Playing To Win

I've got World Cup withdrawal symptoms this week! No more late afternoon and early evening games to watch on TV or with friends in the pub...

I look at football through two sets of eyes; the first as a football supporter, and the second as a Performance Coach and Trainer noticing the different kinds of games, including mental games, that the teams and players play before, during and after matches.

One of the founding beliefs of NLP & Coaching is that in life we do tend to get what we focus on most - meaning if we focus on what we don't want that's just what we get, and if focus on what we do want we're also more likely to achieve that instead.

Basically, what we believe will cause us to make slight adjustments to the task in hand, and that can lead to us achieving what we focused on. This core belief is a big one to swallow, because it suggests we have and should take responsibility for the life we create and the results we achieve.

Football is an brilliant microcosm of human life, from personal achievement, the power of beliefs, friendships, loyalty, and of course group dynamics which are the same from school to the boardroom...and the football field.

England captain Steven Gerrard commenting before Germany beat his team 4-1; 'Germany are very strong...they are very quick...they will be very difficult to beat' (and they were).

Italy, previous World Cup champion's early departure in the group stages prompted this from their manager, 'I knew we would lose...I saw we had fear in our eyes'.

France, again recent champions, were in conflict with their manager and themselves and again left the competition at the first stage.

Conversely, Germany's top goal scorer Klose commented after beating England, 'I knew we'd win after 4 minutes of the game because each of them were playing individually, for themselves, yet we were a unit, a whole, a team'.

So to the World Cup final, Spain versus The Netherlands. Spain, renowned for playing 'beautiful, passing football', and The Netherlands for being the most solid 'unit' their country had produced in many years. Both teams had played some amazing football leading up to the final, and thankfully at this years World Cup it seemed the best two teams had made it to the last game - what a show it would be!

I watched the game, jammed into a pub in central London, one of a television audience of more than 20 million people in the UK alone - I couldn't have left even if I'd have wanted to.

But what happened next was intriguing, in that the two teams played different games; in that Spain played to win in their usual 'passing' style, and The Netherlands played to stop them. A coaching interpretation would have been that Spain wanted to win, whereas The Netherlands's didn't want to lose. Only a slight shift in attitude, yet small shifts can make the biggest difference.

What resulted was a game where more offences were committed than any World Cup final before. Players were pulled and pushed over, headlocks were used, legs were kicked without any intention to get the ball, and even a full on kung fu style kick to a player's chest (which has possibly resulted in broken ribs) was caught on camera.

Even the Dutch fans in the pub became quiet and booed the kung fu kick from their own team player. It was sad. The Dutch team we watched in the final didn't look anything like the team we'd loved up until that point in the competition.

Thankfully, Spain didn't panic and kept playing, and passing, as they always do. The goal, when it came 2 minutes from the end of extra time, was a relief. Going into the game, whilst supporting Spain, I didn't mind who won, because they were both great teams. But by the end I was so happy the better, more positive team did finally win through.

So, what can we learn from this? And what can I take away that I can use in presentations and workshops(?)...because, if anyone thinks this was 'just a football game' is kind of missing the point. Spain and The Netherlands could have been Apple and Microsoft, BA and Virgin Atlantic, job applicant 'a' and job applicant 'b'. The questions to ask yourself are;

1. What's my game (as Stephen Covey once said, 'if you're going to climb a ladder, at least first make sure it's leaning against the right wall')?
2. Am I playing to win, or am I playing to not lose?
3. Am I doing what I love to do, because...

...when interviewed after being crowned champions of the world, Spanish captain and goalkeeper, Iker Casillas put it in a nutshell when he said, 'of course we love to win, yet it's not just about winning, it's about enjoying the game, and we just love to play football.'