Throughout Peta Searle’s two week trip to the USA, she will keep a diary that SAINTS.com.au will publish on a regular basis. Part I covers the first four days of her trip.
Day 1
I’m not a very good sleeper on planes. Maybe I’m just not a good sleeper because I think to myself ‘I am not a good sleeper?’ Either way, I was wide awake for the entire 16-hour trip from Melbourne to Los Angeles.
I’ve been looking forward to this AFL Coaches Association study tour for a couple of months now. Alongside a small number of development coaches at other AFL clubs, I can’t wait to visit elite sporting environments in American football, basketball and baseball. I’m grateful for the opportunity.
From LAX, we travelled to Manhattan beach in southwestern Los Angeles County which totally looked like a Katy Perry video clip. A quick Google search told me that this beach is known for its beach volleyball and surfing and I can see why. It was a nice way to start what will be a rewarding and hopefully enlightening trip.
Day 2
We picked up former Eagles player and current Bulldogs VFL coach Ashley Hansen and Carlton’s Barry Prendergast on the way to San Diego this morning. Waiting for us there were two more Bulldogs coaches in Rohan Smith and Chris Maple.
Chris is the Dogs Head of Development and also coached Footscray to a VFL flag in 2014, so having not had much to do with him before, I’m looking forward to picking his brains throughout this trip.
For dinner we were joined by Navy Seals captain Jay Hennessy and their High Performance Manager Zac Weatherford. It was a lovely dinner to basically break the ice ahead of two days at the Navy Seals.
I’m sure tomorrow will be an experience I’ll never forget. Who would have thought two years ago I’d be in the USA doing this? I still have to pinch myself sometimes.
I was tempted to join in for a game of beach volleyball, but was content sitting in the sun.
Day 3
We made our way to Coronado Island this morning. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes as we approached it. It is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, but realistically it just looks like Movie World.
The first thing we had to do was complete the Navy Seals obstacle course, which was quite a daunting prospect. However on approach to the course, we saw 100 ‘Buds’ training Navy Seals doing the course so we thankfully settled on a run along the beach instead.
The rest of the day was made up of presentations and discussions which were not only enlightening, but surprisingly relevant to AFL football. John Crawly, who is the High Performance Director at the USA Olympic Committee delivered a presentation on ‘A conversation about creating and sustaining a culture of sporting excellence.’
This was valuable in providing some insights to the coaching ethos of the USA Olympic coaches. What also became apparent throughout his presentation was how advanced we are at the Saints from a coaching and player development perspective. It’s something I’m very proud to be a part of.
Day 4
Discussions today included balancing talent and the different characters you have at a club. Not everyone has to be the same character, but we’re after talented athletes who are prepared to work hard and show dedication to their profession and club and also show good character.
At the Navy Seals, they often train under hardest possible conditions because under stress people reveal their true character. It’s an interesting notion and a fine balance. Imagine if we made St Kilda players train after two hours sleep and minimal food every session? I think in the end they would just get fed up. But earlier this year we undertook a similarly punishing training program at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and the boys thrived on limited sleep and water. It’s an exercise we plan to complete with many of our younger players early in 2016.
The last presentation of the Navy Seals trip was from Lu Lastra, the Naval Special Warefare Director of Mentorship. He spoke about mental toughness and a theory called the ‘Whole Man Concept.’
In short, this concept proposes six primary words which are required to develop upstanding characters in a team environment. They are:
- Moral courage
- Integrity
- Humility
- Creativity
- Teamability (I wasn’t actually sure if this was a word but I went along with it), and
- Resiliency
They are great values that are enabling young men to prosper.
The willingness for Jay Hennessy to invite us into the Navy Seals and the openness of his staff to share their experiences and knowledge with such humility made it a privilege to be there and quite a surreal experience.
Next up: The University of San Diego tomorrow and a San Fransisco 49ers game the following evening.
Thanks for reading,
Peta.
