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Over and out

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The time has come. Again. There is no need for an obituary, but I think my feelings require at least some sort of summary. Leaving after 12 years is a big step. And this from a job that I have invested a lot of myself in. That is what most of us working in sports do. Perhaps what causes this is that sport has been our passion from an early age, and when it then gradually becomes our job, we do not notice the difference. If there is one. Sometimes, mixing passion with work can be a dangerous cocktail. For me, it is, and, for as long as I can remember, has been, life. This is a way of living that has given me friends around the world and experiences that I could have never dreamt about.

As I prepare for an introductory presentation in my new role I glance through some old cuttings collected over the years. Swedish Golf Federation, English Golf Union, Swedish Sports Confederation. Things I am proud of, and episodes from which I hope I have learned.

The former British prime minister, Tony Blair, put in words what I think many people feel when summarising a long involvement. In his case he, among other things, defended why he joined the Americans in the war in Iraq and said:

I did what I thought was right.

Tony Blair when announcing the handover date of the chairmanship of the Labour Party in 2007.

Quotes have often been a companion in my working life. When I left Swedish golf, soon to be a million years ago, I used John Mellencamp’s lyrics saying ”you better stand clear”. Ralph Waldo Emerson helped me leave England Golf by explaining that what lies within us is bound to be greater than what is both behind and ahead. When I now embark on my next adventure, after the Swedish Sports Confederation, I think it is time for an often used, but perhaps not always lived by quote:

When one door closes another door opens.

Alexander Graham Bell, on that we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.

It now falls on me to open the door presented in the form of the role as Global Performance Director for Red Bull Performance Center. I am excited to find out what is there, and I am thrilled to see a new door opening in Swedish sports, now that I have closed mine. And even if I too did what I thought was right, I am convinced that after this long a time, a new pair of eyes will look at what I produced and think, hopefully, that some of it was pretty clever. Other things will be questioned, teared up and replaced by even better decisions. And that is exactly the way it should be!

Making way to the Ryder Cup

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Not the Swiss alps, but the Home of Golf

My brother suggested to me that Ludvig Åberg winning the Omega European Masters, two shots ahead of Alexander Björk, would be a good topic for a blog post. The event in the Swiss alps carries a strong Swedish tradition, with several wins by Swedish players. This past weekend a new generation took over.

The following day, Luke Donald announced his Ryder Cup team and, to few people’s surprise, decided to give one of his captain’s picks to the newly crowned European Masters champion. Having won in only his ninth event as a professional Åberg’s rise to the occasion is sensational. Or is it?

On the PGA tour Åberg made his debut in the Canadian Open in June. This opportunity opened up as he finished his final collegiate year as the number one on the PGA Tour University Ranking. Starting in 2023, this leading player earns full exempt for the incumbent and following season. That the top ranked college player is PGA tour material is nothing new. The automatic qualification is though. No doubt a wise move by the tour.

Looking at Åberg’s college career makes impressive reading. He wasn’t the best player in only his senior year, but the two last years, playing for Texas Tech University. In fact, his fourth and final year he won all the prices there are to win: the Ben Hogan Award, the Jack Nicklaus Award and the Fred Haskins Award. And yes, he was also an All American collegiate golfer, meaning his grade point average was above 3.2 (where 4.0 is maximum).

So, in summary – should we be surprised? No. Should we be impressed? Yes. Immensely. And the simple reality is that Ludvig Åberg follows a long established principle:

Most of the ones that reach world class are at the top of their class at an early age*. However, not all of the ones that are, reach all the way.

Starting in Rome in a couple of weeks, Ludvig Åberg’s future journey will no doubt continue to impress.

*This age is different from sport to sport and will depend on the structure of the sport. Whether it really has to be ”early” is debatable.

The golden opportunity

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Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the World Golf Conference, organised by The R&A at St Andrews. The R&A is the governing body of golf in the world outside the US and Mexico. My role was to be part of a panel that discussed high performance, in sport in general and in golf specifically.

Having been away from golf now for more than 10 years this conference was a bit like coming home again. At the same time it was evident how different many things are, both in terms of golf then and now, and in terms of how golf compare to other sports that I have seen more closely over the latter years.

One thing that struck me is how broad a conference on golf is. A World Conference in most sports would be about performance on the world stage. The golf conference is too, but there are so many other topics, from the golf course to equipment, that also need covering. Golf in this way controls its own destiny, much more than other sports, as all things relating playing the game are in control of the game itself. On the other hand, the issues around the performance side of the game are likely not to get the same attention, as they do in sports that have little influence over facilities or other infrastructural factors.

Awakening number two for me was how much golf related innovation that is happening right now, as a result of developments in technology. This includes everything from virtual reality golf gaming to Top Golf point scoring. Whether it is this fact, the pandemic, or something else that has had the greatest impact is hard to know but according to the R&A, more people (66 million) than ever before play golf around the world. And the last five years have seen a dramatic increase.

This is exactly where things get both interesting and difficult. The traditionalist in me admits that the numbers may look positive, but, many of those new golfers are not really playing golf. I mean, they are not members, they play a few holes at best, or they bang balls at a driving range. And do not even get started on trying to convince me that anything that can be done indoors have anything to do with the beautiful game that I love.

The alternative would say that perhaps the stale, pale and male me should open up, realise that following the times, and developing with the opportunities that innovation brings is exactly what a sport that is to be relevant in 50 years from now needs to do. And will benefit from doing.

I am just gradually getting used to it…

Breaking through

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Sedona Prince, soon the be ready for the WNBA draft.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

This quote allegedly originates from the 14th Dalai Lama. And everyone that has experienced the sound of a mosquito in the bedroom understands the meaning. Trying to find the origin of this quote, it seems however unclear when it was actually first used. Having just read some research about how sports has the potential to influence community building and social connection, I think now would have been a good time to say it, had the quote not already existed.

A couple of things lately have drawn my attention. Well, many people’s attention actually. It is probably wrong to resemble Gary Lineker with a mosquito, given his almost 9 million followers on Twitter. However, when he posted his take on the Home Secretary’s speech about how the Government’s new Immigration Bill aims to stop the boats with refugees coming across the Channel, he reached far outside those interested in football and the Match of the Day on BBC. In fact, he managed to get a lot of people interested in the charter of the BBC and it’s ”impartiality” requirement. Is that possible to balance with free speech and millions of people in a social media following?

After a few days of suspension Lineker was back on the air, perhaps thanks to the backing of many other high profile media people. So it would seem that using your voice to stand up for your values is allowed, even if you are a high profile TV presenter.

My second example of social media impact, to the extent of a mosquito in the bedroom, is Sedona Prince. As a high profile college senior on the University of Oregon basketball team she managed to go viral with a tiktok video showing the inequality of the men’s and women’s locker room gyms at the NCAA March Madness. As you might guess the video did not highlight how great the women’s gym was compared to the men’s. The interesting thing is that with 190 million likes to her account Sedona Prince by far bypasses her male equivalent in college basketball. On court he is a very sought after first draft for the NBA the following year. In social media however, it seems like the stories he has to tell have a smaller spread. And I think it is fair to believe that the NCAA from now on will equip the women’s gym in a slightly different way.

In summary, it would seem like when sports profiles choose to raise their voice on issues relating to how we all in society view people, and on questions of inequality, then things happen. And they break through to people far outside the sports bubble. And there is the chance for sport, and athletes, to really affect social connection and community building. The individuals have already gone there. What remains to be seen is if the large organisations of sport will follow.

Mamma Mia, what a party!

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Mamma Mia!

I was lucky enough to get invited to a Christmas party yesterday. To be honest, it was a Christmas lunch but as the afternoon went on and the festivities evolved I think the word ”party” more adequately sums up the general feeling. Hosting, was the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the UK, very professionally mastered by chairman Jan Olsson and CEO Peter Sandberg. Most of the work, however, done by the incredibly talented group of young men and women on scholarships with the Chamber. The reason I was there was that the project #elitesports2030 took part in the conference, #outerthinking, the day before. Having written about the conference, and the role of sports, already I am not going to go into that again. Instead I am focusing on the partying.

The role of the Chamber is to promote Swedish-UK relations in order to increase and help business. This could also be put in the reverse order. No matter how it is phrased, this is a long standing relationship. Sweden seems to have a good reputation, one linked to quality, nature and, overall what is perceived as sound values, in the UK. After a very nice lunch, filled with Swedish and British anecdotes, including a Swedish Lucia performance, the grand finale consists of a true Swedish success story. When the cast from Mamma Mia, the Party, enters the ballroom, they embody all the values that every politician and business person would like to be able to communicate, through being perceived as ”Swedish”. What Abba has done for the perception of Sweden abroad cannot be overestimated.

As I am travelling home the following day I am thinking that this is the role that sport has the opportunity to step into. Particularly as I remember the words of my next-door neighbour at the lunch, saying that the Sweden connection for our global companies is not all positive nowadays. The Sweden brand has been hurt by the changes of the political landscape, the increase in shootings and the overall perception of where the country is going. I think it is simply time for sport to step forward. After all,

When Sweden wins, we all win.

Sustaining sports

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Through breakfast with a friend, where we are discussing the ins and outs of children’s and youth’s sports, I end up in very familiar territory. It is where most of us think that the way ”things” are done in the current ”system” of sports just ain’t right.

Most countries have ended up in a situation where we have physicians and medical doctors talking about how injuries that used to occur in the professional game, through years of overuse, are frequently seen among 15-year olds. We see numerous athletes fighting issues with mental health and, even more frightening, we have large groups within the population that either have not ever come in contact with sport, or have lost interest in it completely, somewhere along the road.

The question, how on earth did we get to this, might be simple but I have a feeling the answers are a bit more complicated. Unfortunately, I think high performance sport has a role in it. Or perhaps this should read: sport with incentives that relate to performance?

My head goes spinning as I come across an article in the magazine Times, about the Overtime Elite league. Here athletes are paid six figure (in USD) salaries to play basketball. Even I know that there are opportunities to play and earn money in sports. What I didn’t know is that you can do that, in basketball, instead of going to college, at the age of 16 to 19. The league suggests that this is an alternative route to get to the NBA and that the youngsters are also given support to study besides their basketball. Something in me starts to doubt that the latter will be particularly emphasised. The cynical in me instead sees similarities with how the young (boys), often with a deprived background, have been lured into various things before, and this is just yet another example.

However, the more I dig myself down in my own thoughts I realise that many of the young, and slightly older, athletes that are to compete in China in the Olympic and Paralympic games shortly have a very similar situation. Thanks to their excellence in sport they have been put on a scholarship, from an organisation that coordinates a national campaign for Olympic and Paralympic medals. Worst case they have been encouraged to scrap their education as that takes time away from training. And believe me, they have worked hard and focused on developing as an athlete. Some of them will come back with a medal, but very few will do so having secured a financially reasonable standard for themselves for the foreseeable future. Even less so have they earned themselves any points towards a healthy pension when, one day, it is time to retire. And, judging by what those physicians are saying, that day could come earlier than planned as by now, many of them will have been focused on one sport only for quite some time.

So, as a breath of fresh air comes this article about how Norway’s focus on participation, described as radically different, have helped lift the country to the top of the world in a number of sports. And these sports are not just winter sports with skiis closely tied to the feet. Interestingly, articles like this regularly come out ahead of, during or after the winter Olympics as Norway beats the rest of the world. Of course the sport for all philosophy is not the only explanation. Hard and focused work has a place in there to.

When I now consider how to put a new, fresh injection into Swedish international high performance sport I understand that it needs to be done in a way that is sustainable and long term viable – for the athletes. And I think that we can find some strong partners in this quest for excellence!

Is it a new dawn?

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It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for me, ooh
And I’m feeling good…

Perhaps the words of Nina Simone in Feeling Good is a way to start the new year? In some respects, 2022 marks a fresh start for me as I am embarking on a new challenge. From now on I will focus on managing the project of #elitesports2030. This is a new sports-overarching elite sports programme designed to turn around a negative trend for Swedish high performance sport. It is a joint initiative from the Swedish Sports Confederation, The Swedish National Olympic Committee, the Swedish Parasport Federation and the Swedish National Paralympic Committee.

Of course this project is not a million miles away from the directing of the high performance programme that I have done to date. The difference though is that this new assignment focuses more on what we (currently) have not got, rather than on making use of what we have. Money that is. Financials. Resources.

Without spoiling, some new research from the SPLISS-consortium will be published in January. The researchers behind the study that identified the nine pillars leading to olympic medal success have reinvestigated the first pillar, finances, and reviewed the participating countries in the study ahead of Tokyo 2020 (which in the end became 2021). Sweden was not part of the original study in 2008 but we are included in the review. And it comes timely. The data shows that Sweden places dead last of the 14 countries in the study. Behind Finland and Flanders, which is not even a country but a part of Belgium that, because of the political structure of the Belgian state, has it’s own sports policy. If your job is to support Swedish elite sports, that is not great.

Looking out in the world it is not like other countries are standing still. I have previously written about the UK where the government is continuing it’s strong support to UK Sport, and just before Christmas, news came from New Zealand about substantial investments in high performance sports. 810 million Swedish kronor (90 million USD) is forwarded by the government to High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) and it is easy to be jealous.

However, there is no reason to start a new year in jealousy. Control the controllable is usually good advice and hence, work is just about to start!

The evolution of a sport – and a nation

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Wimbledon Park on Sunday morning. Lots of courts and lots of tennis.

I had almost forgotten. What it can be like when a nation comes to a stop, because of sports. Perhaps it was not quite the type of Stenmark halt that Sweden came to in the 1970’s, when the alpine giant speeded down the slopes. But for 2021, it is spectacular how many of the British spent their Saturday night in front of the TV watching the Women’s US Open final. In fact, it was so special that it deserves an English blog post from me.

As it happened, I spent this weekend in London. And not just in the city, but in Wimbledon. Perhaps the most tennisloving part of the planet. My friends tell me about how the neighbors compete at doing the greatest tennis decoration of their house and garden, during the weeks of the All England Championship every year. This could be explained, at least in part, by the view that greeted me during my Sunday morning run through Wimbledon Park. There is a lot of tennis played in that park. It may not have increased from Saturday night, and Emma Raducanu’s fantastic win at the Arthur Ashe stadium where she entered the championship as a qualifier, but there sure is every chance to get involved if you are interested.

As the British papers write about this being the greatest moment of British tennis ever, transforming elite performance into mass participation has never been an easy thing. Something tells me the British might just be able to do that though. Yes, tennis is still (considered) elitist and expensive, but here is a champion of the multicultural country of the modern day. She must be a dream come true for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), and why not for the Queen herself, given that Emma is already believed to be in line for the New Year’s Honour’s list. And if somebody can manage that conversion, from elite to grassroots – and back again, perhaps it is the LTA. They have got the money, the personnel and the desire. And they certainly have the support of the British media. Now, it is up to you guys.

Just do it!

The numbers game

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Två miljarder, sjuhundrasjuttionio miljoner, sjuhundratrettiofem tusen, trettionio kronor. Och sextio öre. Google hjälper mig snabbt att översätta det svindlande beloppet 232 miljoner pund till svensk valuta.

2 779 735 039,60 kronor.

Så mycket tillkännagav den brittiska regeringen nyligen att man tänker satsa på att stärka landets olympiska och paralympiska chanser i Paris 2024. Jämfört med perioden som ledde fram till Tokyo-OS är det en ökning med 44%. Storbritannien, som i dessa sammanhang kompletteras med de nordirländska idrottare som väljer Team GB snarare än Irland, är framgångsrikt i både olympiska och paralympiska spel. Så har det inte alltid varit. Då jag 2005-2006 någon gång deltog på UK World Class Coaching Conference som organiserades av UK Sport minns jag hur det nästan låg ett löjets skimmer över målet ”fourth in the medal table” som just hade satts för Peking-OS 2008. Dels för att många tyckte det var märkligt att sikta på fjärde plats, om man nu skulle ta ordentlig sats, dels för att det ansågs nästan utopiskt. Målet nåddes, spelen på hemmaplan i London 2012 blev närmast mytiska, och 2016 blev British Olympic Association först att vid påföljande spel, efter sådana hållna på hemmaplan, vinna flera medaljer än just vid hemmaspelen.

Även hos oss har en viss diskussion förekommit i media om statligt stöd till elitidrott. Sveriges Olympiska Kommittés förre vice ordförande, Per Palmström, skrev om att medaljer i mindre idrotter kostar statligt stöd. Mottagandet från de (män) som engagerade sig var minst sagt svalt och tämligen raljerande. Att medaljer i ädla valörer och välstånd i landet skulle hänga ihop ifrågasätts kan man säga.

Och det är inte så himlans lätt att visa samband mellan idrottsliga framgångar och nästan vad som helst faktiskt. Kanske det kommer någon mer turist till ett land som visat sig framstående, möjligen säljs det en och annan exportvara ytterligare, och inte helt omöjligt är det att någon utsocknes ifrån, gärna med stort kapital, bestämmer sig att flytta hit.

Eller så är det bara så att det, för i alla fall ganska stora delar av befolkningen, är roligare när det går bra, än när det går dåligt. Och ska det gå bra så kommer det att kosta. Det verkar den brittiska regeringen ha accepterat. Och även om det går att tycka allt möjligt om att statliga pengar satsas på att bevisa nationalistisk excellens gör det onekligen situationen allvarligt svårare för oss andra. Det blir helt enkelt till att kavla upp ärmarna!

An outsider’s view

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With the current state of ”all things digital” that we live in I ran a workshop the other day on the topic of digital transformation of sport, relating to performance. There are, of course, many areas that due to Covid-19 have switched from in real life events to digital equivalents. Mostly, I see this in way of conferences, educational offers and initiatives involving some sort of communications. If the block on crowds at events continues for much longer I am sure we will also see new inventions on the fan side of things in order for sports to try to reestablish some sort of atmosphere, that used to be unique to sports. I, for example, have already seen a Japanese invention where fans through an app on their phone can contribute to the noise in the arena where a match is played, thanks to the massive speakers that have been put there, connected to the app. Instead of actually being in the arena fans do this from the comfort of their living room couch. Anyone who has endured a Bundesliga football match of lately would welcome that.

What is striking to me in this webinar that I am hosting though is how people from the outside, with completely different expertise from what we are used to in sports, can contribute if we only dare to let them loose. This time it is two people with a background in statistical analysis in business, i.e. real estate, stock broking and insurance, that with their understanding of numbers open up insights that I and many more in sports have not previously come close. With the enormous big data sets that are often available today, the skill to analyse and use data to forecast future events has become a must have in a successful coaching team.

With that I guess one could argue that sports are nearing the kind of modelling that is currently frequently discussed under the heading of Covid-19. Perhaps not quite as serious but in order to move things forward on our end we have at least decided to start a network for ”nerds of numbers”. Who is up for it?