Coaching Culture with Ben Herring

• Wal Herring: Feed Your Potential: Concussion, Womans high performance and Personalized Nutrition

  If you want to book Wal for your team you can reach her here: [email protected] check out her womans wellness programs here: Walherring.comWhat if everything you see on your body was made from what you ate at some point? This profound insight from sports nutritionist Wal Herring serves as the foundation for a revolutionary approach to nutrition and wellness. Drawing from her extensive experience with elite teams like Leicester Tigers and the English Rugby League, Wal shares how nutrition isn't just about physical performance but affects our mental clarity and emotional stability too.The conversation takes a deeply personal turn when discussing concussion recovery, as Wal explains how she helped her husband Ben overcome debilitating symptoms through targeted nutritional interventions. Rather than simply resting, she reveals how certain foods either feed inflammation ("adding oxygen to the flame") or help reduce it, offering hope to athletes dealing with brain injuries. Her practical advice on avoiding alcohol, processed foods, and sugar while increasing omega-3s and creatine provides actionable strategies for healing.Female athletes receive special attention as Wal explains how women's hormonal cycles significantly impact performance, recovery, and injury risk. For coaches working with women, understanding these physiological differences proves crucial for preventing ACL injuries and optimizing training schedules. The outdated approach of training women "like little men" fails to account for these important biological variations that affect everything from strength gains to emotional processing.Throughout the episode, Wal emphasizes individualization over rigid protocols. She challenges common practices like calorie counting, suggesting we focus instead on energy levels and overall wellbeing as better indicators of nutritional success. This perspective shifts nutrition from a numbers game to a personalized journey of discovering what works for your unique body.Ready to take control of what you can actually change in your health journey? Listen now to discover how small nutritional adjustments might unlock your full potential, whether you're a competitive athlete or simply seeking to improve your everyday wellbeing.Send us a text Support the show

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• Mike Friday: Rugby Is What You Do, Not Who You Are

  What does it really mean to build a winning culture in sports? Few coaches can answer this question with the depth and global perspective of Mike Friday, international rugby sevens coach whose 25-year journey has taken him from England to Kenya to a decade with USA Rugby."Culture is a group of individuals that have alignment in the way they go about their business," Friday explains with refreshing simplicity. But beneath this straightforward definition lies a profound coaching philosophy centered on human connection. Friday draws a crucial distinction between kindness and niceness – you can deliver hard truths without sugar-coating, provided there's genuine care behind your words.Friday's transformation of underdog teams reveals his talent for adaptation. When he took over Kenya's program, he arrived to find "a bag of balls and cones and 20 Kenyans that were late to training" in long grass. With USA Rugby, he inherited a team given just a 10% chance of Olympic qualification. In both cases, Friday's approach wasn't to impose his system but to understand the cultural contexts and individual needs of his players. "You mold yourself around the team, you don't mold the team around you," he shares, challenging conventional coaching wisdom.Perhaps most powerful is Friday's perspective on success beyond trophies. "Rugby is what you do, not who you are," he emphasizes, a mantra that kept both him and his players grounded through victories and defeats. This philosophy proved especially valuable when coaching players from diverse backgrounds – from Kenyan athletes who had never experienced unconditional support to American players from wildly different cultural contexts.Whether you're a coach, leader, or simply someone interested in human potential, Friday's insights offer a masterclass in communication, resilience, and perspective that transcends sport. His parting reflection captures it perfectly: "I'm proud of what we did, but I'm more proud of what the players became."Send us a text Support the show

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• REFLECTIONS: The Power of Team Cohesion

  The quest for high performance in team sports often leads coaches down the wrong path. What if the secret to winning isn't about collecting the most talented individuals, but something far more fundamental?Ben Darwin's groundbreaking research through Gainline Analytics has produced a data goldmine that challenges conventional wisdom about building successful teams. As I unpack five crucial insights from his work, you'll discover why cohesion—not star power—consistently predicts championship-level performance.The numbers don't lie: teams with extensive shared experience outperform those assembled with supposedly superior individual talent. This phenomenon explains why certain combinations (like the 12-13 partnership in rugby) prove so critical to team success. When players develop that intuitive understanding that comes only through time together, they create synergies that raw talent simply cannot replicate.Darwin's research reveals other counterintuitive truths: how system simplicity trumps tactical complexity, why roster turnover consistently undermines performance (especially when changing 30% or more annually), and how selection criteria should prioritize shared playing histories over individual brilliance. Perhaps most sobering is the data showing meaningful team turnarounds typically require three-plus years—no matter how talented the coach or incoming players.Whether you're a coach, team leader, or passionate sports fan, these insights will transform how you view team building. They offer a evidence-based blueprint for creating lasting success rather than chasing quick fixes. Subscribe now to explore more game-changing perspectives on leadership, culture building, and performance optimization.Send us a text Support the show

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• Chris Boyd: Leadership Trumps Management

  What if everything you thought about building team culture was wrong? Chris Boyd, the celebrated coach who transformed teams from the Hurricanes to Northampton Saints, challenges conventional wisdom by arguing that "culture grows organically and internally" rather than being imposed from above.Drawing from decades of experience across multiple continents, Boyd reveals the leadership principles that have made him one of rugby's most respected coaches. His refreshing approach emphasizes giving players the confidence to express themselves while creating environments where skills flourish under pressure. "The biggest difference I felt I made at Northampton was ultimately giving them confidence – the confidence to have a go," Boyd explains, highlighting how this philosophy transformed a traditionally conservative team.Boyd's methods are both innovative and practical. He revolutionized information flow by replacing formal meetings with meaningful conversations, implemented a distinction between "training for task" versus "training for time," and prioritized skill development when players were fresh rather than as afterthoughts. His commitment to looking forward rather than backward distinguishes true leadership from mere management. "Too much of the stuff that coaches do is management, not leadership," he observes, advocating for "less structure, more intuition, more technical, less tactical."Perhaps most valuable is Boyd's guidance on making difficult decisions. Whether telling veteran players their time is up or identifying the "critical few" factors that will drive success for a particular team, he emphasizes the importance of honesty, clarity, and emotional intelligence. His mantra "do whatever makes the boat go faster" serves as both compass and challenge for coaches seeking sustainable success.Ready to transform your approach to leadership and team building? This episode offers invaluable insights for coaches, managers and leaders across any field looking to build cultures where excellence thrives naturally.Send us a text Support the show

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• REFLECTIONS Interpersonal Sensitivity (The Secret Weapon of Elite Coaches)

  The difference between good coaches and great ones isn't found in tactical knowledge or technical expertise—it's their ability to read people. This fascinating exploration of interpersonal sensitivity reveals why the world's elite coaches prioritize human connection before anything else.High-performance manager Chris Webb, who has worked with multiple World Cup rugby teams, shares his powerful observation: "The real difference comes down to interpersonal sensitivity—your ability to read a moment, read a room, read a person." This skill—noticing what matters even when it's not said aloud—creates the foundation for exceptional coaching relationships and team performance.At the heart of interpersonal sensitivity lie two critical components: emotional intelligence (EQ) and adaptability quotient (AQ). Your EQ functions as an emotional radar, helping you detect when a player is struggling before they verbalize it. It's about listening before speaking, reading the room accurately, and knowing exactly when to push versus when to pull back. Meanwhile, your AQ determines how effectively you and your team handle pressure, bounce back from setbacks, and adapt to changing circumstances—essentially transforming challenges into teaching moments rather than defeats.The most successful coaches implement practical strategies to develop both qualities. They begin sessions with genuine personal check-ins, create psychologically safe environments where players feel comfortable speaking up, expose their teams to varied pressures in training, and deliberately celebrate resilience as much as outcomes. These approaches create teams that not only perform better but also demonstrate remarkable emotional maturity and adaptability under pressure.Remember—what your players carry in their heads and hearts, they carry onto the field. If you want to coach them well during competition, you must start by caring about their lives beyond it. That's not being soft; it's being switched on to the human factors that ultimately determine performance.Send us a text Support the show

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