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Kevin Cadle: 'Don't become a member of the woulda, coulda, shoulda gang'

Kevin Cadle

UK Sport 16 November 2011

A busy second day at the World Class Performance Conference at ExCeL London concluded with an upbeat keynote speech from charismatic former basketball coach Kevin Cadle.
 
American Cadle drew on his many years of experience in coaching, which included taking the British team to the qualification tournament for the 1992 Barcelona Games, as well as being head coach at Falkirk and the London Towers, to bring to life some hilarious and insightful anecdotes. He reminded delegates of the importance of enjoying what they do, but also urged them to seize the moment: “What are you willing to do to be successful? Don’t become a member of the biggest gang in the world – the woulda, coulda, shoulda, oughta gang. Get out there, get it done and make it happen. Remember – attitude, goals, persistence.”

In terms of silverware, Cadle is the most successful basketball coach in the history of British basketball, having won 304 games and 28 major trophies throughout his career. Since retiring, he has built a successful career as a presenter and is the longest serving presenter of American Sports on Sky Sports.
 
Earlier in the night, UK Sport Head of Coaching, Graham Taylor, introduced a video by the 2011-13 Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme (ECAP) coaches, which they had been asked to create to demonstrate how they have gained from their time on the course. The group will be the first to graduate from the programme at the end of the year, following the two year initiative which aims to accelerate the development of coaches already within the High Performance System.
 
One of the coaches, Jonas Tawiah Dodoo from UK Athletics, explained: “It is a video montage, a 45 second clip for each of the coaches on the ECAP programme, to show the main things we feel we have gained over the last two years.
 
“We’re all different people, of different ages and different backgrounds, and throughout the two years, we’ve been exposed to a variety of professionals and we’ve each taken our own nuggets of information from it. The programme has helped us change as coaches and hopefully the video showed the variety of areas we’ve developed in.”
 
A full programme of workshops throughout the day saw a wide range of speakers give some fascinating presentations. Welsh psychologist Philippa Davies taught the group how to ‘Do it like Disney’, combining amusing anecdotes from her time spent working with politicians, with direct advice on how to present to a group. Bill Endicott, who has spent 37 years working with the sport of canoeing and kayaking, drew on his experience of Games time to talk through ‘Special concerns in Olympic and Paralympic year’, reminding coaches they must be the “keepers of the Games fantasy”.
 
In one of the busiest sessions of the day, Dr Steve Peters encouraged the group to look inside the mind, giving delegates detailed insights into the working of the brain and how this can impact on your performance. Hazel Irvine hosted panel discussion ‘Through the eyes of the support team’ with Karen Hunter, Mark Bawden, John Anderson, Craig Hunter and the RYA’s Stephen Parks, who said: “The working relationships made at the Games, you will keep for life.”
 
Over 300 delegates, including coaches, performance directors and other members of world class support teams from summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports, are in attendance for the UK Sport convened Conference, which will be brought to a close today (16 November) by Lord Sebastian Coe.

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