To develop a successful team you had to earn respect, set standards, make demands and treat the team with respect, Mr. Brian Cody, Manager, Kilkenny Senior Hurling Team told the Conference.
This session on ‘Working Together for Success’ was chaired by Mr Denis Doherty.
“You bring in people for their expertise and let them get on with job once you have discussed what is involved and what you expect from them, said Mr Cody.
“But you have to work yourself, earn respect, set standards, make demands of the team and of yourself and make it clear that everyone will be treated with respect. It is really a matter of getting the fundamentals right and building the spirit based on respect, high standards and preparation.
“If you are sloppy, you will get sloppiness back. If you set high standards you will find people will buy in.
“Your training pitch has to be a centre of excellence. Unless you prepare properly you are lost. I would be on the pitch an hour before the start of training to be prepared.”
Don’t make losing acceptable or try to rationalise it.
Mr. Cody said it was also important to know what was going on in the lives of the players. “They may have exams. You need to be aware of where they are. You don’t own them and you should be sympathetic to people’s needs providing they are reciprocating.”
If teams didn’t achieve what they wanted to achieve it was because they weren’t good enough to win. “Teams lose because they aren’t good enough to win. Don’t make losing acceptable or try to rationalise it,” he advised.
