Global Sports x Management x Coding x Energy

Structure: >>Quote >>Article >>Commentary >>ZoomOut >>ConnectorSportsToBusiness >>Query

>>Quote

"A difference of five percentage points in the odds of a win is “a significant percentage,” Nils Rudi says. “To increase your odds by that much, you need to practice a lot—or get some better players."

>>Article?(~2 minute read)

Does Scoring a Goal Right Before Halftime Increase a Soccer Team’s Chance of Winning? by Yale School of Management Operations Management professor Nils Rudi: https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/does-scoring-goal-right-before-halftime-increase-soccer-teams-chance-of-winning

>>Commentary (~5 minute read)

I've had the honor of coaching, scouting, managing and directing for Major League Baseball, USA Baseball and Team Philippines in my 20's and early 30's.?

One might be surprised to learn just how much transferrable fundamental, technical and non-technical skills are developed through sport, setting up individuals for leadership in the future.?

In light of the World Cup, let's put on our soccer lens, zoom into the halftime break via the Yale SOM article, bridge the halftime break to a post-game meeting and finish by connecting sport to business, all the while applying a sprinkle of baseball expertise to the mix.

“The halftime break is when dialogue happens as a team” (quote from article)

Imagine going into the locker room as a professional soccer player right after your team scores a goal. The score is 1-0.?

The coach gathers everybody around and rolls in a whiteboard. The whiteboard shows X's and O's. The coach has the option as to what to deliver to the team in a finite amount of time. This discussion could be useless or useful…it all depends on what is transferred to the player and whether the player executes while in the game.?

Coach1stHalfObservedData: After the 1st half ends, the coach has observed data to quickly sift through before speaking to the team. They are experts at replaying the “story” in their heads and calling “key frames”, “moments” or “events” to discuss.?

CoachCommunicationBridge: The coach must then bridge to a communication to the team in a finite amount of time.

Some coaches hold "no feedback" discussions (monologue) while others allow for more "collaborative" sessions (dialogue). The mix of discussion type over the course of a season can vary and hinges upon many factors: coaching style, temperament, team dynamics, team response, performance response, et al.

Ever have a star player who doesn't listen very well in meetings? Expert coaches know how to get that player to listen. They also know how to get them to consistently lead. Well..most of the time.

Truth is, sometimes this works out and sometimes it doesn’t…How individualistic is he or she? How much of a “team” player is he or she? Does this matter??

The toughest question of this set is “Does this matter?” This is typically a pathway to team philosophy when it comes to team complexion and mix. If an asset is toxic to the success of your organization despite being the largest contributor would you keep or trade the player? The answer may differ from organization to organization, from instance to instance.

For now, instead of delving into Philosophy per organization, let's continue to coaching in the soccer clubhouse...

Imagine processing the entire first half of data as a coach, identifying 3 key areas for 2nd half improvement and delivering the following to the team: Defensive Misalignment, Positive Outcome but Poor Execution and Unexploited Opponent Weakness...

Defensive Misalignment

Soccer: The coach goes to the board, shows a bird’s eye view of the team’s configuration, shows the defensive misalignment and shows the correction on the board…then quickly addresses the key players in the room who need to make the adjustment.?

Baseball: The coach instructs the shortstop to shift left or right due to incorrect positioning against a particular hitter.?

Positive Outcome; Poor Execution

Soccer: The coach points out that the goal was a good outcome but there was poor execution…a player was out of position to react to a rebound, if a rebound occurs.

The coach shows where the player should have been and the player knows that this is possible based understanding what the player can do and cannot do, aka experience and honest assessment of capabilities. Professionals are more aware of what they can and cannot do on the field. They are more experienced than amateurs.

Baseball: The coach observed a hitter being “jammed” on an RBI opportunity. The hitter fought the ball off in a 2-1 count and found open space up the middle of the field, producing a run. The coach instructs the hitter to be more aggressive in this count and get the barrel head out (vernacular for make contact further away from the front edge of home plate; aka point of impact).?The coach knows the player, might understand his or her recent timing weakness and addresses it head on despite a good outcome.

Sometimes the coach will just let this go...it might be more important for the player to regain confidence for example than to get too "heady" about what could have been better despite a positive outcome. Coaches are well aware of this an often revert to "not messing with a good thing."

Unexploited Opponent Weakness

Soccer: The coach registers (observes and stores to memory/registry) that an opponent is not running as well as expected (scouting, memory of player top speed, observed differential)…the coach instructs ball movement to the midfielder on the opposite wing to exploit the sudden top speed differential between midfielder and defender. The coach then draws up the passing optionality if this strategy amounts to a “success”. Success being defined as passing the defender in this simple, linear, example.?

Baseball: The coach observes something the players may have observed from the bench while “studying” the pitcher. Velocity is down and he or she is missing with the curveball. The Coach instructs the team to rule out the curveball for now until the pitcher proves he or she can deliver a pitch for a strike.

PlayerDataProcessing: After the coach delivers the halftime monologue or dialogue, the players process the information and hopefully execute what the coach asks them to do or not do.

Player2ndHalfExecutionBridge: Players enter the second half and attempt to execute the 1st half strategy or 2nd half strategy, at least upon entry until strategic adjustments are made.

TeamExecution: The team either executes the coach's desired output(s) or not.?

Coach2ndHalfObservedData: The coach observes team execution from the sideline during the 2nd half. He or she decides whether to make changes in real-time or not and what these changes constitute: Attack, Neutral, Defend, Counter, Substitutes, Formation Change, Aggressiveness Change, Double Teams, Traps, Pressure on the Ball, Rebalancing the Pitch, Overweighting a portion of the Pitch, Open Space Tactics, Specific Play Calling, Sideline Pressure, Space Compression, etc.?

Basically…get the ball to go somewhere or prevent the ball from going somewhere.?

TeamExecutionAdjusted: The team adjusts based on what the coach communicates in real-time. It attempts to execute the requested changes.?

EndResult: At the end of the match the result is a Win, Loss or Draw in soccer. For many sports it is just Win or Loss.?

PostGameMeeting: The team then goes into the locker room and has a meeting, which could be similar or different from the halftime meeting.?

The coach may want the team to bring something home with them, such as key areas of improvement.?

The coach might decide to remind the players of what they did well and how that might apply to the next match, a different opponent.?

He or she might even say little to nothing: “Get ready for the next match against ______.”

Sometimes a win does not mean the meeting will be perceptively positive and sometimes a loss does not mean the meeting will be perceptively negative.?

<<ZoomOut

PlayerCoachJourney: The professional coach develops an uncanny understanding of the entire system including, but not limited to...?

Structure, Class, Elements, Arrangement

Process, Compiling, Assembly

Linking, Loading

Storage, Repositories, Reserves, $Binders, Optionality, Calls

Timing, Communication

Enthalpy, Entropy

Medical, Reliability

Team Makeup, Team Dynamics, Team Performance vs. Potential

Performance Optimization

StrategicExpertQualities: The "best educated guessers" in strategy are often the most prepared from both a quantitative and qualitative standpoint. They are also very keen on pattern recognition, differentials, and prioritization.?

There are talent differentials in professional sport depending on payroll and talent contracted. However, strategic experts know the game well, know what they have and know what they don't have. Then, they bridge into understanding their entire system from a Micro, Meso and Macro standpoint.

They might look at an organizational chart and know exactly what all nodes are, how current runs through the system and how the system operates, much like a computer. Or, they might be more in tune with the human-side, not care about binary or hexadecimal or programmatic languages. They might not simplify things to 0's and 1's, Boolean expression or more complex concepts like unified memory, series or parallel circuitry (Ohm's Law vs. Kirkhoff's Law). They might know people and what makes them tick really well.

Or, they might have both.

If you possess one but not the other ask yourself if you are confident with your technical vs. non-technical skillset mix. If not, identify what you need to be better at your job. If you have trouble identifying these things...ask an expert or a coach!

CoachCommunicationEfficacy: The efficacy of the coach's communication methodology is critical. The more effective the discussion at halftime, in this example, the more likely the players are to transfer strategic changes to the pitch.?

Assuming the coach has selected strategic changes that are not worse than the previous strategies, the players then have a chance to execute these strategies and convert into desired outputs or outcomes.

Does the coach gain and maintain the attention of his or her players. Is he or she "received well?" What if half of your players are in pain and are not receiving information well? Do you adjust your schedule based on this dynamic data point? Very challenging to optimize to the fullest.

CoachEmpathySLTM: Often times the coach has been in the players' shoes in the past and can empathize with the individual and team.?

Expert coaches are great with a version of SLTM, or Short-Long Term Memory, because the data stored in the coach’s Temporal Lobe as a player or even a younger coach bridges to short-term memory.?Be aware that memory of memory can be susceptible to error, much like anything else. Cognitive bias awareness is a start but teams must validate data via reliable methodologies (Data Science). Minimize the Perception vs. Reality delta, or differential in a timely manner, which is the tough part.

CognitiveFamiliarity: The more one is familiar with the situation the more comfortable one is. The more comfortable one is the less vasoconstriction or compression in the brain.

This “ease of use” of the brain, coupled with speed of processing, allows for faster calls to memory and more accurate recall, which sets the stage for better strategic management and more optimal decision making. Lower margin of error, more precision, more time but potentially less energy to apply towards higher order decisions.

Coaches often have great executive function and neocortex utilization (part of the prefrontal cortex). They can organize and call data quickly. Again, experience is required in order to develop this functionality.?They can also energize teams without burning out, which means they are able to manage time while maintaining a minimum criteria of high-performance energy levels within themselves, setting up the stage to distribute their energy to group via tactful leadership.

But, most of all, great coaches possess the same things that great leaders in a any space possess...

The ability to zoom in and zoom out at the right times.

The ability to widen or narrow focus.

The ability to conserve energy at the right times.

The ability to utilize energy, coupled with expertise, to bring out the best in their teams.

>>ConnectorSportsToBusiness

Business leaders Tech, Sports, Entertainment, Healthcare, Education, etc....

Breaks, whether during sport, business or both can be instrumental to your team’s success.?

>>Query

Are your "Halftime Breaks" productive?

Contact me directly at [email protected] to schedule time to chat.

Currently seeking a position in Tech with pioneers and innovators.

(Jake dot Doyle at aya dot yale dot edu)

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