{"id":16692,"date":"2023-03-07T14:35:44","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T14:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=16692"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:20","slug":"training-facilities-are-a-feeling-you-cant-say-that-to-an-architect","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/training-facilities-are-a-feeling-you-cant-say-that-to-an-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"‘”Training Facilities Are a Feeling\u201d \u2013 you Can\u2019t Say that to an Architect!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 7 Mar 2023 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

‘”Training Facilities Are a Feeling\u201d \u2013 you Can\u2019t Say that to an Architect!\u2019<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a>, Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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We ask individuals from NFL, Olympic and Paralympic backgrounds and beyond what makes for a great practice facility.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
What makes for a great training facility? It is a question the Leaders Performance Institute posed to a series of athletes, coaches and practitioners, including Kate Warne-Holland, the Under-14s Girls Captain at the Lawn Tennis Association [LTA].<\/h6>\n

\u201cYou have to bring the energy. Don\u2019t come in if you\u2019re not ready to come in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players need to know exactly what the expectation level is of them and we have to challenge each other to bring the energy and the right attitude. When I ran my own environment as a coach, everybody in the team would have clear roles about where they would be that day; leading the session, assisting the session, hitting in the session. If, as a coach, you\u2019re hitting in the session then you\u2019re a player so you\u2019d better behave like a player. You\u2019re a real role model. Communication with the players in the session has to be pitched to what is in front of you that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

We spoke to individuals in American football, bobsleigh, rugby union, swimming, tennis, field hockey and athletics to glean their views on what makes a training or practice facility great. Here is what they told us.<\/p>\n

Jack Easterby, NFL performance coach:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The flow is the number one thing. How does it flow and does that flow match the work flow of the operation? For example, I\u2019ve had people walk into a locker room and it\u2019s the first thing you see, which is great, but you\u2019re spending more time in a meeting hall or in a study area than you are in the locker room. The second thing is unified technology. I think that technology creates behaviour. And so I think if you have a flow that\u2019s really well done and you have unified technology around the building, it\u2019s going to create the behaviours that are needed for the people inside.<\/p>\n

Montell Douglas, British Olympic bobsledder and former Olympic sprinter:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ideal is to have everything you need in one place. If you wanted to make the best athlete, you would give them everything you need in that realm to perform, but that\u2019s rare. In transitioning into my newer sport, I realised that things aren\u2019t always ideal and the best training facilities came from the times where I thought outside the box. A lot of times in my sport, I was training out of a garage with free weights. I would never imagine in sprinting that you could do that and still perform, but when you think about facilities, it\u2019s not about the quality, although that\u2019s hugely important. It\u2019s always about: what is required and am I able to get the same desired outcome with what I have?<\/p>\n

Ioan Cunningham, Head Coach, Wales senior women\u2019s rugby union team:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The biggest thing for me is: how much does an environment help a player to learn? When you set up the environment, when they walk in, what triggers are there for them to learn? Is there signposting? And then out on the field it\u2019s very similar. Is there an opportunity with us to get live feedback on a TV on the side of the field; \u2018we\u2019re just going to play this and then go and look at it\u2019, \u2018that was really good\u2019 or \u2018you didn\u2019t run your line there properly\u2019. We\u2019re lucky we can do that at our level, but it’s also creating an environment where we will stop the session, give them 30 seconds to discuss it as a group, and then come back with two points. No more than two points. \u2018How are you going to win the next minute?\u2019 Those are the type of environments and learning environments \u2013 because learning leads to motivation, in my view. If you\u2019re learning, you\u2019re motivated. If you stop learning you become stale.<\/p>\n

Rohan Taylor, Head Coach, Swimming Australia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For me, there\u2019s three really critical components that you look at across any high performance environment. These are almost non-negotiables. The facility needs to be accessible. Sometimes [swimmers] get kicked out of the pools or lane space, so we\u2019ll secure access to facilities to be able to do the basics, the training. The second one is the coaching and the level of coaching expertise, not just elite coaches but the coaching group; I\u2019m talking about the sports science. You need to have that and if it\u2019s just one person they need to be really good, if it\u2019s two people they need to work collaboratively together. And the third part is that you need that administrative support, that dry side support, to ensure those coaches are coaching, those athletes are training, and somebody\u2019s supporting the structure around it. Whether it\u2019s a large, professional football club or it\u2019s a small swimming club, it needs those three components to be operating and working together. And if you take one away, it becomes a problem.<\/p>\n

Kate Warne-Holland, Under-14s Girls Captain, LTA:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hard work also has to be fun. I work with under-14s and there has to be enjoyment throughout the session, with the amount of volume and intensity the kids are undertaking. I think there also needs to be respect for the effort the players are putting in, respect for the parents, and the coaching staff. And walking in each morning to a nice, clean space. No litter, no balls everywhere, everything is nicely tidy and the baskets of balls are ready to go. Often the session will start at 6:30 or 7 o\u2019clock in the morning. You don\u2019t want to be walking in to a messy chaotic environment. After every single session we would quickly reflect at the end; assistant into lead, player into assistant, and then lead into player. I might say: \u2018I thought you were really good at bringing the energy, you behave like a player, you had high expectations of the other person\u2019. Each person says a couple of things and it just keeps everyone on their toes around the idea that \u2018this is important and we care about the quality of the sessions\u2019.<\/p>\n

Lisa Jacob, High Performance Director, Hockey Ireland:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a feeling of \u2018home\u2019 and I think it\u2019s somewhere you walk into and it makes you elevate your thinking. It\u2019s very hard to describe what that looks like and, at the moment, we\u2019re in conversations with Sport Ireland around what we want the hockey facility to look like going forward. I\u2019m pretty sure if we started off with \u2018it\u2019s a feeling\u2019 \u2013 Jesus, the architects can\u2019t work with that! It has to have the basics [such as pitches and gym facilities onsite or nearby], but the one critical thing that would differentiate it for me is what the team room is like. In some places you won\u2019t have couches and bean bags or graduated steps where you can watch videos or movies, but a place where a team can actually make it their own and create what empowers them most [is important]. There are a couple of facilities that have got it right.<\/p>\n

Victoria Moore, Head of Performance Support and Solutions, Athletics Australia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I see resources of people as far more beneficial than resources such as equipment and or a building. I\u2019ve seen athletes absolutely flourish when they\u2019ve got people to help them make informed decisions. I think you can make a lot with the right people. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve put resources and dollars into investing into building people\u2019s capacity. A nice building might look great, but you should invest in people and make them feel valued and that they belong; and that\u2019s when you\u2019re going to get the better outcomes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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