Room 6 of the Sports School, at the ‘Giulio Onesti’ Olympic Preparation Center of CONI in Rome, hosted the seminar entitled “Leadership models for managing athletes and collaborators”.
The event, organized by the Institute of Sports Medicine and Science of CONI and aimed at technical directors, technical and healthcare staff, was opened by greetings from Carlo MornatiSecretary General of CONI, Head of the Sports Office and Head of the Paris 2024 Mission: “We strongly wanted this meeting in the process of getting closer to Olympic Games. The relationship with high-level athletes presents different needs than those of ten, twenty or thirty years ago. Sport is schematic, the concepts are the same, but the way they arrive makes the difference”.
During the meeting, the theme of the SFERA Model and the various facets of leadership were discussed. First speaker to speak Giuseppe Vercellipsychologist, psychotherapist, consultant of the CONI Institute of Sports Medicine and Science and head of the Juventus FC Psychology Area: “To work on leadership we must first work on ourselves. Applying these principles on an individual athlete is very different than working with a team. Intelligent people prefer to be recognized rather than led. How do we make athletes and collaborators feel recognized? With the fundamental ability to give specific feedback. Feelings of fun, joy, passion, motivation and enthusiasm are important; the ability to train the desire to face the challenge that presents itself. As Mauro Berruto says, the champion is the one who knows how to do things well when they are difficult”.
“Turning on strengths is essential especially in self-centered players – has explained Alessandro Campagnatechnical commissioner of the men’s national water polo team –. It shouldn’t be pointed out to some that they are playing badly. Trust is brought in other ways. As a national team coach I try to have as much information as possible, but the work of my staff is crucial. The time in which things go well does not last long: you have to be careful of the unexpected that can generate a profound change, you cannot take anything for granted. I achieved the best performances of my career by overcoming fear and sudden problems: this is also how group cohesion is achieved. In an event like the Olympic Games in water polo you can lose the first two matches and win the gold medal: you shouldn’t be too negative in case of defeat nor too euphoric in case of victory. It takes balance. The leadership style changes: you need to have the courage to communicate well, to keep up to date. The player wants to win and must understand that you are in line with the evolution of the game. We need to empathize, enter into people’s hearts, know their weaknesses and uncertainties. Being like fathers, sometimes. After Covid, things changed further. Our job is to take the best of our athletes and lead them to the achievement of excellence. I bring you a sentence that I read at Wimbledon: if you are lucky enough to know disaster and triumph, treat them the same way because they are two impostors. The medals we won were not won with the strongest team, but with the team that performed 100% of its possibilities”.
Then Elisa PaglianoDoctor of psychology specialized in sport and performance psychology, consultant and trainer: “Since 2023 there has been a huge increase in interest and audience for elite women’s sports. The differences between women and men from an anatomical and metabolic point of view are reflected in sport, including the sphere of injuries and physical problems. Are there differences in communication? There are similarities, but also different factors. Women give greater importance to social cohesion, prefer the supportive style of leadership, deal more willingly with personal issues and are more inclined towards acceptance and self-disclosure”.
Closing Antonio SaccoGenoa CFC psychologist, consultant and trainer: “Coaching is an art. The sciences are at the service of the artist. A working group is born when there is a common and shared objective to be achieved, seeking the right balance between individual and group needs. There are the dream goal, the outcome goal, the performance goal and the process goal. How do you define a goal? An objective must be chosen under personal responsibility, it must be formulated in positive terms, it must be ecological and sensorially verifiable. Then a working group develops with the definition of a structure that defines the backbone of the team and allows it to function. The structure allows you to define roles, reward systems and rules. In team work you work in parallel or in sequence: the malfunction of one piece affects the entire process. In group work, however, coordination is horizontal. The functioning of a group becomes effective when the work mechanisms are defined, keeping in mind that one cannot fail to communicate”. (agc)
