Discipline all to new water polo coach

Press, 8 November 1978, Page 18

Discipline all to new water polo coach

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RAY CAIRNS

There are nothing verycomplex to the aims and desires of the new national water polo coach, Ken Mark. He wants and expects discipline at all stages, from the players and himself, opportunities provided by the New Zealand Board of Control, and total commitment in the aim to get New Zealand into the Moscow Olympic Games. But above all. tt is discipline that underlines any discussion with Mark a former Wellington and New Zealand captain — but. strangelv. never a club captain or coach — and coach of New Zealand teams at age-group level. To know the man and to look at him. it is understandable. He has a bristling moustache and chest to match, he was — and still is. when in the water —a fiercely aggressive player, he has shown himself a demanding and uncompromising coach of New Zealand secondaryschoolboy teams. But while Mark gives no indication he is likely to change his nature, and his style of coaching — and that would surely be a mistake, fn- he was undoubtedly chosen on the basis of his present approach — he does appear a more mellow man now. (ertainly, he says: “I feel I \<= improved since those early days.”

But there is more than that. Suggest that a national coach should perhaps be a dictator and Mark is quick to respond: "sure, you must keep their respect, but 1 feel it is very important to have and keep a communication between the players and the coach, there must be a lot of blackboard work, and I want them prepared to at least try the scheme of plav I .want, to give it a chance.” The discipline theme shines through, though. Of

attitude. Mark says he ‘‘wants players to be verystrong in themselves, in discipline, in and out of the water. I think there has been insufficient of that, and I think the players have to realise that, otherwise they are not going to advance, they will never know what heights they are going to reach. Graham Brockett i ch°>n-.- > of ’he national board) seems to

want the Olympic Games, so do I, and they'll either get there or be that bloody close it doesn’t matter. So we all have to be disciplined!

“It is probable, possible, we have players who are not prepared to discipline themselves. If that is so,

they will have to be replaced by those with the discipline,” ■ but at the same time, Mark made it clear he would not be institu t i n g wholesale changes. Aside from the discipline angle, simplicity is the key to Ken Mark and his coaching. He has. he says, a theory of KISS; Keep It Simple, Stupid. “This applies to coaches as well as to players. If it can be kept simple, everybody knows when they have to do it, whv they

have to do it. where they have to do it, how they have to do it. "But the biggest thing is allowing them to enjoy the game, rather than getting out being confused, depressed. They should get out of the water feeling they have achieved something. and they have done it simply."

There is almost a wonderment about Ken Mark as he shakes his head at a facet of New Zealand water polo which has hindered its progress. “I have always wondered why we have not been scoring goals, and it has taken me years to work out,” he observed in bewilderment. “We are not shooting from above the head, nor

are we passing with the elbow in front of the body. The basic thing in water polo is the ball. So we have to maintain getting our basics to the highest level possible. That means that the players just in training have to do in the vicinity of 2000 passes. That sounds a lot, but in my kids’ training sessions, they are doing 45 to 50 in 30 seconds, say 100 in a minute, so 2000 is not too many.”

Still it is difficult for Ken Mark to denari from

the discipline theme. He has studied at first hand the controlled European method, a slow build-up and the abandonment of a break if it does not look sure of success: he has witnessed the fast-break-ing American style, and into those two, he has incorporated his own thoughts and theories.

The outcome, he says, is that hs teams will play the quick counter, but if that fails, “it will be back to a fully controlled game, and this is where discipline comes in. After all, we are not lightning fast swimmers in this country, so we can not play a lightning fast game, otherwise we could be in the lurch. But more control, yes, where the players know where the ball is all

the time, so they are achieving Ute maximum use

of our lime with the ball. We have the ball for at least 35 seconds at any time, we should use it. It is pointless having a shot in 15 seconds unless being 95 per cent certain of putting it in the goal. Still in the discipline, the control theme: “How many times have you seen a team gain possession, tear down the pool, and the pass hasn’t reached the player — discipline, that’s what it’s not. ..You just, have to work on percentages.

Ken Mark unhesitatingly, unashamedly admits he has long sought the national coaching, position. “I have been trying for it for years. I was'’ elated really that I had finally achieved something I wanted for a long time because in the back of my mind I had harboured thoughts that I was capable of it.”

Did he think ha would

never get the appointment? “Yes, for the last three or four years, I thought I had probably ! missed out, and having tnat i two year voluntary break I persuaded me that my I time for doing the job had 1 gone. But it was my wife. I Cynthia, who suggested to ■ go back, who thought I needed another interest, ; and she was basically the i force behind it all the time.”

Mark is not unaware that luck for once was on his side. Les Kay, an Aucklander who has successfully coached Nev,' South Wales since moving .to Australia, was a tentative appointment, but terms could not be fully completed.

“If they had got Les, that would have been three years at least, and again. I thought the national board was not satisfied with the coaching I had done, and did not have enough proof that I had anything to offer them.”

Now Ken Mark is in the position that he will be going to the New Zealand board, on a basis of mutual ambition — and hopefully.' mutual trust — to get New Zealand past the barrier that is Australia to earn the much-desired goal of Olympic and world championships participation.