2-Minute Tips: 42# Performing Under Pressure

Jonny a fresh faced 16-year-old, stood awestruck watching Dave Alred during their first coaching session. Dave kicked a perfect spiral to a distant cone off his right foot, then without blinking did the same off his left - this time knocking the cone over. 

Jonny was mesmerised, “I will never forget the first few times he kicked in front of me. I couldn’t believe we were using the same ball.” Jonny Wilkinson became the rugby world cup star we featured last week and was coached by Dave his whole career.

Coaches don’t always get the credit they deserve, yet they often provide the missing pieces and guidance to take a performer to the highest level. Dave Alred in my opinion is one of the greatest coaches ever.

Dave learnt his craft initially as an inner-city schoolteacher whilst also playing elite rugby and kicking for 3 seasons in the NFL. For over 30 years he has coached across rugby, football and AFL teaching the various kicking techniques, but perhaps more importantly how to handle the pressure of taking a decisive kick in front of 80,000 hushed spectators.

If being the greatest kicking coach in the world wasn’t enough, Dave took two golfers from good to great. Luke Donald was outside the world’s top 50 before Dave’s help – he became world number one. Fran Molinari had a similar ascent to major champion and top scorer at the 2018 Ryder Cup within 2 years of working with Dave.

To have success at the pinnacle of two very different competitive sports is simply phenomenal. What can we learn from Dave?

Dave’s varied background in multiple sports, school teaching and through a PhD in pressure performance helped create a generalist mindset. He was able to apply unconventional concepts from different domains - a crucial aspect of creative thinking.

He worked with the individual, rather than teaching a system. Every performer has a different way of thinking and that means a different message. He also helped individuals to think correctly under pressure by evolving a bespoke conscious thought for use in pressure situations, allowing their automatic skills to shine through.

Dave worked with players in the ugly zone, an area on the margin of their competence. Here there was much angst and frustration, but incredible opportunities for growth. 

He achieved this by creating tough competitive practice drills, making every shot count and using unexpected variety. In the ugly zone, there were no limits to a performer’s improvement. You could always get better.

WISDOM 💎

“If you think you can and you do know how, then you can – be brave and defy convention.” 

(handwritten note he left me in his awesome book ‘The Pressure Principle’)

Dave Alred 

Tip 1 - A SMART PLAY ✅

Train for chaos. Dave saw that the Royal Marines, were always dislocating expectations in training. If you practice where everything is clean and cruisy, then as soon as you encounter an unexpected setback, you’re already in trouble.

Tip 2 - AVOID 🚩

Focusing on the negative. Dave once worked with a dolphin trainer for a month, leading him to realise that coaching is mostly about behavioural change. This is achieved best by focusing on what someone is doing well and why, whilst ignoring the negative. Many top-level coaches still get this wrong.

Tip 3 - ACTION 💪

Collect evidence so you have undisputable facts of how you’re progressing. You want self-belief to be grounded in actual knowledge – knowledge that you have achieved the outcome many times before in practice.

“Dave Alred is a genius. He changed my life.”

Jonny Wilkinson

P.S. Check out Dave Alred's one of my fave books which focuses on practicing to handle pressure - 'The Pressure Principle'