Why do I coach? Why do I love helping people with their polo?
I often get asked this question and in this video above I dive into exactly why. I'm very honest about it and part of my answer may not be what you expect!
Why Do I LOVE Helping People with Their Polo? Here's Why...
Transcription:
Well, good morning gang. Here. I am at Kings polo club than just outside Cairo and Egypt. And this is a work in progress and I'm very blessed to be a part of creating this amazing place in the middle of the desert.
You can see this wonderful green field behind me in the middle of an oh eight of miles and miles of sand. I'm upstairs here in the clubhouse.
So, let me just quickly show you what is around. So, behind me here are the doors of the clubhouse. It's locked at the moment. This is a work in progress, unfortunately, and it's a little bit of a construction site, but it's going to be amazing.
And the clubhouse here is going to be obviously where we come after polo, and drink a few suds and have all those lovely after polo discussions about, was that a foul or wasn't it, and look what you did to me over there. And man, you nearly crashed me over here. You know, all the usual old stuff, but you will know that in the desert, there's lots of wind. So, as I walk around the corner here, you will see the hidden away is the barbecue area.
So, really looking forward to spending a lot of time up here, off polo. Now behind me here is the new stick and ball area, and that is going to be also just a really nice place to sit here and have a look at people practicing down below us here. And as I've said, as I turn here, they are part of fields behind us with a great view.
So, we upstairs here, but just wanted to touch on the subject of why do I coach? Because I'm asked that question often, what, what made you stop playing and start coaching?
Well, to be honest, the, the stopping playing was because I had to stop playing. I'd had a bit of a crash and that, that kind of made it difficult to carry on competing at the level I was. But even as a young person, you know, I've always been somebody that I've been absolutely blessed to be given the ability to see little bits of a swing, or a horse moving, I don't see it in its entirety.
And what I'm always looking for is to find the inhibiting factor, change one thing at a time and progress that way, because I see a wrist that's wrong, or a wrist that's working too early, or a mallet head that starting in the wrong place, or a horse moving its feet in correctly in a turn, the head is in the wrong place, whatever.
And I I've been so blessed that I, I see all of that. You know, my mother always used to say to me, Gavin, you should be a teacher. And I said, over my dead body, they don't get paid. And here I have ended up a teacher, but teaching what I love.
So, very fortunate in that respect. But I think that with all my coaching, the thing that's at the back of my mind is to be honest with myself, because so many people you'll hear them saying, oh, you know what? I love doing something for other people. They're not being honest with themselves in that what they are saying is that it brings them joy to do something for other people, because remember you will never do anything in life. That's not for yourself.
And that, that's the first thing that I'm really honest about that all my coaching and I love helping the guys out there. I love seeing the difference I make, but that makes a difference to me. And to be honest, to get the feedback from guys that builds my ego and it really makes life living a happy place to be because I'm getting all this positive information from the people I'm coaching.
So, that's number one. One of the reasons that I coach, and yes, I do, I love making a difference and utilizing this wonderful gift I've been given.
And the biggest thing that in my coaching, what I'm trying to do all the time is to simplify because you can add in as much as you want, but the problem is you only make things more complicated and by simplifying, you really actually help people a lot more.
And I think if you kind of look at the professional golf circuit, for example, and you see the clinical minimal movement swing that most of the pros have, and then you go and look at an amateur swinging and he's all over the place. His body's moving. His club is all out of plane and there's so many moving parts. There's no way that he's ever going to be able to be clinical and repetitious in that swing.
So, you have to simplify and take away rather than add. And there's a lovely story of a guy standing, chipping away at a block of marble. And he's got this guy I'm watching him do it. And at the end, here's this amazing angel standing. And this guy's watching says to the sculptor. He says, how the hell did you do that? And the guy said, oh, it's easy. Really? You just take away everything that's not angel.
So, that, that's very much how I approach my coaching. I'm always going back to basics and taking away, and taking away, and taking away, and going back to an underhand takeaway that you can feel, for example, in your swing, feel that lovely swing arc and feel how to keep your arms straight before you start the overhand swing, because that's a simplifying of the swing taking that mallet back in the right place and getting it into the right place at the back of the swing is crucial to making the swing.
But if you're not going to pay to the basics and take away all that, that the mallet falling over you behind your back, or it starting outside the plane to the right to view on that offside forehand. And now you scooping the forehand, all of those things, that extra moving parts.
So, why do I coach I coach because number one, it keeps me fit and it keeps me riding and it keeps me vibrant. Even at this ripe old age of 67, the, all my kids call me the old codger now.
So, but it does, it keeps me fit. And for that, I'm really grateful. It keeps me in contact with the people playing polo, and I'm always watching the better players, listening to them and, and still learning and getting more about my coaching.
So, that's an absolute plus, but I really enjoy the difference that I make to teams, to players. And all of that gives me such a reason to get up in the morning and I love doing what I do. So, those are all the reasons that I do coach.
So, anyway, hope that answers that question and I'll see you around the corner.
