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Home / Sport

The Stoked Podcast Ep. 49: Stoked on player coach meltdowns - are we in the midst of a generational divide?

By Mitch Powell & Louis Herman-Watt
NZ Herald·
1 Mar, 2019 01:22 AM7 mins to read

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Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking on the recent review into former coach Mark Hager

We're back, and on the verge of a maiden half-century, so we treated this podcast with the respect it deserved.

A healthy mix of quintessential Stoked sporting content, as well as a look into some of the heavier issues marring the sporting landscape right now - strap in.

Warning: May contain some coarse language and adult themes, recommended to ages 18+

Listen to "Stoked Podcast Ep 49 - Stoked On Player Coach Meltdowns - Are We In The Midst Of A Generational Divide" on Spreaker.

If you were into Louis' monologue, or the headline (21:35), read more about it below.

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It makes sense in a lot of instances, less so in others, but in February 2019 I think it couldn't be more apt.

In my life at least, the disconnect between generations and personalities seems to be growing more and more glaringly obvious, at a substantial rate too.

Property, climate, diversity, even culture in general, it seems we are relating to one another less and less day by day.

I'm not trying to pretend there haven't been points of conjecture and differing opinion since the dawn of time but with more technology and the opportunity to understand than ever, it feels like we couldn't be further apart.

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So sport, it might be naive to follow the line of thinking that no matter what animosity was going on in society sport always had and has the power to bring people together, to heal wounds and to relieve the heavy pressures of everyday life.

But it has felt like that, to me at least, for as long as I can remember.

Until very recently I started thinking deeply (rare) about a flurry of unhappy athletes at the top level airing their displeasure in a variety of situations, as publicly as they could.

High profile examples aren't hard to come by. Anthony Davis, a generational basketball talent who has dominated the NBA since his arrival in 2012, this year decided he no longer wanted to be in New Orleans, he no longer wanted to try to build his own success with the Pelicans, instead, he wanted out.

In years gone by the conventional way of 'out' was seeing the end of your current contract and signing elsewhere in free agency, but in the age of the Bill Simmons coined "pre-agency" and the "player empowerment era" it's no longer something you need to worry about.

The players hold the power and if you struggle to see eye to eye with a coach or the organisation and happen to have the desire to leave, you can. Because why not?

The sort of Anthony Davis type of tension with another party isn't rare, not in basketball and not in any professional sport.

This week we watched in pure shock as the world's most expensive goalkeeper and Chelsea's number one, Kepa Arrizabalaga, defied belief ... as well as his coach.

Specifically, his orders, deciding he wouldn't be partaking in his own substitution, this was in the League Cup final.

The scenes were shocking and Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri was furious. Clearly, there's a breakdown of understanding, clearly there's a breakdown of a relationship which one can only assume was once there.

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Back home in Aotearoa, it's difficult to pretend things are much better.

Only this week we have received the brief findings of an independent review into the Women's Black Sticks and it's clear to see to some degree there's been a deep misunderstanding between the thoughts and attitude of former coach Mark Hager and a decent chunk of the playing group, the younger playing group too I might add.

Again, it doesn't seem to be rare.

Cycling New Zealand, New Zealand Football, the White Ferns. The list goes on, organisations and codes which have struggled in recent times trying to find harmony within their workplace.

So what's different? What has changed in sport and life, in general, to make us feel and appear more fractured than ever? When did understanding and relating to your colleague or coach become so difficult?

Maybe it's nothing exact, but I think one answer is the generational divide being more prevalent than ever.

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It's not rocket science, but a 20-year-old professional athlete doesn't think the same and feel the same as their 30-year-old teammate let alone their 60-year-old coach.

This might not be a startling revelation and maybe it's an obvious observation to make, I'm sure I'm not the first person to come up with it.

What I do propose though is the line of thinking, the emotional intelligence, the personality type of young people, generation Z if you want to use that terminology ... it's so completely different to anything we've seen before.

Why how entitled and important of you, maybe you're thinking. What makes this generation better and different from the rest? Why do you young people always think you're more important and special than anyone gone by? I can hear the outcry in my head right now.

Let's pump the breaks. I am not trying to proclaim Gen Z or younger people are the smartest and greatest group of people to ever live. I mean we will have to save the planet from all of the abuse it's suffered in years gone by but that's beside the point.

What I am saying is, those entering the workplace now, who are starting to become part of an adult functioning society, have been raised in the most astonishing times.

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Technology at our fingertips, politicians using social media to spread their message, the blatant understanding that homophobia, racism, global warming are a foray of things aren't acceptable and won't be tolerated.

Times are different, times are extraordinary and you can not expect the product of this environment to be the same as generations gone by.

It's like we have wooden blocks some square, some circular and we're banging them into triangular holes expecting them to fit and then panicking when we give ourselves splinters.

You follow? We're watching these coaches, mentors, administrators, CEOs, Middle management in any workplace, try and relate, coach, befriend, encourage, control and direct a group of people who have been taught and grown up to think and feel so different to that first group.

To be clear, I don't think there is blame to be put on any party or anyone in this theory.

I think there is however the question to be asked, why are we only starting to think about this fractured relationship between generations now?

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Should there not have been some troubleshooting done five years ago to ease this transitional period as we try to all get on the same page?

Look at sports franchises that have thought in advance and hired a younger and more relatable leader or director. Scott Robertson in his early 40s and a very "cool" guy, the Crusaders seem to play for him.

Sean Mcvay, the youngest head coach to ever make a Super Bowl appearance with his Rams side, in his early 30s.

Even Jacinda Ardern managed to relate to a younger crowd by marketing herself as someone who understood the everyday issues being faced.

There are ways to build this bridge and ways to break the barriers. It may take some unorthodox thinking and definitely will take a lot of patience.

But if we continue to see organisations in both sport and life, pretend like this isn't an issue. Just watch the flames grow higher and higher.

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In case you didn't know we're actually coming at you with episode 49 of the series, (we know you knew, you're an intelligent Stoked listener). If this one tickles your fancy you can catch the backlog on Apple podcasts here, and iHeartRadio here.

STAY STOKED!

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