Integration works as mentorship in Mülders’s answer: older and middle-aged players become responsible for welcoming the young ones, setting the stage and building common ground. A senior should not defend his spot against a rival but welcome someone who takes on the group’s culture and adds qualities of his own. The difference he stresses is treating a junior as an equal member, not permanently as the young one. Watch the full masterclass: Result vs process.
Culture starts with the environment, Shane says. Belgium built an Olympic Room lined with photos chosen to show their players dominating Holland, Germany and Australia, then ran simple trust exercises such as speed dating rounds of structured feedback. He also facilitated an open conversation between two players over a lingering Indian league grievance, arguing that issues discussed honestly deflate, while those swept under the carpet resurface in pressure moments. Watch the full masterclass: Ask Me Anything with Shane McLeod.
During lockdown he is not sending the squad a plan. Each player has a treadmill and a bike, they are restless and want to move, and he leaves them to it. There will be time to build the Olympic team once confinement lifts, second by second. For now he treats it as a moment for reflection and personal growth, and jokes that this is what getting older does to a coach. Read the full write-up of this conversation.
Reid says he does not care which caste, background or religion a player comes from; his aim is to treat everyone fairly, and arriving fresh with few preconceptions made that easier. Cliques exist everywhere, he argues, whether built on religion in India or state rivalries in Australia, and the coach’s job is to broaden connections between players so no group closes itself off. Watch the full masterclass: Field Hockey Tactics, Trust and Team Dynamics: Insights from Indian Men’s Coach Graham Reid.
Periodisation was planned backwards from the 2020 Olympics and will now be redone for 2021. Every physical session is tracked by GPS and heart rate, giving a target player load per exercise, session and week, which decides whether a week is heavy, light, fitness or speed. Reid calls the Pro League a mixed blessing: ready-made preparation, but against the very teams India will meet in Tokyo. Watch the full masterclass: Field Hockey Tactics, Trust and Team Dynamics: Insights from Indian Men’s Coach Graham Reid.
Choosing a captain should be collaborative, he argues, and he borrows Sven-Goran Eriksson’s idea of cultural architects: whoever takes the role has to live the team’s agreed behaviours, not just lift people. Let the squad pick who represents them in a leadership group, then decide the captain from there, or rotate it. Rich Halsworth’s leaderful team is the aim, so nothing collapses when one player is missing. Watch the full masterclass: Changing & developing a culture.
Some of his players warmed up throwing a frisbee while others wanted to be pumped up and serious, and the serious group resented it. His answer is acceptance rather than uniformity: let players find the state they perform best in, then anchor everyone to the same goal. He points to Northern and Republic squad members with different anthems and passports, and to Belgium settling on English. Watch the full masterclass: Changing & developing a culture.
Passmore borrows Clive Woodward’s split between energisers and energy sappers, and says the players, not the coach, are best placed to police a star who will not live the team’s behaviours. His practical fix is to give that player a real part in setting the culture, plus peer scoring out of ten on agreed behaviours. If it keeps undermining the group, the player is not worth having. Watch the full masterclass: Changing & developing a culture.