When it comes to working in elite sport and with top-level coaches, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone better credentialled than Phil Coles.
Coles is the Caltex Socceroos High Performance Coordinator (Physiotherapy) and plays a significant role in Graham Arnold’s staff as the squad prepares for their first FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifier against Kuwait next week.
He brings incredible experience to the role having worked with some of the best coaches in sport during his career.
Aside from Arnold and Ange Postecoglou with Australia, Coles has also worked under esteemed managers in football like Kenny Dalglish, Roy Hodgson and Brendan Rodgers.
In the latest edition of 'Sounds Of The Socceroos', High Performance Coordinator Phil Coles discusses the key traits shared by all world-class coaches he's worked with, and his role in the Caltex Socceroos’ journey to Qatar.
His skill-set isn’t only confined to football either, having also worked with rugby league master coach Wayne Bennett, as well as highly-regarded San Antonio Spurs and USA Basketball mentor Gregg Popovich.
So, when Coles underlines the key traits that separates a good coach from the very best, it’s worth taking note.
“To be a great coach obviously their understanding of the game, the x’s and o’s of the technical and tactical approach is important but there’s a lot of good coaches in all codes that have that,” Coles told socceroos.com.au.
“But the thing the separates great coaches in understanding people and making people within an organisation feel valued and really bringing the best out of them.
“That’s a unique skill that separates the good coaches from the great coaches.”
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Coles has no doubt which category of coach Arnold sits in, which is why he’s excited to be a part of the Caltex Socceroos Road to Qatar.
The squad have been hard at work preparing in the United Arab Emirates this week to give themselves the best chance of making a winning start in next Wednesday’s (AEST) first qualifier in Kuwait.
“I can’t wait [to get started]. It’s a great opportunity,” Coles said.
“It’s a different group to when I was here leading up to 2010. It’s a younger group, a newer group coming in and learning to be together and taking the journey together and it’s super exciting.
“It’s a great staff, it’s a great group of guys and we all want to represent Australia well, but more importantly this group of guys want to do it together and it’s exciting to be a part of.”
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