Gricey's Word

Legendary Life Member and long standing Bay's supporter Dave Grice will be giving his 10c worth every month.

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 26th July 2011   

Show No Mercy

That’s how it has to be to achieve worthwhile objectives. There is no room for timid endeavour.
This year in the Robbie’s Premier League we have hunted success. Week in, week out we have accommodated our necessary tasks with a vigilance and a tenacity. There has to be relative ruthlessness to quell complacent and mediocre tendencies that are in us all.

Your coach and manager have delivered. Your squad has risen to the great heights that we knew they had. They now believe in themselves…and in each other. As we stand the job isn’t quite over yet. But attitudes and processes of fortitude are set in concrete.

Enjoyment comes from courage and attitude. From looking at your assignment square in the eye…understanding what is necessary to achieve it…and charging into it week in, week out with ferocious intention that spooks the layman.
Young men love this scenario. Where they are tested. Where demands are placed on them to deliver…it’s all for their benefit anyway. They, along with the team management take the credit.

We show our true colours eventually at this club. A lack of success is never a permanent thing. It’s just a temporary inconvenience. Our day in the sun will always return. Why? Because we choose it to be so. There are never a lack of resources with anything in life…only ever a lack of intention. A lack of will. A lack of cutting edge desire.
Personally…I’m pretty knackered. Earthquakes and football. Heartache and life. A person gets opportunities to grow in many ways. Wouldn’t have it any different though for quids. It’s who you are that matters. And how you behave in crisis and opportunity.

To have all my 3 sons part of the senior squad achievement this year is fantastic. I thank the Club and all it’s members for the opportunity to extract the fulfilment that I do.

The Bays are back.

Gricey

 

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29th June 2011

Not In It To Make Up The Numbers

In the Robbies Premier League in 2011 we chose right from the outset to be competitive.
We were not going to go quietly this year…we were going to stand up to clubs who have dominated the local competition in recent times.
Why not. I mean bugger it….we’re not in it to make up the numbers…to pussy foot around and settle for second best.

At the moment we are top of the league…with our PDL reserve team second. But we haven’t achieved a thing. It’s time now to charge hard at the line. To ignore the league table and solidify our equilibrium and culture with consistent tenacious mental application. Our squad are growing into their assignment week by week. The bar is set high and will not be dropped. Players will be if they don’t come up to the bar.

Mick Braithwaite, our coach, has grown in stature since taking over our top team.
He grasps the ethos of how we function and utilises all his artillery in a well thought out fashion. There are many factors that contribute to being competitive in the top club league.
Many things that are necessary to develop and enhance necessary culture and competitiveness.

Players in the 1st and 2nd team squad can rest assure that leadership will not let matters drift. There is no room for anything but humble endeavour that dispels unjustified arrogance. Work ethics are paramount to desired outcomes.
At times a player’s, a team’s, or a club’s worst enemy…is themselves.
We are aware of this….and are aware that our squad is becoming more in tune with these variables as the season progresses.

It is pleasing to witness not only the development of footballers…but the development of men.  In principle…if you influence them in football…you influence them in life. Matters of courage, discipline, attitude, passion, and mongrel and pertinent to all things in life.

Thanks go out to all involved in what is a great football club. Let’s hope mother nature allows our season to be completed.

Gricey.

 

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 1st May 2011 

 

What is a Sports Club Culture?

Nothing breeds success, like success – nothing helps a team win, more than winning.
Aside from this obvious adage, certain measures can still be taken to enhance a teams’ or clubs’ chances of success.
Successful marketing of any organisation can often be found in what sets it apart from others?, and How is it different?
Culture is a word often used to describe an overall attitude of an organisation, team or a club. A culture gives an entity character. It can breathe life into a team and gives an individual added power, helping them to make accurate decisions at vital moments.
But what is culture? It is a collective attitude. Although it assists each and every member of a group or club, it also reminds them of their own insignificance in the context of the whole unit. But it’s this brotherhood, this camaraderie, that gives an organisation or a team its energy and power. An ‘all for one’ and ‘one for all’ approach, that entices individuals to put themselves on the line for their mates.

Often, organisations with shallow cultures or no culture are vulnerable to a lack of passion, direction or intent. Year after year they miss out on major successes and have little or no idea as to why.

Sporting cultures can put a whole new meaning to a teams’, a clubs’ or a franchises’ cause. It can inject a powerful bond that can filter through a whole squad giving them a feeling in their blood that they find hard to explain. Conversations are held without a word being spoken. Timidity and uncertainty is often replaced by tenacity. Personnel involved make a decision not to do ‘their best’ but to do ‘what has to be done.’

Most clubs and teams at the start and during seasons will set goals and objectives. Strong culture based clubs and teams do this as well, but in essence for them the real question is not the Why? – it’s the Why not? It’s as if they move beyond the realm of a ‘need to explain or define.’

Teams of this nature often walk ten feet tall. They have what I consider to be the three ingredients of a champion – the three I’s. They are indispensable, indestructible, and irresistible. They become afraid of nothing – not even losing. From this position they become clinical, lethal and ruthless. From this position the prevention of failure is maximised.

Becoming indispensable is to be unique. It insists on being absolutely no-one else but yourself. A wise man once said "What other people think of me is none of MY business". It is a state of mind that nurtures self-expression and personal evolvement. As a club or team it completely sets it apart from it’s competitors giving it a high standard of identity and repute.

To be indestructible is to be fearless. To accept that whatever the outcome of any endeavour or objective – they will be fine. You cannot harm these people. They just keep coming at you. They treat each other with respect – and victory and defeat as imposters. A club or organisation can survive many storms if it is founded on a rock.

To be irresistible is to create ‘magnetism’. It assures that a club or team attracts everything it needs to function efficiently. It markets something that other people want to be part of. It allows an individual, a team, or club to sell itself by ‘being’ itself.

How do you inject culture?
In a traditional world to inject culture you often have to be prepared to break the chains of tradition and the way that things have always been done. You have to ‘mix up the game’, ‘rattle the cage’, keep people guessing. You must go out on a limb – ‘because that’s where the fruit is.’ Sometimes simple things can induce change – perhaps a piece of music, the support of children, or acts of courage or inspiration from certain individuals. Once a decision by leaders of an organisation to ‘raise the bar’ has been made then methods of inspiration will unfold.
For the most part, the injection of a culture, involves change. Within a club often the individual adoption of new ideas will occur only after a certain amount of time.
Success in any entity, whether it be a country, a company, a family, a club, a team, or an individual is not a matter of what you have, not a matter of what you want, but wholeheartedly a matter of ‘what you are’. Who are we?   What does it mean?

In an individual or a team the key ingredient to installing culture into them is to get them to understand their self-image. By understanding their self-image they can change their processes of thought and action. The self-image is the picture we see of ourselves and how we ‘act’ in given situations. To change, or improve our self-image, we need to change the way we think and therefore act in given situations. And what might some of those situations be for a football player or team? They might be;

How do behave when you are 0 – 2 down?
How do you behave when you are 2 – 0 up?
How do you react to bad refereeing?
How do you react when key players are out injured?
How do you react to hail, sleet and snow?
What’s your immediate thought that follows complacency?
What’s your attitude to a friendly game when there’s nothing on it?
What’s your attitude towards fitness?
What’s your attitude towards training?
What do we do it for?
What about our team-mates, what do they mean to us?
What about our club?

When a team’s individuals are thinking in unison with the same mental re-action and attitude they become ‘all conquering’. You see the odd uncompromising, tough-minded player in a team. When you get 11 of them all in one team on a paddock then the opposition have got a big problem.

It’s that simple for many organisations, clubs, teams, or individuals – what they need is simply a ‘check up from the neck up’.

Physical courage is not that uncommon, it’s moral courage that is rare, it’s moral courage and character that sets teams and clubs apart.

Gricey

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1st April 2011

Long Time No Hear...2011

I have a quote in a picture frame on my lounge wall by Robert Schuller. It is "Tough times never last….but tough people do".

Life is full of challenges. From earthquakes to illness. From heartbreak to losing football games.

Attitude is paramount. It’s not what happens that matters, it’s what you do about it. The wise man also said this. There are 2 rules in life No.1; Don’t sweat the small stuff., and No.2; IT’S ALL SMALL STUFF.

So what’s all this amount to in relation to footie? It defines the overall culture and equilibrium of our institution that’s what. Football teams compete well in football leagues because leaders choose it to be so. You are where you are today because that’s where you want to be. It’s not good enough to do your best…you do what has to be done.

We are a tough club. We are a passionate club. And it will always be this way. Setbacks and obstacles are only opportunites for growth and to become stronger. That which doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger.

This year in the Robbies Premier Football League we will be competitive. The bar will be set high and we will not drop it. Our squad is strong and competition for places will exist. It’s fitness that needs to be right up there. We must play 90 minute football with consistency. Our coach is aware of this.

I take this opportunity to wish all our club families well in what has been a difficult 6 months in the city of Christchurch. May our football provide us with an escape from our challenges and issues. May our results excite us and bring moments of healthy thrill.

Canterbury is one of the proudest sporting provinces in the world and our people need to play sport. 2011 will never be forgotten. May your football success this season be part of the memory.

Gricey

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26th July 2010

A word from Gricey...

On Sunday in the Chatham Cup Quarter final our Club threw much at the assignment. Over 90 minutes we were the better team. But fate determined otherwise. And all we have is to lick our wounds and ponder what might have been.

Too many times in this scenario, after leaving so much physical and mental energy on the park with such a game, do you see squads wobble at going forward from here. But go forward we will. Our defiant resolution demands it.

Sometimes in life and in football the blows you are dealt are hard hitting and difficult to swallow. But you know what…life is tough. And the sooner people accept this the better. Sh*t happens. And what makes us capable of contributing to such an epic game of football as Sunday, are our chosen attitudes.

And chosen attitudes care not so much for results, as they do for the attributes that make up the character and fibre of who people are. The quote said "For when the one great scorer comes, to write against your name, he writes not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game."

There is no question, the pain of such a loss, is in direct balance with our will to win and to settle for nothing less. And when the pain of defeat doesn’t cut to the bone, like it does for us…then an outfit has a much bigger problem.

The great champions of this world have memories of a thousand repulses, defeats, hardships, mistakes and losses. It’s their relentless refusal to quit and never give in to negative self talk that solidifies their greatness.

We have grinded out this club institution of ours from decades of blood, sweat, tears, and hangovers. And it only takes days for us to get over such games as Sunday, get back on the horse, put it behind us, and fire up for the next opposition.

Its moments like Sunday that present to personnel the greatest opportunities for growth and self development. These are the times when the boy dissipates and the man emerges. Tough-minded bunch of tossers we are. And I for one am proud to be alongside such quality men.

Gricey

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10th June 2010

Roll With The Punches

In life and in football leagues many things are sent to test you. You must have an acceptance of this. From this acceptance comes a strong fortitude that allows a club and a team to survive storms. It’s not what happens that matters…it how you take it…and what you do about it.

Reaction to challenging moments is often an error. The most effective strategy is to neutralise yourself. This allows you to remain unaffected by situations. Allows you to function without emotion. It elevates personal power and enhances adaptability and resiliency.

Some counsel say never get ‘angry’. This is advice that is appropriate to the mass with most of whom anger and negative reaction are closely linked. But anger in people who more than often do not react offers far more than the effect of fleeting emotion. It takes on a spiritual dimension and comes with great forces at its shoulder. I guess a lesson in life is that at times you have to be a little bit careful who you p*ss off.

You see, the core or backbone of a club or organisation, when founded on these principles, allows it to keep competing and rising to challenges. The toughness of situations is often directly balanced to the toughness within their ranks…especially their leaders. It ensures they always survive to go forward on another given day.

Although an acceptance of challenges is important. One should never let it diminish a cutting edge desire to win. Winnings not every thing…it’s the only thing. And in a football season, even if teams have played well, yet lost…that is still unacceptable. It’s not good enough to do your best, you must do what has to be done.

There’s no place for timid endeavour in an institution that I describe. No place for fear and apathy. No place for poor standards and soft thought processes. At the top level, young men and women learn to grow up very fast. They meet standards required…or they are replaced. But these opportunities for growth are paramount to an individuals development. The top players feed off the ruthlessness, audacity and outrageousness of their leaders. It harmonises with their own equilibrium.

Our football club is such an institution. We may not always win a league. But we’ll always be back. And along the way, on any given match day, we’ll be a thorn in the backside for any opposition. All our players chose wisely to play for this club. We aren’t here out of luck. We’re here out of choice.

Gricey

 

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20th February 2010

It’s What You ‘Are’ That Matters

Football presents the classic opportunity in life for an individual, a team, and a club to express the ethos of what they are. It’s never what you want or have that determines an outcome you see. It’s what you ‘are’ that is paramount.

The reason this is so is simple….in life you don’t get what you want…you get what you are. Great coaches are not as much concerned with the outcome in any given season, as they are for the individual fibre and thought patterns of players and the team as a collective. Winning’s not everything, it’s the only thing. But there is a more important issue at stake.

The league table, winning, and losing are all imposters and cause people to lose sight of the key factor. The key factor is in the NOW. In this very moment. In actual fact…it’s all you have. The past and the future are both illusions. When you understand this you can really make progress with your self image and who you ‘are’.

Top line footballers you see folks are effected by little. Their resolve, thought patterns, and equilibrium remain still like ice no matter what is going on externally. They choose to be this way. They simply identify who they want to be…and literally become that person. It doesn’t matter whether they are 2 nil down, 2 nil up, have an injury niggle, have some life challenges…..it doesn’t matter – they are still going to come at you with a fire and ferocity and in a football sense ‘shred you’.

As players and coaches we need to understand the opportunity before us. That in life we become what we think about…our football game being a big part of this ideal. You must understand that being a great footballer is 90% off the field. That’s where the work is done. Your football game is a part of your week if you like where evidence can be shown of ‘who you are’. The emergence of your chosen character is really all that’s ever going on in your life. If you don’t think about much then not much will be achieved. If you have fears and anxieties with things then they will become your reality. And if your self-image is complete with powerful, courageous, uncompromising, supernatural and outrageous thoughts and ideals then this WILL be the person you become.

Great coaches are the coaches who understand this principle. So what do they do? They give the players the thoughts to think. Their teachings to do with mental discipline leave no room for leakage. They are not naieve towards life and all it’s conforming influences and how mediocrity will pitch a tent in a players mind if allowed.

In this club we are especially aware of this principle. I personally make it a point of issue to remind the players of who we are as a collective and their role in that as individuals. The greater whole you see is more important than one individual. This is a humbling issue and injects culture, allowing the player to feel that they are part of something unique and special. "Not just another football club’ if you like.

I take this opportunity to thank all the coaches, managers, club officials, parents, and players for each making their contribution to our club. May this ‘moment’…and this year be one to remember.

Gricey13th May 2009

 

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First Ingredient Of A Champion

It was Muhammed Ali that said…”The first ingredient of a champion is not the ability to give a knock-out punch…but the ability to take one.”
There’s another quote by that famous author anonymous…”The world isn’t interested in the storms you encountered…but did you bring in the ship?”
The message is simple and clear. There isn’t any plain sailing and cushy ride with any worthwhile objective. You’ve got to be prepared to take the hits. To fight the battles. To tough out the heat in the kitchen when the blowtorch is put on you.
In football these teachings are paramount. Football leagues for instance are extremely difficult to win. You need to maintain absolute confidence despite setbacks. Top level sport is not a place for the faint hearted. You have to keep working and charging despite repulses and the odd defeat. At the end of a given season the team that comes out on top is usually the team that has held its nerve the most.
In reality, it’s not that easy to do. But anything worthwhile isn’t easy. There are times when all you can do is lick your wounds, get up, dust yourself off and get ready for the next battle. You may lose the odd battle you see…if you win the war.
A football league is a bit like a bank account. With a bank account you have deposits and withdrawals. The deposits for a football team occur everytime a team member initiates positive energy or encouragement to themselves or other team players. Everytime they go the extra mile at training. Everytime they respond positively to losses, injuries, and challenges. Everytime they play 90 minutes regardless of the score.
The point being folks, with a bank account, if you make enough deposits…you can afford to have the odd withdrawal. You have to accept that sometimes, s**t happens. The key, is to get over it, gather yourself and attack again. Attack harder than before. With more ferocity and courage than ever before. Any foe, even football leagues, eventually give in to such enthusiasm.

Gricey

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21st April 2009

The Two Sides To The Reef

Not many people know this. But part of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has two sides to it.
One part is like a piece of glass. Flat as a pancake. It’s a safe place. But if you look down into the depths of the lagoon you will see that the sea life is non existent…and the coral is colourless.
On the other side of the reef there is huge surf and jaggered rocks. There is great danger here. There are predators. But if you look down into the depths of the water you will see the sea life is abundant and the coral is outrageously colourful. This, you see, is life yearning for itself. It confirms that we weren’t designed for comfort and ease. It confirms that the rewards are in direct harmony to the risk. That the great beauty and colour in life is often directly correlated to the danger.
Life isn’t for the sitting back and waiting. Do you know that most people travel through life hoping to make it safely to death! What is the sense in this. You’ve got to eat life.
So which side of the reef are you on. Do you play the safe comfort zone game? Or do you respond to life’s opportunities and challenges with vigour and courage?
Which way do you play your football? Which side of the reef is that on? Great objectives require great commitments. Dangerous goals require dangerous strategies.
Your football club you see….has camped on the wild side of the reef for a while now. Why wouldn’t we? That’s where the colour is. That’s where the riches are. That’s where the characters live. That’s where the culture is fertilised with ferocity, tenacity, and uniqueness.
What’s it to be with you? With your personality? With your attitude? Are you going to venture to the wild side of the reef? Or you going to paddle on the safe side?
Might you rise to the great heights of your greatness? Or might you squander your opportunities in the land of mediocrity?

Gricey

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20th March 2009

The following is a true story. The two young lads, Matthew and Nicholas, were 8 years old and played in the same club football team. They were good players and both made the state rep team…the Minnesota Titans.
It was cold and wet day. They were on their way home from training and there was a car accident. Nicholas survived OK but Matthew was severely injured. He lost a lot of blood. He required a blood transfusion to live and had a very rare blood type. The ironic thing about the story is that the only person they could find with the same blood type…was his best mate Nicholas.
So they are in this hospital room. There are the two boys, one on his death bed, the two sets of parents, the doctor, and the minister. So Nicholas’s father turns to Nicholas and says “Nicky will you give your blood please to Matty…it’ll save his life.” Young Nicholas sat there, arms folded, with this big serious stern look on his face and he replied, “What do think Daddy?” to which his father replied, “Well son, I think you should do it, it’ll save his life” Nicky thought about this for a moment then turned back to his father and said “Alright Daddy if you think I should do it then I’ll do it.
So they took the blood and immediately administered to Matthew. Within minutes you could literally see the colour returning to the young lads face. Everyone was joyous and happy, when suddenly there was this wimpering sound from the corner of the room. They all turned to see young Nicholas sobbing and huddled in the corner. His mother walked up to him and said “Nicky what’s the matter darling aren’t you happy you’ve saved Matty’s life.” The young lad broke his mother’s heart and when he replied “Yes Mommy I’m happy for Matty but can someone please tell me when I’ll start to die.”
You see, the duffer, he thought he had to give all of his blood to his friend. No one explained it to him properly. He thought that for Matthew to live…HE WOULD GO. From the mouths of babes.
So, what do you think of that courage? Do you know of courage like this? What about you? What about your life? What would each of us sacrifice to achieve an objective?
What about your football club? What does it mean to you? What about your friends? What about your team-mates? What do they mean to you? I ask you…what would you sacrifice for your buddy? Would you bleed for your brother?

Gricey. 

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21st February 2009

There are Clubs in this city who have been around a lot longer than this club….who have never tasted any great success at the top local level. Why is that do you think? Everyone has access to the same resources and opportunities. What sets clubs apart from others?

In the Mainland Premier league, our Club has only been in it 7 years. We’ve won it a couple of times, and finished 2nd twice. The 1st year we were in it we won it….unheard of. Some clubs have been in it 45 years….and never won it.I’ve always believed that’s club’s finish in the league .…where they want to finish. Sound absurd? Maybe. And coaches and club officials will tell you otherwise…”What do you mean?!....of-course we want to win it.”You see folks…it’s extremely difficult to win anything. And all pieces of the puzzle need to be in place. Teams can often be very similar in skills, fitness, and experience. Some clubs, on paper, consistently have the best side. But they never win it. Why? Because everything isn’t how it needs to be.Committee’s, club officials and coaches etc base their plans, processes and objectives on their own perception of what is needed. They base them also on their own understanding of their responsibilities. And they finish on the table wherever these interpretations lie. You are where you today because that’s where you want to be.It’s the intangible elements of a club’s make-up that set it apart. It’s the magic of a club….and whether or not any exists. Leaders in an organisation have an opportunity to set the bar….based on what that means to them. From there they go about putting in place processes to ensure that standards are maintained.One of these processes is culture. A winning culture. A successful culture is made up of several things. They are; Outrageousness, colour, audacity, courage, character, hunger, empathy, a family resemblance, fearlessness and high standards.

Club’s with great culture’s quickly realise that winning, losing, and league tables are all imposters. Their sense of belonging to an organisation takes on much more meaning than this. Don’t get me wrong. The wise man said “Winning’s not everything”. And he was right….it’s the only thing. My point is this. The teams that are the most lethal are the fearless one’s. And they even have no fear of losing. From this place they become a very dangerous beast. And herein lies the secret. Herein lies the magic…
More to come…    Go the Bays.   
 

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30th January 2009

I’ve made many studies of people and human nature. And I’m always constantly amazed over what some people have accomplished in their lives, often against insurmountable odds.

Processes of inspiration are intrinsic to great accomplishment. I’ve always been in search of inspiring material that can be used to lift people (including footballers) up to their highest aspirations.

One of my studies was of group of people called the Viking Berserkers. The word to go ‘berserk’ came from this bunch of lads. Google em and check them out for yourself. They were probably the most fearsome warriors that ever existed. They were ferocious fighters who were often recruited by Kings and Queens to protect their villages and lands. The word ‘berserker’ is derived from a characteristic of this warrior- berserkergang – a word meaning crazed behaviour. They would work themselves into a frenzy before battle, and, with no armour (only bear skins) were evidently immune to pain.

Often these Vikings would be outnumbered 10 to 1 but they were never fazed. They were fearless and created fear in others everywhere they went. Interesting eh?

You see the point is this. People (ie you) are often relatively unaware regarding what they are capable of achieving. Take football or a football club for instance. What would you rather have…a namby pamby insipid resolve…or a tenacious and ferocious intent. The latter accommodates ruthlessly high standards in relation to fitness, attitude, desire, and courage.

Enjoyment aside, football Leagues are won because leaders set uncompromising standards. They set the bar high. And all their people buy into it. Only through this are results attained. Only through this do you help people not only develop their game, but their character. You see folks, it’s not good enough to do your best…you must do what has to be done.

Strong resolutions in organisations engender culture, colour, and spirit in the outfit. Helps people arrive at success…and helps them enjoy the journey.

Basically….people, football clubs and teams are where they are today because that’s where they want to be. When truth is understood…no excuses remain.

Gricey