Well, it happened again last week for the first time in a while, but I know for sure it won’t be the last time…

I believe for this incident to happen, people need to feel comfortable in asking this question or making a similar type statement. From my perspective it is no big deal, but from the number of times this question or similar statement has been raised, it is to some degree a significant concern for others.

What I am alluding to here is the question along the lines of…”Why when you have coached Olympians and World champions, would you want to work with someone like me/us?”

To answer this, we need to go back about 16-17 years.

This takes us back into the time leading into the Sydney 2000 Olympics. My family and I had returned to Newcastle in 1997 for family reasons (contrary to the 1001 rumours that were flying around at that time). I knew that I had asked a lot of my wife Joanne and our three wonderful children so that I may pursue my coaching career. We had moved from Newcastle to Tamworth, back to Newcastle, then on to Canberra and finally to Melbourne, before returning to Newcastle.

Never in that time had my wife ever mentioned the need for me to do anything else other than coach to the best of my ability, and do what ever it took for that to happen. The sacrifices Joanne and our children made to allow me that opportunity were both huge and consistent, and is something that I am eternally grateful for.

One day in the lead up to the Sydney Olympics, I was talking to Jo about a situation I was dealing with for one of the athletes I coached. Jo for the first time ever, looked at me and said something along the lines of “…Bill, that is great, but perhaps it is time to start doing some of these things for your own children”.

Well it didn’t have to be said twice. And although it sat me back, it was a very fair and unfortunately a very relevant statement.

It got me thinking!

No coaching, what comes next?

Context is important here, and I am not saying the decision I was looking at was any more difficult than anyone else’s. However the reality for me was at that time, I had known nothing else other than coaching for nearly 20 years. Long days, weeks at a time away from the family, looking at one Olympics to the next. It wasn’t a job, rightly or wrongly it was a lifestyle!

So to say “No more!” wasn’t just the question of whether to give it up, it was all about a level of understanding that would not only allow me to make that decision, but make it in the right way and for all the right reasons.

The first type of understanding needed was for me to ascertain why I did what I did. It wasn’t just about the sport of swimming and it wasn’t just about helping athletes swim fast. There was more to it than that, and I needed to discover and comprehend what that was.

Long story shortened!

My realisation and understanding was simply this:

That swimming was just the vehicle I had used to deliver what I was needing. My want, my need, my desire and motivation was that I just enjoyed working with people to help them get the very best out of themselves.

Once I had come to that conclusion and a high level of understanding around it, I was then able to look forward and say if I continue to work with people, to help them get better, I can do that using all sorts of different vehicles.

Business, education, life, and sport.

Opportunities abound!

Although, for any of that to have any chance of being successful, it had to be based on my true understanding of what I needed from the experience. How I got it was kind of irrelevant. ‘Why I want it’ and ‘what do I want’ were the critical issues, and I luckily enough I had created a level understanding towards both of those parameters.

Hence post Sydney 2000, Total Performance Concepts was born and from that day on I have continued to work with individuals, teams and businesses to help them get the very best out of themselves.

So that is why when some one asks me the old “Why when you have coached Olympians and World champions would you want to work with someone like me/us?” I can look them in the eye and give them the honest answer, and that is if anyone wants my help and they are going to be an active participant in the journey than I am with them 100%.

It doesn’t matter to me who they are or what they are going after (legalities and values duly considered up front) if they are prepared to work as hard if not harder than me to help themselves, then I know it is going to be worthwhile experience.

The transition from Olympic Swimming Coach to what I do now has been a very rewarding one, but the change could only have ever taken place to the degree that it has because I took the time to understand me, what I had done and why. Once I got that all understood, then it was time to move on and in doing so I was going to make sure…

The Journey Continues!