#60 - Ange Postecoglou: The Power of Belief, Process, and Relentless Excellence
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Episode Summary:
In this episode of Sport Is Life, host Ian Hawkins explores the inspiring coaching journey of Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham Hotspur’s manager. Ian delves into Ange’s relentless pursuit of excellence, unwavering belief in his system, and the emotional intelligence that sets him apart as a leader. From his beginnings as a self-taught coach to leading international teams and clubs, Ange’s philosophy centers on process over outcomes, taking full responsibility, and fostering deep connections with his players. Ian also touches on current events in Australian sport, including young sprinter Gout Gout, cricket milestones, and reflections on the Phil Hughes anniversary. Tune in for a rich discussion on leadership, resilience, and the lessons we can apply from sport to life.
About the Host:
Ian Hawkins, host of "Sport Is Life," is dedicated to showing how sports can transform lives. With extensive experience as an athlete, a coach, PE teacher, community volunteer, and manager at Fox Sports, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge to the podcast. His journey began in his backyard, mentored by his older brother, and has since evolved into coaching elite athletes and business leaders. Ian's commitment to sports and personal development is evident in his roles as a performance coach and active community member. Through "Sport Is Life," Ian shares inspiring stories and valuable lessons to help listeners apply sports principles to all areas of life.
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Transcript
I love it. I love it. He's everything
Speaker:that I want to be as a as a sports coach
Speaker:and in terms of just
Speaker:day-to-day life. You think of how much
Speaker:you can take from that and apply to your
Speaker:life have. Process that you can stick to
Speaker:because any sports cycle tell you is when
Speaker:you get outcome focused your
Speaker:performance will dip but when you get
Speaker:process focused you will have better
Speaker:results. Takes the pressure off.
Speaker:He has an unwavering belief in
Speaker:himself and how he operates.
Speaker:He's not deterred by other people's
Speaker:opinions. Relentless pursuit of
Speaker:excellence. Could you imagine if that's
Speaker:how you live your life every single day?
Speaker:I'm Ian Hawkins and this is Sporty's
Speaker:life. The purpose of sport, as I
Speaker:see it, is to see your vision become a
Speaker:reality, find your voice, create
Speaker:strong connections and learn to trust
Speaker:your body.
Speaker:There's a lot of really cool things
Speaker:happening in sport in Australia at the
Speaker:moment. We've got the young 16 year old
Speaker:sprinter Gout Gout breaking all sorts of
Speaker:records being compared to the great man
Speaker:Usain Bolt. We've got the cricket,
Speaker:continues Scotty bowl and comes in for
Speaker:his cameos like he does and
Speaker:continues to excel.
Speaker:The. Phil Hughes
Speaker:anniversary the other week, people were
Speaker:reflecting on that and the impact that
Speaker:had for all of us is not just cricket
Speaker:fans but but people in Australia. Because
Speaker:when someone in the public eye passes, it
Speaker:can really, really have an impact. It it
Speaker:reminds us of our own immortality. And
Speaker:yeah, it can, it can actually
Speaker:have a bigger impact than we think it
Speaker:will for someone that we've never met.
Speaker:But today I want to talk about something
Speaker:that's happening on the other side of the
Speaker:world. Still an Aussie
Speaker:Angeposta Coglio current manager at
Speaker:Tottenham Hotspur.
Speaker:He. Is really
Speaker:getting some strong criticism at the
Speaker:moment. He's having
Speaker:some incredible results, like they pumped
Speaker:Man City 4 nil,
Speaker:but then a few days later
Speaker:they have a a loss
Speaker:and then a draw against teams that they
Speaker:should be beating. But I
Speaker:don't want to talk about that. I want to
Speaker:talk about how Angie's approach
Speaker:this whole thing and actually at every
Speaker:club that he's been to, including the
Speaker:Australian national team and
Speaker:why he continues to have success. And I
Speaker:believe he will have success if they be
Speaker:patient with him and if not, I'm sure
Speaker:another EPL club will pick him up and
Speaker:This is why I believe that to be the
Speaker:case. And
Speaker:is unwavering. In his belief in his
Speaker:system. He
Speaker:knows it works. He's been.
Speaker:I listen to another podcast. He's been
Speaker:coaching since he was 12. They went to a
Speaker:knockout Cup game in primary school and
Speaker:the coach was just a teacher who kind of
Speaker:just took them but didn't really do any
Speaker:coaching. So he straight away went to
Speaker:work mapping out the OR. He said he's his
Speaker:teammates actually asked him to get him
Speaker:organised. So he's been a coach his whole
Speaker:life and he's worked with some
Speaker:amazing people. He's at South Melbourne,
Speaker:he worked with the great man Pushkus.
Speaker:He's had any number of fantastic
Speaker:mentors over that. Time he's worked
Speaker:within the the Citigroup, so he's he's
Speaker:had different conversations with.
Speaker:Yeah, all, all of the amazing.
Speaker:Coaches in that space.
Speaker:And he also has had
Speaker:success playing his unique way, his
Speaker:unique brand of football, by sticking to
Speaker:the process. And
Speaker:he doesn't get. Deterred
Speaker:by what other people's opinions are. Now
Speaker:I've got to be honest, he doesn't look a
Speaker:bit stressed at the moment and the
Speaker:English media is pretty good at chewing
Speaker:people up and spitting them out.
Speaker:But he continues to stick to his
Speaker:guns. And I
Speaker:imagine that living in that sort of
Speaker:public life would be stressful, but I'd
Speaker:say he's more stressed about the fact
Speaker:that his team is not getting results. But
Speaker:the interesting thing is, is when they
Speaker:don't. And to me
Speaker:this is rare, not just in sport but in
Speaker:life. He takes full responsibility for
Speaker:everything. Even with the referee, people
Speaker:want to come at him with, you know
Speaker:there's a bad decision by the referee and
Speaker:he goes. The the VAR, the
Speaker:video ref and he's like, you know, like I
Speaker:sound like an old man screaming at the
Speaker:clouds. But why are we just satisfied
Speaker:that humans make mistakes and just get on
Speaker:with it? Players make mistakes, coaches
Speaker:make mistakes, rest make mistakes as
Speaker:well. And he said we're losing the human
Speaker:element. And he said, I'm not going to
Speaker:complain about the referees. That's
Speaker:outside of my control. He sticks to
Speaker:what he can control. So he takes
Speaker:responsibility for the results for the
Speaker:player's injury. That's on me. They don't
Speaker:play well, that's on me. It's not on the
Speaker:team if they're playing bad. He owns
Speaker:that. He doesn't blame referees, he
Speaker:doesn't blame whether he doesn't blame
Speaker:injuries and they have had so many
Speaker:injuries. This squad is not that strong.
Speaker:It can definitely be built on. He lost
Speaker:one of the best players in the club's
Speaker:history before a ball had been kicked in
Speaker:the season proper last year. I think I
Speaker:heard him say something along the lines
Speaker:of if I was so concerned about
Speaker:immediate results, I would have. Argued
Speaker:more to keep Harry Kane, but we are
Speaker:building something over the long term and
Speaker:I'm going to stick to what I know works.
Speaker:So he's investing in youth. He's putting
Speaker:more time and energy into the Academy. So
Speaker:those good players are coming through and
Speaker:they already know how to play his system
Speaker:and he's as he always does, he's looking
Speaker:for good players who play within his
Speaker:system and will excel in his system.
Speaker:I've got no doubt when he is generally
Speaker:transfer window that some of those
Speaker:players there. To be inconsistent. They
Speaker:might be fond of themselves somewhere
Speaker:else and they'd be bringing in new
Speaker:players who can. They might not be huge
Speaker:names, but they'll be players that can
Speaker:play his system. And I just
Speaker:love his relentless pursuit of
Speaker:excellence. You see him on the sideline,
Speaker:his voice is gone because despite the
Speaker:fact there might be 80,000 in the crowd,
Speaker:there he is screaming at them, keep
Speaker:playing, keep going forward. He doesn't
Speaker:play the scoreboard, he doesn't play the
Speaker:clock. He plays the system. So
Speaker:when last year when the team had a couple
Speaker:of send offs and people are going, oh, he
Speaker:should have defended, he is, no, we are
Speaker:going to play to win. I'm not about
Speaker:trying to shut up shop and hold on to a
Speaker:lead, I'm about trying to win.
Speaker:And he continues to do that and.
Speaker:If they are persistent with him and they
Speaker:do stay the course, the people running
Speaker:the show at Tottenham, they will have
Speaker:success because he'll continue to build
Speaker:on it. He'll continue to have players
Speaker:that will come in and play his system and
Speaker:if they don't, he'll find someone else.
Speaker:The other thing that he has in spades, he
Speaker:has emotional intelligence and he has
Speaker:connection to his plays. He only had to
Speaker:look at the skipper, Sonny.
Speaker:Talking after the game, he was really
Speaker:emotional. When he was he was well, he
Speaker:was being harsh and himself blaming
Speaker:himself. Because he'd missed a goal, but
Speaker:he just wants to play for the manager
Speaker:because the manager protects them. He
Speaker:says that's on me. And
Speaker:I don't care whether you're playing
Speaker:football or you're in a workplace, when
Speaker:you know the boss has your back, you will
Speaker:do anything for them. When you know they
Speaker:will defend you, when they'll be
Speaker:that barrier between the outside noise
Speaker:that people are having to crack at you
Speaker:and they would you and the boss defends
Speaker:you. You you will go to great lengths
Speaker:to make sure that your boss succeeds.
Speaker:So he has that ability to connect with
Speaker:the players. He's not the, he's not
Speaker:necessarily the, you know, go and talk to
Speaker:the players one on one as regularly. He
Speaker:very much arm's length. But when he talks
Speaker:to them, he's.
Speaker:He's not just abusing them
Speaker:or screaming of the sake of screaming.
Speaker:It's detached from the emotion because
Speaker:it's like, no, no, here's the system.
Speaker:This is how we play the system. And he's
Speaker:encouraging and he's warm, but he's
Speaker:direct. I love it. I love
Speaker:it. He's everything that I want to be as
Speaker:a as a sports coach
Speaker:and in terms of just
Speaker:day-to-day life. You think of how much
Speaker:you can take from that and apply to your
Speaker:life have. Process that you can stick to
Speaker:because any sports cycle tell you is when
Speaker:you get outcome focused your
Speaker:performance will dip but when you get
Speaker:process focused you will have better
Speaker:results. Takes the pressure off.
Speaker:He has an unwavering belief in
Speaker:himself and how he operates.
Speaker:He's not deterred by other people's
Speaker:opinions. Relentless pursuit of
Speaker:excellence. Could you imagine if that's
Speaker:how you live your life every single day?
Speaker:So that is such powerful
Speaker:way of being to aspire to.
Speaker:And again, I just love he doesn't take
Speaker:crap from the media, the fans.
Speaker:Well, to be fair with the fans, he
Speaker:he's he's not taking crap from them. But
Speaker:he said. The, the fans have every right
Speaker:to have a crack at him because we're not
Speaker:doing well enough. But I did like how he
Speaker:called them out last year. Final game of
Speaker:the year. They have a chance to, to
Speaker:win, get a little bit further up the
Speaker:ladder, might have a great deal of impact
Speaker:on, on anything on whether they play
Speaker:Europe or whatever else the following
Speaker:year. But he just wants to build that
Speaker:culture of winning. And he called out the
Speaker:fans, the Spurs fans who were cheering.
Speaker:For Man City to beat them so that
Speaker:their neighbours, their arch rivals
Speaker:Arsenal, don't win the
Speaker:league and he's like that's
Speaker:that's typical of the losing mentality
Speaker:that we've had at the club. We should be
Speaker:cheering our team on to win and we're
Speaker:not worried about what other mob are
Speaker:doing because we want to win. We don't
Speaker:want to stop other people from being
Speaker:successful. We want to be successful and
Speaker:that means an internal focus. A really
Speaker:clear process and a stick to it.
Speaker:So the lesson for you today is how can
Speaker:you be more like that?What do you
Speaker:need to change to be able to be more like
Speaker:that? Because that is how you
Speaker:build success and not just success,
Speaker:but sustains sustained success.
Speaker:Success you can take into any other
Speaker:organisation, into any other situation
Speaker:and you can rinse and repeat. You know
Speaker:your process, you have an unwavering
Speaker:belief in your process, in your system
Speaker:and how you operate. Relentless
Speaker:pursuit of excellence, not
Speaker:to be knocked off course
Speaker:by other people's crap.
Speaker:Powerful. Have an awesome weekend.
Speaker:Assuming you're listening to this on the
Speaker:day it's released, have a great day,
Speaker:whatever day of the week it is for you
Speaker:and I'll see you on the next one. Oh,
Speaker:before I go.
Speaker:In the coming weeks, I'm going to be
Speaker:doing roundtable discussions on
Speaker:different areas of sport through a bit of
Speaker:a different lens, not just about.
Speaker:The technical aspects of sport, but the
Speaker:social aspects, the the
Speaker:community, how we're connecting, how
Speaker:we're looking to improve and as always,
Speaker:how we can apply that to everyday life.
Speaker:I've got an awesome crew together
Speaker:to record my first round table discussion
Speaker:on the state of the game. That is cricket
Speaker:in Australia. Some
Speaker:2 high level coaches. A
Speaker:cricketer that has played at the top
Speaker:level for Australia but
Speaker:also.
Speaker:He's a player, manager, he does a whole
Speaker:lot of different things within the world
Speaker:of cricket, but he's also played at
Speaker:grassroots level and a good mate of mine
Speaker:who is a grassroots expert has
Speaker:umpired all through those levels. So
Speaker:we're going to talk about what's going
Speaker:on. I'm looking forward to this one.
Speaker:It's an area I'm passionate about
Speaker:cricket, but sport, 18 years of
Speaker:Fox Sports where?Learnt
Speaker:so much about how the game works, the
Speaker:outside influences and.
Speaker:Then when I transitioning into coaching
Speaker:while I was still there, just how
Speaker:positive an impact it can have on our
Speaker:life. So I'm really excited to dive into
Speaker:more of these round tables, pick the
Speaker:brains of some of the experts and get
Speaker:some different perspectives that you can
Speaker:then also take with you and apply
Speaker:to whichever area of your life that you
Speaker:think will be beneficial. So stay tuned
Speaker:for information about that recording in
Speaker:just over a week and hopefully coming out
Speaker:around Boxing Day just in time for.
Speaker:Boxing Day test speak to you soon.
Speaker:You've taken the time to listen to this
Speaker:whole episode. Now it's time to take
Speaker:action. Commit to one thing you've
Speaker:learned today and make it happen. And to
Speaker:avoid any obstructions, join the Sporty's
Speaker:Life movement by clicking on the link in
Speaker:the show notes.
