{"id":872,"date":"2020-04-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/covid-19-searching-for-the-performance-opportunities-when-sport-shuts-down\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:21","slug":"covid-19-searching-for-the-performance-opportunities-when-sport-shuts-down","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/covid-19-searching-for-the-performance-opportunities-when-sport-shuts-down\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Searching For the Performance Opportunities When Sport Shuts Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Apr 01, 2020 <\/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

COVID-19: Searching For the Performance Opportunities When Sport Shuts Down<\/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 Human Performance<\/a> <\/div>\n
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Andrew Gray of the Wests Tigers does not underplay the challenges faced by all performance staff during the NRL suspension but commends the steps being taken by his club.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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The National Rugby League, like the majority of sporting competitions across the globe, went into indefinite suspension last week as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

\u201cOur competition paused after Round 2,\u201d says Andrew Gray, the High Performance Manager at the Sydney-based Wests Tigers. \u201cWe had played Round 1 in front of crowds then played Round 2 in empty stadiums; and 24 hours later they paused the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in yesterday to say goodbye to the players for a period, give them some training equipment and make them aware of what they\u2019re going to need to be doing by themselves for a while, because that will determine how it all comes together when we come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of uncertainty about the place and we have to start seeing things as an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leaders Performance Institute spoke to Gray about performance planning in an environment where the health and wellbeing of athletes, staff and families, as well as the looming threat to livelihoods during the suspension, are of far greater concern than any performance questions.<\/p>\n

How did you and the club react to the NRL\u2019s suspension?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

AG: <\/b><\/strong>Up until three days ago we were wondering if we were going to be able to train players in small groups or whether they were going to need to completely self-isolate. We took a conservative approach and moved towards something that was going to be sustainable if things got worse, which it looks like they\u2019re going to.<\/p>\n

What were the first steps?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

AG:<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0We\u2019ve split up all of our training equipment, sent the players home; we found out which players had garages big enough to house enough equipment to maintain their strength training; we used an online platform and put them in pods, putting good hygiene practices around things so that if we\u2019re completely locked-down one guy will be able to go and use another guy\u2019s garage, which is only a few minutes away so that everybody had access to enough weight to keep their strength up. We use an online platform to communicate all of their programs, allocated different parts of their physical conditioning to our staff to stay in touch with them. We also created some competition amongst them; almost having a \u2018workout of the day\u2019; having strength competitions and other competitions over the next period as we see fit.<\/p>\n

What is the new optimal in this training environment?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

AG: <\/b><\/strong>We don\u2019t know if our competition is going to recommence on 1 June, 1 July, 1 August, 1 September or not at all this season. The governing body is saying in a few weeks that should become clear; I\u2019m not sure a few weeks is the answer but most likely we won\u2019t be back playing until September, which is usually our finals series, have a really abbreviated season that goes until Christmas and then deal with what comes after that. If we were having a pre-season we would come back in August. So there\u2019s four months to fill in, which is a very long time. You can really let yourself go in four months\u2019 time and you can\u2019t make that up in four weeks; in a game like rugby league where your physical status is a big part of success; so at the moment we\u2019re still trying to work out where we all stand next week.<\/p>\n

You mentioned opportunities – can you point to some?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

AG: <\/b><\/strong>Players have changed over the past 20 years. We\u2019re continually trying to make our players take responsibility for their training, physical status and career. We have a real philosophy of trying not to use the word \u2018weakness\u2019; we\u2019re showing players, with the use of data, where their biggest opportunity to improve is because that\u2019s where they should be spending more of their energy on; the low-hanging fruit, they\u2019re the easiest thing to improve. But to improve themselves, the guys have got to bring the drive to that and the discipline. So this period here could help us in that regard; they\u2019ve got to provide a hell of a lot more than they did before. They can do this whenever they want, they\u2019re not told when to come to training any more; they can sit in the lounge and play video games all day if they want to.<\/p>\n

Is there a universal performance questions that you try to pose as a high performance team?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

AG<\/b><\/strong>: Yes, and we need to be consistent with competitions that we come up with and what winning looks like in this environment. Obviously there\u2019s an element of needing to let the dust settle. I\u2019ve seen it in everybody\u2019s eyes over the past few days; there really is a need for everybody to take a breath, look after their families, and make their own arrangements; get the people part sorted before the footballer part kicks in. We build up a framework that allows that footballer part to kick on, hopefully, within a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

What has been your biggest lesson so far?<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

AG:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think there\u2019s been a lesson so much as a realisation of human fragility. I\u2019m hoping that the lesson becomes a bit of reset button for us all about what\u2019s really important. That\u2019s more on the humanity side of things rather than the athletic. It\u2019s got to start with people. Culture can take so long to build and can be broken very quickly, so it has to start with people and making sure people are OK. Then, on the strategic performance side of things, it\u2019s planning and making contingencies for worst-case scenarios. That\u2019s what\u2019s important, having a plan that can sustain ever more change because everyone knows how quickly things have changed in the last month. You need to come up with a plan that enables you to survive even worse change, if you\u2019re looking at it from a performance point of view. Make sure the people are looked after to begin with. The Wests Tigers are the best club I\u2019ve been with in that regard. That\u2019s what makes it such a positive place to work, the way they look after all of their people top to bottom.<\/p>\n

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What does the modern coach need to know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We tackle this question in our latest Performance Special Report. Download Coachmaker: What the Modern Coach Needs to Know<\/em>, which features sports organisations as diverse as Ulster Rugby<\/strong>, the Geelong Cats<\/strong>, Minnesota Timberwolves<\/strong> and US Special Operations<\/strong> discussing personal development, creating performance environments, recruitment and using data in smarter ways.<\/p>\n