A Recipe for Sucess?

Today I am being metaphorical with a coaching is like.........blog.

Last night I read a post by Anne Marie De Mars on her blog (http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/ ) where she talked about Outliners and the little touches of creative genius in their judo which is based on lots of hard work.

It stirred an idea in my head, and as I was watching Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares I saw an analogy with Judo. A performance Judo player is a chef and his style a unique recipe, taking a selection of quality ingredients and blending them and present them in a unique style.

Some things go together sage and onion, some you wouldn’t expect – like Snail Porridge. You can turn average ingredients into a good dish but for a great dish you need quality ingredients. You need to have flavours and textures that work well together.

In Judo the ingredients are the techniques use by a player, the way a player fights and puts then together are the cooking technique a chef is taught. Some chefs like coaches try and add to many flavours and techniques which complicate the dish. So how many ingredients should you have to make your dish?

In the BJA as part of the LPTD they look at having six scoring techniques, in at least 3 directions as they progress but if you look at the greats how many techniques did they have?

Dave Starbrook – a huge tai-otoshi
Neil Adams – tai-otoshi and ju-jigatame
Koga – hi unique versions and range of Koshi Waza and his on handed Morote- soenage

They have others they score with however these were there signature dishes. Their preferred recipes for success.

A friend once said to me watching masters was very strange you get two people who have done judo for years, they may only have one scoring technique but they have been doing it for 20 years or more, if it wasn’t good when they started it is now. Master is about who walks into the opponents technique first.

As coaches we have to get our your chefs to taste all the ingredients and learn the different cooking techniques, we then have to let them experiment with flavour combinations and different cooking styles. Then when they have found a dish they like, we help them improve it be that sourcing a better quality of ingredients ( developing technique) enhancing the cooking process ( how it is used) and sometimes add a little twist, seasoning or spice.
Dr De Mar said in her post” Those outliers are enormous variances from the mean,” they are not the people who follow the recipes in the normal book they are the people who take the recipe and start to develop it making it something special.

There are those chefs who just craft the best ingredients, there are those who understand cooking techniques and just take ingredients and make then into a unique dish. Then there are those who cook through the science of flavours and exploring different ways of delivering them – like the chef Heston Blumenthal who does Bacon and Egg flavour ice cream. ( see it on U Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6CLoRuvGcY ) Notice how precise he is and his comments about other chefs who saw you doing this. He also talks about overturning expectations.

If you extend the comparison as coaches are you creating a chef who can cook one or two dishes well and they win awards or a chef who has the knowledge to build their own dishes from a range of ingredients because they understand the techniques in making lots of dishes.

As a coach how big is your recipe book? Judo use to be a groups of identifiable styles – like Russian or classic Japanese, now we are entering the new gastronomic world of Fusion......and that is another blog.