Feb 2, 2018
On today’s podcast we have Paul Anderson who is currently assistant coach to the England Rugby League team.
He recently was a guest speaker at the House of Lords to the All Party Parliamentary dinner
After a successful World Cup Paul gives us some absolutely fascinating insights into coaching at the very top of professional sport.
We discuss how Paul’s early environment shaped the player and then the coach he became.
Examples of good coaching and not so good coaching and how a letter telling him was never going to be good enough in the professional game spurred him on to become one of the best prop forwards in the game.
We discuss the time he spent with one of the all time greats of the sport Ellery Hanley and how such a great player led by his own example whilst at the same time giving younger players the benefits of his vast knowledge.
For a spell Anderson was part of the great Bradford Bulls team and we get a great insight how that team became far greater than the sum of its parts.
Not packed with individual genius but a collective that went on to win numerous trophies and titles.
After finishing his distinguished playing career which included 10 caps for Great Britain he became assistant to Nathan Brown at the Huddersfield Giants
When Brown left Paul took over as head coach and in 2013 he guided the unfashionable and unfancied Giants to the league leaders trophy. The first time they had won the title in over EIGHTY years.
During that time I had the privilege of working with Paul and the team.
We take time to look back and dissect that extraordinary achievement
How at first the job seemed too big a mountain to climb
How the Giants carried a story of being ‘also rans’
We discuss some of the pivotal moments and meeting during that year when all of the players and staff embraced a new way to think and prepare.
We look at
How you cannot start a new story unless you are honest enough to look at you CURRENT story
How looking at other sports helped the Giants
How information overload can cripple a players performance
How step by step week by week a new story was created
How certain key players changed their belief systems
How the goal was changed from ‘winning the league’ to ‘winning the set’
We also look at Paul’s current role within the RFL and how he has grown to admire the legendary head coach Wayne Bennett
A man who has achieved incredible success as coach that would stand comparison in almost any sport.
We discuss his great empathy for his players and his ability to command total respect whilst at the same time being able to get a player to respond to key game plans
Whatever sport you play or coach you will gain some great insights from a coach
For details of Karl’s Mind Factor programmes go to www.themindfactor.com