It is very common for coaches to feel bad when their athletes suffer disappointments, so what’s the best way to deal and cope with this situation when it arises? Denise used to use techniques and rational thinking to help the Scotland National athletes, ‘park it’ so that they could quickly learn from poor performances and plan for the next one. Nowadays, Denise no longer uses strategies to help athletes to feel better; instead, she points them towards understanding their reality and how it is created, from the inside to out. It may seem a little odd to suggest that coaches do not need to intervene, that there is nothing wrong or to be done. By using a parenting example, Denise shares a recent shift which has helped her family enormously.

Rudi and Denise talk about a behavioural performance model; that dealing and working on poor behaviours, with consequences, and discipline procedures are missing the point, i.e. it is too late by then as all responses are an effect of a person’s state of mind in the moment and not the cause of the problem.

Whatever people think, it is going to look real and true to them; however, with a glimpse of how the mind works to create our separate realities, you can take a step back and see that thought is a construction, not an instruction. We gain a deeper respect for diversity; wisdom shows us we no longer need to be right.

How does an understanding of the inside out nature of life change the use of the Performance Analysis? Are sportspeople mistakenly comparing and over-thinking today about yesterday’s performances? Is this preventing a stronger download signal of fresh, innovation in the moment?

Traditionally, we identify talented athletes as those who demonstrate attributes, i.e. being self-determined, keen willingness to learn, capacity to overcome adversity, self-less, highly driven, ability to self-analyse, and be self-motivated etc. If you were to truly understand that experience is created from within and projected out as our separate realities and is not caused by the situation or circumstances, how different would this list be of desirable characteristics?  If athletes profoundly know that no-one or nothing is to blame for their feeling state, how many of these attributes are redundant? If athletes are not afraid of their experiences and merely allow their minds to clear naturally, qualities to 'get over' poor performances wouldn't be required. Is it possible that athletes who have learned to control and manage their thinking fall into mediocrity, and settle for something way short of what's possible given the infinite divine intelligence to produce incredible human performances? 

The subject of adaptation is widely researched and discussed, especially in the field of sport. Many people resonate with knowledge-based, application of tools and techniques which appears to result in change over time. Few, however, refer to the sustainable transformations, which happen naturally, when a person experiences an insight or deep realisation. Rudi Kennard and Denise Holland, look beyond information and experience to develop and master human performance, towards what is innately part of every human being, irrespective of knowledge gained cognitively.

It is difficult to conceive as humans the notion that, we (the person) are not in charge and that we connect to a higher power in us, which seems to have life unfold perfectly. As Sydney Banks referred to often, the IS-ness! Many questions arise, including, what's the point then, if we are merely the vessel and not the captain? There are times in our lives with little or no personal thinking that we are capable of extraordinary things. Rudi talks about his experience at Everest Base Camp, which points to two things:

1) Our connection to a divine intelligence which fuels our bodies and minds, and 

2) We are more likely to sink into that performance zone (flow) state when we are not distracted by the personal head noise.