Charlotte (Steve Goldberg’s Wheel World) – It’s been some time since the sun never set on the British empire but if the pieces of Miles Thompson’s master plan continue to fall into place over the next fortmonth – my extended play version of the Wimbledonian fortnight – next September in Rio might extend the  solar boundary further down the South Atlantic with more significance than the Falklands.

It’s not a mission without challenges – Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States and the Netherlands all surely stand in their path to the podium – but as evidenced by recent success in the IWBF U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship for Women, it’s not without possibility or promise as well.

When Thompson’s appointment was announced in October 2013, British Wheelchair Basketball Chairman Malcolm Tarkenter said, "We know that the future of our Women’s Programme is extremely bright. We have a fantastic combination of young up and coming players with those who have been playing the sport internationally for many years now, and Miles brings with him the knowledge and experience to continue to move us forwards."

I caught up with the former University of Alabama men’s head coach and USA assistant this week as he camped in Frankfurt, prepping the GB senior women’s team for some test matches against Germany and Canada.

While undeniably proud of the first world title won by a British women’s team, taking that trophy home wasn’t his goal in Beijing.

After the U25 semifinal, Thompson revealed how success was measured.  "Getting to the Final is what we came to do, so I feel like we’re on the right path and we have one more game before we can really call it a good tournament."

Note that he didn’t specify winning that game.

He later told me, "The objective in team selection and training for the U25 Championships was performance," he told me. "To build a toughness factor that is undeniable and palpable.  You do those things and the score takes care of itself."

But other things had to come before that.

When Thompson went to his interview for the GB job, he carried with him the diagram of  legendary UCLA coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.
Toughness isn’t one of  the 15 blocks that make up Wooden’s pyramid but several of them – self-control, condition, poise, intentness – are certainly ingredients to that.

Like Wooden, Thompson believes, "in culture before performance.  The adjustment of that mindset, into a program that was coachless for over two years, caused folks to pause; but now we’re basically centralized with the ability to practice, and work within sport science, for weeks/months at a time."

As a key member of David Kiley’s USA National Women’s Team staff in 2009, Thompson was impressed with a GB squad that was young and fast but lacking in the fundamentals necessary to make a good team great. He also knew it was a team that would benefit from consistent quality time together and BWB will certainly continue to support that given recent results.

"Our methodology is daily incremental gains and a shared human experience.  Once the formula and personalities were put in place good things happen."

The penultimate goal of the pyramid, the formula as he puts it, is Competitive Greatness, which sits alone at the top.

Long before that becomes a reality, a foundation must be laid which includes what may be considered the very basic and possibly considered archaic concepts of Industriousness, Friendship, Loyalty, Cooperation, and Enthusiasm. When you consider them together though, it somewhat defines the concept of “team”.

Two-thirds (8) of his senior team players were on the U25 squad and that experience along with the confidence that comes with it will be invaluable, but now they are jumping back into the deep end of the pool.

The next big test will be the qualification for Rio at the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship tournament in Worcester, UK that runs from 28 August to 6 September.

While British Wheelchair Basketball covets a medal position next September, for Thompson it is the road to Rio that holds as much , if not more, value.
 
"I am on a personal and professional adventure.  I am grateful within each day I get to experience something I have never felt or seen previous."

So far, at least one brick on that road is paved in gold.

Steve Goldberg

FIBA

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