SPORT
Journey
to the
Alcock
Cup
It has been said many times, “you can’t
expect a different result if you continue to do
things the same way,” and with this in mind,
we bravely chose to do things differently
in 2013. To complement the elite Strength
and Conditioning sessions that were being
established by Mr Jeffrey Giles, Director of
Athletic Development, the School engaged
the services of Darren Harris from ‘Leading
Teams’, a culture and leadership consultancy
organisation, to help establish a culture that
would underpin our desires for future success
on the sporting field. We needed to establish
a trademark set of behaviours that would lay
the foundation for long term success.
pre-season camp would lay the foundation
for the team, but it was the commitment to
our program by one of our better players,
Jack Cripps (He 09-13), that would have a
more lasting effect. Despite playing WAFL
Colts football for East Fremantle FC in the
morning, Jack was back with the team by
1.00pm and was still grinding through the
physical work at 10.00pm. Jack would go
on to win the Bink Davies Best and Fairest
award and play for WA in the National U18
competition. Jack showed that committing
to the School’s program was the best way
forward for our elite players and his example
would serve us well going forward.
This process involved a number of Year
10-12 boys from all winter sports reviewing
how they were perceived externally, as well
as where they were at that present time,
and how we wanted to be perceived.
A trademark set of behaviours and values
was decided upon with the notion being
that if we could live these, we would be
well on the way to the success we craved.
The boys now had a clear understanding of
what was required. We needed to be ‘3G’
– United, Professional, Hard. Establishing
a trademark set of behaviours also provided
our coaches with a secure platform from
which to coach the respective teams;
everyone knew what was expected of them.
Despite all the pre-season work, we began
the 2013 season with a 149 point loss to
Hale and then followed it up with a 122
point loss to Scotch. It was clear that
some of the 1st XVIII boys were unable,
or unwilling, to behave the way the team
needed them to. The following week a
number of selection changes were made
and four Year 10 boys were brought into
the team. When we were six goals down
midway through the second quarter it looked
as though we were in real trouble, but the
boys responded magnificently. Despite going
down by three points, I knew we were on
the right track. We continued to bring in
Year 10 boys for experience and by the end
of the season we had recorded four wins and
would finish fifth on the ladder.
It is one thing to have some words written
on a wall that help guide our behaviour, but
it is another thing to really know what they
mean and what they look like on the field.
A physically demanding and mentally testing
38
For Geoff Valentine, the journey towards the
Alcock Cup began in November 2012 when he was
appointed Director of Football. In 2013, Geoff moved
out of the 6V classroom in the Preparatory School and
up to the Senior School to lead the School’s football
program. Typically, the Director of Football position had
been an administrative role as opposed to coaching,
but with encouragement from Headmaster Stephen
W