Many years ago, British Gas had a series of advertisements promoting their product in which they used celebrity actors in different situations finding satisfaction at the click of their finger with the tagline: “Don’t you just love being in control?” Oh, yes, don’t we just! We love to be in control; we want things to happen when we say so, how we say so, just like that.
Many leaders, be it in commerce or politics or anywhere, want to be in control and indeed want to show it, to ensure that everyone knows just who is in control here.
And if control does not come naturally, then we will force it and demand it by pointing out calmly, “Just remember who is in control here…”
We see it with children as well, do we not?
At break time, children will be in the playground, all chasing after the same ball, wanting control of the ball and even when they gain control of the ball it is still not in their control, running away from them.
They shout for the ball but when they have it, they will not share it with others who are shouting for it.
They must have it. And then, we may have witnessed, when the one child, whose ball it is, does not get control of the ball, he just picks it up and walks off, declaring proudly: “It’s my ball!” If he cannot have the ball, he will make sure others do not have it.
He must be in control. So there! Such alluring power! Such control. Just remember!
In truth, control is at the very heart of sport.
Previously we have sought to simplify sport by saying that it is all about three Gs: we must get in position to get the ball; then we must give the ball (pass it to a teammate, rather than dribble); then we must go for the return, not stand back idly thinking how cool we are. Get, Give, Go.
However, within the operation of getting the ball, there are also three key ingredients – stop, control, pass.
All too often, players half stop the ball and try to pass it when it is not under control, usually leading the pass to go astray.
In hockey, the ball hits our stick and lands in the area but we need our stick to be right beside the ball for it to be under control.
Equally, we control the play even when we do not have the ball, by taking opponents away from the action and by channeling them to play to our strengths.
Control is essential. We must be in control.
Each of us on the sports field, and indeed in life, need to be in control, to control not just the ball but also our emotions (in order to think clearly, calmly, sensibly, positively).
The coach must be in control of his team, as well as, as far as possible, the opposing team.
He will control his team by dictating the tactics and style of play that he wants them to play but he will also be looking to control the opposition by noting what formation and tactics the opponents are using and adjusting his side’s play accordingly.
To an extent, how the opposition play is out of his control but at the same time, he will endeavour to have his team stamp their mark on the opposition, to be in control.
As long as we have the ball, we control the match.
We look to stamp our authority on the game to show who is in control. [We might just add that the referee should be the one who is in control but that is a matter for another day.] Control, control, control.
We need to be in control of what we are doing; we love to be in control of what we are doing.
The fact is, though, that we cannot and do not always have control.
One reaction to not being in control is to panic – a classic sitcom at the end of the last century entitled ‘Dad’s Army’, following a motley group of overage men serving in the war, had one character shouting out in a panic “Don’t panic” whenever anything went remotely wrong or amiss.
Another reaction is to be jealous and to rant, rail and even fight against it. Again, that is not helpful.
We need to control how we react. We stay calm.
The fact is that we need to learn how to handle not being in control as there are some things that appear out of our control.
We cannot control being selected for a school, provincial or national team; however, we can control how we play and trust that that will be sufficient for being selected.
We cannot control the weather but we can control how we play within that weather.
We cannot control umpiring decisions but we can control our response. We must control being out of control.
Don’t we just love it when everything that we coach comes together and works?
We need to take our foot off the gas, stay calm, and ensure we control what we can control as well as what we cannot control as coaches.
That is what we must remember. Just like that. Love it!