copyright: M. Blachon
WO: Is there anything you’ve taken from sports and you use today in your job as school principal and member of the school team?
Michał: I think it’s team work and its rules; the experience that I’ve gathered in sports helps me in my job. I know how to plan tasks when managing a team of a few dozen teachers and coaches. It’s quite a sizeable team, and various issues may pop up from time to time. I remember how roles were allocated in the teams that I used to be in, how problems were solved by the coach or by team members on their own, despite their different views on a number of issues. Indeed, you come across strange individuals both in sports and in business, and you need to know how to deal with them. The way the whole team works is definitely crucial.
WO: What is the team’s role in winning? Do you win and lose together, as a team?
Szymon: Precisely! You win together and you lose together. I hate it when a coach says “we’ve won”, and when the team loses, he’d say “they’ve lost”. At the end of the game the coach gets a medal as well. So, I believe that if we win together we also lose together. You need to remember this from the very start. You need to show your players that they are one team. And they need to be treated as a team.
Kuba: The team needs a coach, the team needs a leader, and the leader needs a team. Coaches don’t win and lose on their own. In basketball, we tend to say that if the team loses by twenty points, the loss is on the team. If the team loses by one point, it’s on coach. It’s the coach’s responsibility because if the two teams are on the same level the coach is there to contribute with that one winning point.
WO: On the other hand, in sports, it’s the stars who count. In one interview Stephane Antiga said that there are only stars in the national team, and this is also a big challenge. With a team like this it’s not easy to foster the belief that the ego comes last. At times, you devise the game with a specific player in mind. All in all, there are big names in football, basketball, or volleyball.
Kuba: You need stars to motivate others. Stars are the figures that young players try to live up to, they are their role models.
WO: But stars are individuals from outside the team, a role model to match, the one you’d like to follow. But what is the role of a star on the team?
Tomek: I never played on a team who had a star. We’re talking sports, and let’s be open here and say that for me it all boiled down to playing professionally, even if a month of playing at a club in the town of Zgierz paid around 200 zlotys. In the NBA every player is a star. Most probably, they were already popular in high school. Next, they joined a team where one person made one million and someone else fifteen million dollars, but they were all very wealthy and they were all true stars. And this is where problems start: they all have big egos. They all make lots of money but struggle with the same issues as any other team: the coach didn’t let me play…, someone did not pass the ball… The coach has to put all the pieces of the puzzle together to make the team work as a whole.
Kuba: I think that even on the national team you’d say that someone is a star. Other players will not have an issue with that provided that they prove their “stardom” on the playfield and during practice. If in a group of twelve of the best players in the country you find two who will take responsibility and do good in the World Cup tournament or in the Olympics, others, even if they are stars as well, will simply accept that even in a star-studded team there are some who are leaders.
WO: OK. So, we’ve now come to a team with a couple of stars. Each of them, in their own view, is better than the others. Some are better, some worse. According to your experience, what will motivate players on a team more strongly: playing with people who are better, or with those who do less well?
Szymon: This is exactly the dilemma we had to tackle in basketball. We have forty boys in our high school and at times those who play in the first team are shifted to the second one as we believe that the change will be of service to their self-development and growth. It’s better to play on a weaker team than be on a strong one and sit on the bench. As we focus on their long-term growth, we make such decisions, even if they often meet with great disappointment from the parents who want to know the reasons for such a move. They’d say “you’ve recruited my son to play”. Well, that’s the point. We want him to play.
Tomek: In my opinion, playing with those who are better would motivate a less proficient player to always try harder and advance to the next level. So, in sports, in order to develop you should play with those who are better than you. But this is always an individual decision and the coach has to make the call. He has to know who will be motivated to play better and who will get stuck knowing that others do better than them. Some would be motivated when praised, others when they are criticized or yelled at. They’d think “OK. I’ll show him what I am capable of. I’ll score these thirty points out of spite”. This also helps develop a player. The coach needs to identify those who need a praise and those who need a “kick in the pants”. This is also the matter of personality.
WO: Do you ever come across players who help others thrive, who are leaders of sorts and will say “play like this, do that”? Or does everyone play only for themselves, even if they are on a team?
In volleyball, in the Krótka Piłka Association, we have kids from the second and third grade. You look at them and immediately spot those who will become leaders. So far I have come across two such cases: I watch them grow and develop, I observe how they behave on the team, how these young people – because they are very young – can cheer on their friends in the court. I once had two four-player teams who played simultaneously, with a cap of fifteen points. On one team I had a boy I’d not spoken to before. At some point he took a time out to talk to others. I asked “Kowal, what happened?”, and he replied: “Coach, we were winning 13:9, but all of a sudden it was 13:12, so I took a time out”. I stared first and left him alone. I can see that he’s a leader, he’s developing so well and motivating his friends, he’s taking responsibility. It’s such a pleasure to follow his growth and observe his attitude. Such cases are quite rare, though. I’ve been working with the Association for three or four years now and over this time, there have been only two boys who were fantastic leaders at such a young age.
We spoke as a team:
Michał Feter – principal of the Gortat School in Łódź for the last 4 years. Previously, for 10 years Michał worked as a coach and management advisor (including project management), and was responsible for prospecting external funding for projects, evaluation, and coach competencies. He is the author of over 200 grant projects. From an early age he has been fascinated by sports. Spain is his hobby.
Szymon Nowak – occupational therapist, teacher and publicist by education, who has been active in volleyball for his whole life. He loves working with people and for people. Before joining the Gortat School he worked for the Dziewczynka z Zapałkami and JiM Foundations. At the School he is responsible for marketing and for the development of the volleyball project. Coordinator of the Gortat School Business Club. He does what he loves by working in sports.
Tomasz Solarek – graduate of the University of Łódź with a degree in English. He used to play basketball for the ŁKS sports club and the University of Łódź, and worked for 7 years for the Marcin Gortat MG13 Foundation, where he was responsible for coordinating the Marcin Gortat Camp project. At present, he works for the Gortat School and the Gortat School Business Club. He is responsible for collaboration with American colleges to prospect sports scholarships in the U.S. for Gortat School students.
Jakub Urbanowicz – graduate of the Łódź University of Technology with a degree in Management. He used to play basketball for the ŁKS sports club and the Łódź University of Technology. He is responsible for the development of Marcin Gortat Schools in Łódź, Kraków, Poznań, and Gdańsk. Co-creator of the Gortat School Business Club. President of the ŁKS Male Basketball Association.
Waldek Olbryk – Believer in the development of organizational culture by working on aspects which may have a shaping effect, based on the client’s and the user’s perspectives. He believes in the “life-long learning” concept. He loves the P2P (People2People) approach in all business-related areas, even in traditional B2B (business2business). He is open to exchanges between cultures and industries.
Passion2Value The concept of conversations and projects based on the combination of passions and values from various fields. By working in a specific setting, exercising or developing your passions, e.g. in sports or music, based on broader knowledge and skills from other disciplines, you can learn something as an academic discipline. You can create valuable things and enjoy yourself at the same time.
