Private School Poaching and Meaningful Work

From Robbo

Sorry for slightly digging up the passed here Huy, but i just read this post on Haileybury. As an ex-Carey student (another competitor in the APS system with Haileybury), i can say that the Volleyball competition in the private school system is significantly lower compared to that of the public schools like Eltham, Billanook, Yarra etc. Although i was playing against Nick Goldsborough-Reardon, Steve Wallace and Tom Bawden (other than that i think there might have been a max of 3 players who went on to play state league). Private schools tend to concentrate on different sports like football, cricket, and rowing. Scholarships have always been a touchy issue when it comes to sport…

Back in my day (what am i saying? I’m only 25 ), we had a couple of boys brought in to the school on general excellence or music scholarships to play footy when everyone knew they were definitely not the bright students that they were made out to be, and i don’t think they had ever picked up a musical instrument…. This was when you technically weren’t allowed to give someone a sporting scholarship, but i think a lot has changed these days. Haileybury have obviously decided that they want Volleyball to be their sport that they excel in, as each school has their 1 or 2 sports they seem to get consistent results in.

I am not sure what the level of competition is like these days but hopefully this will force other schools to work on their programs and generally raise the level of Volleyball overall in the private school system.

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Aaaah yes. The “Academic Scholarship” for gifted athletes. We had it too at my private school. A lot of the professional athletes my school marketed as alumni were actually given scholarships around yr 10 or 11 – convenienetly when their sporting ability manifested.

Speaking to more people about Haileybury, I have to agree with Robbo that it could make the standard better. They have the cash to pay good coaches. Eg Luke Campbell taking Haileybury’s open team last year. Getting more of these guys to participate by paying them well will make volleyball better overall.

But money is only one part of the equation. Robbo’s observation that private school volleyball could be of a lower standard is generous. It can be F!@#ing awful. For a coach, it’s good money. It must be. I’ve coached at four private schools and respectively paid at $15, $20, $25 and $40 an hour. At Adelaide High they paid for my trip/accomodation to Melbourne and for some of my trainings, at Brighton they paid for my trip/accomodation but not the trainings, and at WHS I am an exception to the rule where coaches  have to pay their way over (A couple of times i have “sponsored” teams and coaches to go).

The private girls schools comp in SA used to have the highest standard coaches around – current and ex national team players and coaches. I remember seeing ex senior national womens team coaches Harley Simpson and Johann Olesk coaching 6-a-side yr9 division D2 girls on a drooping outdoor court where the grass had grown over the marked boundaries.  It was surreal and F!@#ing funny. Since I already have a job, it’s not about the money but rather if I find the work “meaningful”.

In his book, “Outliers”, pop sociologist Malcolm Gladwell identified three things that made any sort of work “meaningful”:

1. Autonomy
2. Complexity
3. Relationship between Effort and Reward

Coaching any team gives you plenty of (1) and (2). Effort/Reward is the tricky one. Most of the private schools i coached didn’t play state or national school’s cup. They might have played in competitions against other schools but there usually wasn’t finals. The kids mainly played because sport was compulsory and it was more of a bludge than other sports (unless they had me on a day i felt like doing honest work). Forfeits were common where the other team didn’t even turn up without explanation. From a coaching perspective it made absolutely no difference whether i coached well or not. I just found it really unenjoyable so i stopped and took the vow of poverty to coach only club teams and AVSC schools.

The School’s cup is about as “meaningful” as it can get. It’s got complexity, autonomy, and no matter how big or small you are, if you put the work in you can still be rewarded. It’s a bit like Formula 1. There are a couple of behemoths you have no chance of beating for the overall cup, but as a privateer you can still win an event here or there. Just look at Tin Can Bay!

Coaching a private school that goes to the cup – like Haileybury or Rostrevor College is the best of both worlds; Getting paid to do what you love and having a shot at seeing your efforts rewarded with a national title of some kind. Haileybury’s Open girls team ended up taking the bronze medal in honours beating Heathfield. For he tragics, we got to see the men’s national team captain take on the winningest coach in AVSC history for a medal. it makes for exciting volleyball at the end of the week!