Australia's World Cup Football Performance Goes under the Microscope for Exclusive Study
By Imago Group
Wednesday 30 August, 2006
Great motivators and high achievers, who guide some of the world’s finest athletes, will join
with leading sports scientists to present a cutting edge Sport Knowledge Australia (SKA) symposium
for elite coaches in Sydney from 30 October to 2 November.
Sydney - A unique feature of Sport Knowledge Australia's courses is the presentation
of specifically commissioned case studies. This year Dr Istvan Gorgenyi, an Olympic gold medal-winning
coach and expert in group dynamics who developed the "Hunting Territory"® theory, will release an
analysis of Australia's football World Cup campaign in Germany examining the team's use of personal space.
Gorgenyi concluded a similar analysis recently on Brazil's quarter-final demise highlighting Ronaldo's
failure, from his pivotal position, to provide team-mates with sufficient space to make significant
scoring opportunities. Illustrating his point, Gorgenyi likened Ronaldo to "an injured whale blocking
a whole channel."
Last year SKA's Elite Sport Coaching Symposium attracted a diverse group of coaches who applauded,
among other aspects, the novel case-studies and think-tank environment. Brian Royal of the Richmond
Football Club said, "Clearly this has been the best course that I have been involved in. We had great
interaction with course speakers and other coaches."
From the Singapore Sports Council, Wayde Clews summed up the experience, "In the space of a few days,
I worked alongside legends of great games, Olympic Champions, successful coaches, statesmen and leaders
of sports; in such an environment, one cannot help but to grow."
This year's symposium features, among others, Robbie Deans, mentor to the Canterbury Crusaders and one
of the most successful coaches in the modern era. Over the last decade, in the roles of manager, then
coach, Deans led the Crusaders to six grand final wins from eight appearances.
Joining Gorgenyi and Deans as SKA presenters will be Ric Charlesworth, the gold medal-winning coach of
the Australian women's hockey team up until 2000, and current high performance manager of New Zealand
Cricket.
From the NSW Institute of Sport, Kenneth Graham, who has guided such sporting greats as swimmer Ian
Thorpe and cyclist Brad McGee, will be speaking, as will University of Queensland’s Dr Cliff Mallet -
sprint/relay coach for the Australian Athletics team.
The University of Sydney's Dr Donna O'Connnor, a specialist in exercise physiology whose research covers
athletic profiling, injury prevention and coach education, too is among the highly credentialed presenters.
O'Connor has consulted to elite teams in basketball, rugby union, rugby league and track and field.
Full course details -
www.sportedu.org/documents/escs02.pdf
ABOUT SKA: Launched in June 2005 with a Federal Government grant of $8.6 million, SKA is jointly
owned by the University of Sydney, University of Technology, Sydney and the Sydney Olympic Park
Authority. SKA delivers executive level education and knowledge-sharing on sports management,
coaching and science via educational programmes, commissioned studies and research within Australia
and through partnership programmes overseas. SKA will assist the continued global growth of the sports
industry, helping more communities around the world to benefit from Australia's strong sporting culture.
Since its launch, SKA has delivered the prestigious Indian School of Business’s first sport product in
Hyderabad, run seminars in China on sport venue management and courses in Australia on player valuation
strategies, genetic doping in sport, executive sport management, elite sport coaching, major event
management and facility management.
ATTENTION EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Course presenters are available for interview by contacting –
Liz Herbert - Tel: +61 2 9664 1410 / Mobile: 0407 234 221
|
