006: David Fletcher on adversity

Supporting Champions Podcast 006 David Fletcher In this episode I talk to David Fletcher about his career as a swimmer, researcher and expert in the area of adversity. Show notes; Early aspirations as a swimmer, but experiencing near misses as an athlete and academically Transfer of desire from swim background to early success in studies Father as a science role-model, searching and sharing academic papers Importance of internship in sporting environment Importance of breadth of experience beyond own area of specialism Interest in the stresses that athletes experiences Stresses changing based on growth of high performance system Uncovering poor organisational behaviours that adversely influenced sporting performance Seeking legal advice due to controversial nature of athlete interviews - sticking to your guns about unearthing and communicating stresses Identifying stresses and how some used stressful experiences as fuel for determination Organisational stresses - leadership styles, not being listened to, overuse of pressure training and how it spilled over How it is unethical not to prepare athletes for the pressure of top competitions How leadership behaviours permeated down to grass-root levels Adversity as a stimulus for growth - so it needs to be; - Relevant, e.g. penalty shoot-out - Progressively adaptable - Agreed Appropriate and inappropriate consequences to contravening agreed behaviours Role of early adversity as a fuel for focusing on sporting goals Theories emerging - life adversity coinciding with sporting success, and finding sport as a sanctuary Caveat that sport doesn't protect person from mental health response to adversarial events How best to support when people experience adversity; 1) give them space; 2) supporting people when they are ready to disclose - provide inspirational opportunities; 3) when a vase breaks consider creating a new mosaic rather than re-building as it was Adversity gives you honesty to review deeply Different personality traits required to succeed in sport vs life Re-emergence of 'issues' wen sport is not there Are we doing enough to support coaches? Lessons for everybody - Anything worthwhile will have its challenges - Importance of anticipating stresses and preparing for them - Importance of support network - Importance of disclosing and being open to sharing stress response Future directions in area of adversity   Supporting Champions on Twitter www.twitter.com/support_champs Steve Ingham on Twitter www.twitter.com/ingham_steve Supporting Champions on Linkedin, www.linkedin.com/company/supporting-champions Instagram https://www.instagram.com/supportingchampions/ A reminder if you’re keen to pre-register for the next wave of Graduate Membership enrolments then you can do so at https://supportingchampions.co.uk/membership/ If you’re looking for some coaching support or some virtual team development help to support you to get to the next level in work, life or sport then take a look at https://supportingchampions.co.uk/coaching-mentoring/ or drop us a note at [email protected] then you can sign up for a free consultation to explore which package is right for you.