18/09/2018
Captain, Fantastic
Captains can come in all shapes and sizes.
From Mainwaring...
To Kirk...
To America...
Last week’s remarkable achievements of the - former - Captain Cook...
I mean this one...
Have once again shone a light onto its ‘Art’. It’s something that I blogged about before, referencing both Alistair Cook and another previous England Cricket Captain, Mike Brearley in my ramblings...
www.parkhouseschool.org/Blog/Leader-of-the-pack-From-the-back.aspx
www.parkhouseschool.org/Blog/The-Good-The-Bad-and-The-Ugly.aspx
Captaincy - and indeed Brearley - also featured in my summer reading…
Although called ‘The Captain Class’ this is actually a book about what makes successful teams. The author, an American, ranks what he believes to be the best and highest performing sports teams in history based on a range of criteria. A few too many baseball teams for my liking as a result – I’d be happy to debate his list with other like minded souls at any time – but some interesting themes, to which I’ll return in a moment.
And then there was this, about being ‘on form’ by... Mike Brearley:
Great teams would appear to have three common characteristics…
First. They bond. Second, they spread or ‘cluster’ talent throughout the squad rather relying exclusively on outstanding individuals. And thirdly they sustain performance over time. In Brearley’s terms, this means they are consistently on form. For him, ‘form’ is about having good basic techniques and skills, which are regularly reviewed and practised to reinforce confidence in them when performing. It doesn’t matter whether you are a cricketer, a musician or an actor. Because when performers are confident this in turn unleashes creativity and passion in their performance, and those around them.
On that basis, I’d have to say that as ‘Team Park House’ we’ve continued to be ‘on form’...
Another summer of outstanding results, representing sustained student progress; progress of the sort that has previously seen us recognised as one of this country’s top 100 state schools for continuous improvement...
From this captain’s perspective, fantastic!