I played for a number of years in the most successful basketball club in the country. High standards and expectations went hand and hand and were very clear from day one. So I as a new young coach embraced those with my new shiny coaching toolkit on my back. When I took up coaching, I loved every minute of it, I started to ask different questions than I did as an athlete and took up a number of referee qualifications and went to watch all different types of coaching to support this insatiable need to know more about the world of coaching. A big part of this was about getting the best of me and the people in front of me. In my first few years we had success (as in the winning kind), I loved it but something was missing and I remember facing the club committee after a few years with a couple of requests/suggestions for the club that weren’t about the winning kind and more the person and development kind. They didn’t have that on their agenda at the time and so I decided to look outside the competitive bubble and ask, who else needs support? What else is possible outside of a performance-first environment?

I left and went to a local small school where sport was played but not with a performance lens, it was very much about enjoyment and people development. We started at a development level with 6 girls and grew from D league to winning the A league with 12 teams in the school but winning was never the focus. We focused on nourishing relationships, creating an enjoyable space to spend a couple of hours after school, the players understanding themselves, their behaviour and how to be competitive over the first couple of years there. I soon saw teachers and other sports coaches in the school coming to sit in and watch a session. Some teachers came to just observe what thriving for some pupils looked like outside the classroom.

Another big decision from that same environment was when we qualified for the World High School Championships and we had to make a decision to fundraise ten thousand pounds in eight months. Some of these girls had never travelled, the school and local community wasn’t very wealthy and these girls had never really worked together on anything outside the gym. So we had a meeting with the school and the players and they presented their case and what they would do to make this happen. There they were day in and day out for eight months coming together, school, staff, parents and the community to embrace this challenge that people said was impossible to fund this incredible trip. This tournament in France was the final competition for those girls, one that transcended sport and reached into the community and to date some of those players are coaching, some are still playing and some have grown to live the values we once shared on the hardwood in the school hall.

I was still growing as a coach and wanted to reach what I thought was the pinnacle of my coaching career, representing Ireland. Not all my international playing career was a positive experience so I really thought I would embrace this with all my energy, time and a growing toolkit. There were some enjoyable moments and the technical/tactical element was a nice challenge but eventually I had to reevaluate my desire to support ‘the people first approach’ and be in an environment that best suited my identity and values. Transitioning out of international basketball changed the way I think about myself, it was a very tough decision but one I needed to make. It is something I think I’d like to revisit some day both personally and professionally.

Now, I’ve switched sports from basketball to football and give back via a coach developer role.

When I look back, I started out coaching as I was coached as a player and what was expected of me inside a really competitive club environment. At a critical moment I made a decision to change who I seek validation from, instead of seeking validation from basically everybody. I chose to shift towards my own internal orientation and direction. I revaluated my measure of success and shaped my own path with some great mentors along the way.

That led to a change in behaviour and how I coached. I broadened my network. I started exploring new ways of coaching.

I lifted the ‘win-first lens’ and saw sport in a new way.