Allistair McCaw has built a personal reputation as a leading sports performance coach, addressing Olympians, football clubs and tennis players.
After 25 years in the field, he is branching out from sport, working as a consultant and advisor on how to maximise human performance, team culture, mindset and leadership.
Recently Allistair spoke to students, pupils, coaches and athletes in Dundee to share his knowledge and expertise.
Over two days he visited Dundee charity Kanzen Karate, Morgan Academy, Dundee Football Club, Dundee & Angus College, and Henderson Loggie.
And during a break in between the sessions, I chatted to him in a room with a beautiful view of the River Tay at Henderson Loggie’s Vision Building.
The motivational speaker and best-selling author gave me an insight into what it takes to become a “champion”.
McCaw also gave his views on the importance of learning from failure, what it’s like to coach some of sports greatest athletes and what he thinks of young people today.
“I always enjoy my time out here in Dundee,” he said.
“And I don’t think there has been somewhere that I’ve gone back to four times when it comes to work.
“But for me places and work has always been about people. So if I enjoy the people I am with, then that’s very easy for me to go back to.
“Dundee is one of those places.”
Working with people in Dundee from eight to 80
McCaw, 49, who is now based in Florida, was invited to come back to the city by Roy O’Kane, chief officer of Dundee-based charity Kanzen Karate.
McCaw continued: “I was very excited about the visit because I knew I would be speaking to a very diverse group of people with ages ranging from eight to 80 years old.
“And I love being able to speak about my passion which is mindset, leadership and culture.”
Born in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, McCaw ended up immigrating to South Africa with his family during the Eighties.
He went on to become a five-time world championship competitor in the sport of Duathlon and he has also completed 29 marathons.
Are Dundee’s young people ‘lazy’?
During his two-day visit to Dundee, McCaw spoke to pupils at Morgan Academy.
But what does he think of young people today and do they have the same work ethic as previous generations?
“I was asked that question [during one of the visits] because you know we are led to believe that this is a lazier generation,” he said.
“But what I would say is that the leadership is lacking in terms of how to motivate this generation.
“I believe they have a high work ethic when motivated in the correct way.
“They are more motivated in group settings – they love to work in groups.
“So I would say it’s not actually a generational problem but a leadership challenge of how to get the best from the group you are working with.”
He also spoke to pupils at the school about the importance of shutting off distractions, for example like mobile phones, especially when they are studying.
“The best and highest performers are able to shut off more distractions,” he said.
“One of the messages I gave to students at Morgan Academy was if you are studying in a room and your phone is in that room, that is a distraction – even if it is switched off.
“The minute you lose a little bit of focus you are thinking ‘I wonder if that person messaged me back’ or ‘I wonder what is happening on Instagram right now’.
“So the temptation is there for me to pick up the phone while it is still sitting there.
“To increase your focus and your learning rate, you shouldn’t have a distraction in the room.
“It should be outside the room.”
Dundee football controversy
During a previous visit to the city McCaw caused controversy among football fans after he posted on social media that Dundee’s two clubs should consider merging.
On Twitter in May 2022 he said: “Solution to the city of Dundee football.
“Long-standing rivalry. Fact is both in struggle more ways than one.
“Cut traditions and merge both to become Dundee City FC.”
McCaw suggested a merged Dundee club could consolidate its academy efforts, be more financially viable, create “unity” amongst the city’s football fans and work together to build a shared, modern stadium.
While his tweet on social media drew anger from football fans at the time, he is now keen to put the incident behind him and move on.
When asked if he was surprised at the reaction from fans, he said: “I have to be honest with you, I didn’t really read the comments.
“I will post things and not really look at the comments. It’s advice I give to my athletes as well.”
All the best learn from failure, says leadership coach Allistair McCaw
While many football fans in the city will chalk the tweet up as a social media fail, McCaw believes there is merit in not always getting it right.
“You are speaking to someone who has failed multiple times over and I still do,” he said.
“But the key thing about failure is that you learn from it.
“Nobody likes to fail but the most successful high performers I’ve worked with have all failed the most.
“They say that failure is not the opposite of success – it is a part of it.”
What’s it like coaching some of sport’s biggest stars?
McCaw also gave an insight into what it was like coaching elite athletes. He has helped to train tennis heavyweights including Kevin Anderson and Russian two-time singles champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
But which one did he enjoy working with the most?
“That is like asking who my favourite kid is,” he said.
“Even the difficult ones challenged me to be a better coach and leader.
“But they all brought something very different and that’s the uniqueness about it.”
McCaw added that while he enjoyed his time as sports competitor earlier on in his career, he also gets a lot of satisfaction from the work he does now.
“When I was an athlete I really enjoyed that and now that I am into leadership and culture, that fuels my passion as well.
“I have always tried to do what I really enjoy and am passionate about.”
