Book review: Winning, by Frank Dick

I am generally a sucker for recommendations by people I trust and I recently saw “Winning”, by Frank Dick (affiliate links: UK, US) recommended.  It’s pretty cheap on Amazon, so I ordered a copy and I wasn’t disappointed.

Frank will show you how to win

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So it’s a book about winning?

Well, sort of.  It’s primarily about how to approach your own training and preparation for competition or success in meeting your goals.  However, it’s also a book about how to coach someone else to approach training and preparation for competition or success in meeting their goals.  So, it’s useful to read from a personal perspective but it’s also a very interesting viewpoint on how to coach or train someone.

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And who is Frank Dick?

Frank Dick OBE is currently the President of the European Athletics Coaches Association and Chairman of the International Association of Athletics Federations Academy.  He is a former international athlete and was the Director of Coaching for British Athletics from 1979 to 1994.  During this time, he was the the chief coach to the British Olympic team at four Olympic Games, eight European Cups, three European Championships and four World Championships.

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What sort of things does Frank cover in his book?

Well, the book is divided into seven parts, all delivered in Frank’s very chatty style (he is apparently a very talented speaker if you ever get the chance to hear him present).

1. The Game – in this chapter, Frank explains that the most important thing to understand about competition and making progress is that things are always changing.  The other competitors are always improving, doing different things and using different tactics.  The conditions are always changing.  Sometimes the rules of the game even change.  Frank believes that the correct response to this realisation is to identify those things that are fixed (and work based on them being fixed) and those things that are variable (and work assuming that they can either be changed or might change on their own).  For Frank, this includes identifying which aspects of yourself or an athlete are fixed – who is the real person at the core?  What are their strengths?  Having worked that out, what then can change or needs to change?
2. The Athlete – in this chapter, Frank explains that there are three things that allow an athlete to win or succeed at their goals.  First, they must want to win or succeed.  Second, they must believe they can win or succeed.  Third, they must persist until they win or succeed.  Interestingly, there is very little discussion of natural ability or talent.  In Frank’s opinion, desire, belief and persistence are much more important.  He quotes Calvin Coolidge, saying “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not.  Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not.  Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not.  The world is full of educated derelicts.  Peristence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
3. The Team – Frank explains why it is important to make sure that where a group of people are working towards a common goal, that everyone feels that their role is critical to the achievement of that goal.
4. The Coach – Frank takes a moment to explain the different systems of coaching, including the escort method, the transfer method and the partnership method.  He also explains the different styles, including the directing style, the coaching style, the supporting style and the counselling style.  Each of these methods and styles may be appropriate at different times in an athlete’s sporting career.  At various times, they may need direction and at other times, they may be so on top of their own development that counselling is more appropriate.
5. The Personal Preparation Plan – Frank explains how the personal preparation plan starts from a goal but allows modifications along the way.  It starts with the bigger picture and identifies through evaluation what qualities need to be addressed in order to achieve the goal.  Frank also shares a couple of key training principles for designing training programmes.  (1) Quality and quantity cannot be trained in the same session, (2) You need to programme the development of qualities so they do not interfere with each other, (3) Variety is good for motivation, (4) Watch out for cumulative adaptation if improving more than one quality at a time, (5) Focus on the fundamentals, (6) Introduce competition conditions to prepare the athlete for the real world.
6. Taking the Lead - Frank believes strongly that interpersonal relationships are critical to taking the lead, both for maintaining a solid support network and for engaging properly with athletes.  Frank is keen to stress the importance of regeneration and believes that a social network of friends and family are important for this.
7. The Badge – Frank believes that it’s important to know at the end of the day what it is you stand for and what it is you are trying to achieve.  Everything comes back to this point.  What is your badge?  What do you stand for?  What are you trying to do?

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I would definitely recommend this book strongly for anyone who has stretching goals that they want to achieve or whose job it is to help other people reach challenging goals.  I can see the lessons in this book being instrumental in helping me formulate my own approach to personal training.