ABSTRACT
This chapter takes us into the world of elite, high performance sport and the preparation and performance of para athletes for the Olympic Games. Harry is an able-bodied coach who leads a diversely disabled team of men and women who want to win. One athlete has lost a leg, another manages without an arm and another has four limbs but cannot see. Each needs to train according to their personal level of resilience, medication regime and level of determination on any particular day. Themes include diversity and inclusivity, the dignity of difference, reframing of disaster or loss, visible injury, invisible damage, post-traumatic stress disorder, infantilisation, able-bodied guilt, competitive environments, success and failure in international environments, the impact of travel on a para athlete’s performance, using self as instrument, parallel process and choice of attitude (Frankl 1984).
The author Rachel Ellison invites her former coaching client to reflect on how his leadership has changed and evolved, on what his athletes have taught him about leadership. Using a psychoanalytic, below the surface approach, this chapter offers pragmatic, challenging and reflective learning for leaders and executive coaches.
