It wasn’t a holiday!
A few weeks ago I returned from one of the most impactful experiences imaginable. And it just so happened to be in the Cayman Islands!
@op.tic_entertaiment
When the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t help thinking “what’s the catch?” Two weeks on, I’m still waiting for the catch.
Back in July, mid chaos of the 2024 athletics season, I came home feeling sorry for myself and craving a cocktail on a beach. I think the actual words to my husband were “I just wanna sit on the beach and drink a cocktail”. I had to make do with a gin and tonic on the sofa that night.
Fast forward to October, I’ve been selected to attend the first PHA X ALTIS COACHing GREAT COACHes event and I’m sat on the plane to Grand Cayman. What’s the catch?
Arriving at Palm Heights gave me a clue as to what kind of week we were in for. The boutique hotel on the west coast of the island blew me away. Words don’t do it justice, I’ll let the gallery of pictures do the talking.
We had a day to settle in, then we kicked off with drinks in one of the beautiful rooms at PH. The first time all the women on the course were together; a mix of coaches from different countries, backgrounds and experiences who had all taken a chance on a crazy opportunity in pursuit of the betterment of our ourselves and our craft.
@op.tic_entertainment
Day one kicked off with Sophia (Nimphius) and Stu’s (McMillan) session where we explored FOG; fact, opinions and guesses. What we know versus what we think we know, and the coach/athlete/scientist triad. JB (John Berardi) introduced us to his Change Maker book and a process to better understand and live our purpose day to day. Values change over time, be confident to re-evaluate them if you are not living them daily.
“Engineer the greatest probability of success” - JB
On Day 2, Stu asked “is there such thing as a bad question?” I have always said, YES there is. I ask a lot of questions and this session really helped me think about how and why I am asking questions. We then moved onto talking about systems theory. Mind blown. Tapped out. What is the point in even trying to coach anyone?
Good job we had a boat trip that afternoon, as my brain was already fried from just the first few days. We took a boat out to swim with stingrays. I say swim, I was in the water in close proximity to the stingrays. After a few hours of stingray and snorkling, we made our way back to dry land while the sun was setting. A moment of reflection got me thinking about how I spend my time and how life is about the experiences you have.
Third day, brain starting to revive itself and we got stuck into a “movement is a behaviour” session. With my brain now on over-drive, I am starting to look at everything I do in my day to day coaching slightly differently. Observing the training session today allowed me to reinforce some of the ideas and concepts I use as a coach and also challenge some others. In the afternoon JB talks us through what business is; I mean, he would know! I came out of that session with two resounding thoughts. Firstly, how might I deliver the feeling of personal to a whole training group; secondly, I do not market myself very well.
@op.tic_entertainment
Final day, we revisit systems theory. Great. A few days breathing space on this has given me time to get my head around it I am now able to understand how this sits in my world. We also touch on force and athlete categorisation.
“Many of our greatest strengths is also our greatest weakness” - Stu
In the afternoon we are sent off to reflect on how we are thinking differently about some specific challenges we had voiced prior to the event. I sat on the beach (I was NOT on holiday) with my notebook and looked at each of the challenges I had come along with. As I reflected and made notes, I found that I now had a completely different view on each of them. And then everything made sense. What started as seemingly complete chaos, ended with (almost) complete clarity.
That evening we enjoyed Mambo Italiano at PH’s very own Paradise Pizza. We ate, drank, danced and sang our little socks off. It was the perfect end to a crazy week.
With a day and a half till my flight home, I was able to relax and enjoy a few days off. We made the most of the stunning hotel; relaxing on the beach, working out in the gym, unwinding in the spa. And yes, I did finally get my cocktail on the beach.
Since returning home I have a renewed enthusiasm, motivation and sense of purpose. A break from my normal day to day life in a thought-provoking environment created meaningful reflection time. This was the game changer; reflection was fruitful and provided some clarity around some challenges I was facing and the things I had learnt during the week.
My main take-aways from COACHing GREAT COACHes were the importance of living your purpose day to day; OPT IN to your work - remember you choose what you do; systems are complex; hip extension and thoracic rotation ALWAYS; experience more sunsets on boats.
An experience that is hard to put into words, it had to be lived to be believed.
My heart felt thanks to ALTIS, Palm Heights Athletics, Sophia, Stu, JB and my fellow coaches - it was a pleasure.