Planet Rugby Book Review: In the Zone
Thursday 10th January 2008

We review the new book, In the Zone - with South Africa's Sports Heroes - How to Achieve in Sport and Life by Michael Cooper and Tim Goodenough.

In a country with a paucity of decent sports coaching and sports theoretical literature, one welcomes the publication of In the Zone - with South Africa's Sports Heroes - How to Achieve in Sport and Life by Michael Cooper and Tim Goodenough. It is certainly aimed at the sharp end of coaching and at elite performance.

It is a hybrid of theory and interview profiles of leading sports stars and how they try to get themselves and/or their team into the Holy Grail that is 'the Zone'. One often hears of this elusive state of mind that is the athletes' nirvana - that of being "in the zone", which is the "state of performing at or beyond your potential".

And certainly they have chosen a stellar line-up of South African athletes that certainly have the stature and record to be equipped to talk about elite performance and operating in this sought after zone. The likes of Gary Kirsten and Lucas Radebe are athletes who, arguably, may have exceeded their natural ability to become amongst the most rated sportsmen in their fields worldwide, known and respected - both for their mental toughness on the field and being quality individuals off it. But it also includes leading sportsmen and women like Naas Botha, cricketers Jonty Rhodes, Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock, Roland Schoeman, Mr Practice makes Perfect, Gary Player, Sprinter Geraldine Pillay and Olympic rower Donovan Cech.

From the coaching perspective, there are interviews with Nick Mallett and Jake White as well as Sherylle Calder, who has made acclaimed inputs to the World Cup-winning teams of England in 2003 and South Africa in 2007.

These collations of profiles are fascinating, almost worthy of a book on their own. They are very subjective profiles and do not offer any critique of the athletes or their (mental) techniques, but they are still a refreshing change from the relatively banal profiles and glib interviews that proliferate around the world of South Africa's sports media. Here is some real insight if you are interested in what makes our top sports people tick in their elite competitive environments.

Depending on how you view it, fortunately or unfortunately, these profiles make up only half the book. The remainder is the theory that Cooper and Goodenough offer. They use scary terms such as Meta-Coaching and Meta-Detailing that could scare off some of us. But this is not designed to be a popularist read but a technical, informative, educational book. Having said that it is extremely well presented and the style of Cooper and Goodenough (both Meta Coaches (!)) is extremely readable. It is well-packaged as they focus on 13 skills that are required to get into the zone, in what is termed a "breakthrough model".

If you are interested in elite sport it is a treat to read a work that is localised, yet internationally relevant and does talk of the sharp end of sport. Even if you are not interested in the theory, the profiles are thoroughly fascinating. SA Sport needs more books like this.

http://www.planet-rugby.com/Story/0,18259,3551_3036970,00.html