, who has also worked with cricket franchises, among them the Mumbai Indians and the Highveld Lions (now DP World Lions), and shared experiences with Arsenal Football Club.
He compared high-performance athletes’ bodies to a business that needed investment. It needed to be understood that there were shared values, common objectives and “a return in investment” ‒ results.
Govender said some players ‒ X-Factor players ‒ liked to talk on other topics besides their sporting discipline, so it was important to understand that and through that, reinforce the notion of having a personal relationship with the athlete.
Rhodes University human kinetics and ergonomics lecturer Dr Jonathan Davy spoke about the importance of quality sleep and how a lack of it could lead to injuries.
His presentation was based on his research titled: “Finding Balance: The Importance of Prioritising sleep as a pillar of learner Wellness & Performance”.
“Sleep health is a multidimensional sleep-wakefulness pattern adapted to individual, social and environmental demands that promote physical and mental well-being.”
Davy summed up the point with the acronym Rusated, which stands for: Regulatory, U, Satisfaction, Timing, Efficiency and Duration. The acronym was also used as a question for each letter.
Regulatory: the degree to which sleep occured at roughly the same time each day; U; Satisfaction: the subjective assessment of “good” or “poor” sleep; Alertness: the ability to maintain attentive wakefulness; Timing: the placement of sleep within the 24-hour day; Efficiency: the ratio between the time spent asleep and time available for sleeping; Duration: the total amount of sleep obtained every 24 hours.
He said adolescents had a “natural Circadian/biological clock delay”, opting to sleep later as they aged. He said the systems in place, like early school times, did not meet their sleep needs.
Davy said sleep deprivation could affect a pupil’s mood, increase their anxiety and possible depression, lower academic performance and motivation and increase their hunger hormone, which then led to weight gain.
He suggested that teachers try to set tests at ideal times and not first thing in the morning. Training sessions should be held during the day because early morning training for a sleep-deprived athlete could increase the risk of injury.
Sharks Rugby nutritionist Danielle Venter shared the importance of diets and how they contributed to the performance of an athlete.
“The guys who do well, are rarely injured, play season after season and have lengthy careers are the ones who are wholly invested in their health… (They’re) the ones who are pedantic about having systems in place,” she said.
“If it comes off a tree or out of the earth and the sun shines on it, then you can eat it. If it’s in plastic or went through a factory, avoid it.”
Venter added that it was important to teach athletes how to plan meals because if they did not have a plan, they would be tempted to eat unhealthy food.
She said that if an athlete ate healthily and had 8 to 10 hours sleep a day, it contributed to building muscle.
Sharks defence coach Joey Mangalo spoke about spirituality. His central point was that of identity – athletes had to be able to identify who they were and that the sport did not define them, it was just something they did.
“If you don’t know who you are, you’ll be an easy target for deception. Without identity, I can never know what’s the purpose of what I am doing and I don’t know where I am going,” he said.
The Independent on Saturday