A way to use sport to develop life skills for the 21st century

(please note this is the first time Jon has done this talk and everyone is welcome. That's fellow coaches, parents, and players that jon is and has coached).

It is one of life’s few truths that a player can make all their shots and still lose a game. A team can stick to their game plan and still lose a game. If players are coached to do only as instructed, their potential is limited to the extent of those instructions.

Jon will share how he thinks it is possible to coach sport in a way that helps players, of all abilities, break free from the boundaries inherent in simply following instructions and achieve much more by developing the good judgement to know when to try something different, when to find a better way. To understand what doesn't work and reject it, and what does work and perfect it. To combine the right amount of pre planning with individual and team freedom to adapt as quickly as possible. To be comfortable that in life, there are no right answers, only answers. Yes, there are right answers to pass exams, but life is not an exam.

Jon feels these are life skills to create agile teams that adapt to find a way forward... confident that if required they can do the extraordinary in extraordinary circumstances. These are the life skills we need to navigate the huge changes coming our way in the 21st century.

Any questions, contact jon.thorne@LifeSkills21.club

About Jon Thorne

I was enjoying a challenging career developing new ways for leaders to manage large, complex global networks of people when it became apparent that my primary school children had become mentally fragile. They were full of doubt and anxiety from failing at school.

After a period of time trying to help my children become more resilient and more able to bounce back and succeed at school it became clear that my absence at work was making the situation worse.

I gave up work and with support from Debbie, Josh and Arran, I developed the methodology to coach our 2 boys not just to be robust and resilient in resisting the constant barrage of misplaced criticism, but to enhance their ability to adapt and thrive when things didn't go their way, to recognise the opportunity for growth offered by volatility, disorder, and randomness and to relish adventure, risk and uncertainty. Massively important as life skills, they have provided the foundation for my success in coaching sport in general and are fundamental in the development of "mental fitness" to improve sporting performance at all levels.

If wind blows out a candle and energises fire... my kids are now the fire and wish for the wind - A slightly modified quote from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I am now the founder of Lifeskills21.club which is a startup to respond to planned systems of education teaching young people to do as planned and be as planned in a 21st century where little will go to plan.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonthorne/