I SERVE AND TEACH
After more than 20 years experience in high-performance sport, my focus and passion now is to share my knowledge and my experiences to help and support individuals and groups to take the next step in their development. I have had, and indeed still have the honor of working with and learning from many successful athletes, teams, coaches and people from other contexts. Based on this knowledge and the wealth of experiences, I have developed several principles that create the foundation of how I live and work.
The two top principles are I serve and teach and My ego is my enemy.
My top priority when working with other people is that they don’t need me. For me personally there is no better feedback than: “Thank you Chris – now I’m able to walk alone towards my goals.” In order for the people to be able to say this, I always share everything I know, support them to develop their own strategies or uncover their talents. Even if I would hold back only a fraction of what I know to prolong the way we’re going together I would do them a disservice, because my ego would stand in my and our way. That’s why I share everything I know. Obviously, my knowledge and experiences are limited to specific situations and specific contexts. That’s why I always try to handle my life with humility and modesty, without losing sight of my strengths.
Other important principles are that I always see the human behind the athlete (many problems emerge, because the people don’t consider the personal world their athletes or employees, focusing only on performance enhancement, without showing respect for the human behind the athlete or employee), I always ask: What’s important NOW? (many times we’re dealing with something that happened in the past or might happen in the future, but we don’t consider what is important in this very moment), I keep an beginners-mind at all times (meaning, that I’m open for new experiences and impressions in every situation, perceiving what’s happening with serenity and impartiality).
Essential for my life and work are also the principles I always keep the right perspective (when I’m walking through nature I sometimes look up to the sky gazing at the stars above us, realizing, that I’m only a tiny little part of the universe we’re living in, asking myself: How important is this current situation or problems really?), I take ownership for the decisions I made and the actions I took (I’m deeply convinced that only if we take ownership for our decisions and actions, and when we’re honest to others and ourselves – only then are we able to help others to improve themselves and learn what is right or wrong), I take responsibility for others and myself (handling my body, my life, the life of others with responsibility and discipline as well as stepping up for others is self-evident to me), I act fair and predictable (especially to give other people orientation and security, in case they don’t experience this in the various context they’re living in), I believe in constant development and improvement (and this involves all life domains – may it be personal, occupational or sports related), and I will be judged by results (performance success, satisfaction, development – whatever the result should be, it has to be considerably better compared to the beginning of our mutual journey).
With time new principles develop, some principles change and others will always stay the way they are today. The sum of these principles shapes the way I think, live, and work.
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HARD FACTS
- Research associate and postgraduate lecturer at the Institute of psychology at the German Sport University Cologne/Germany
- Postgraduate lecturer at the European University of Applied Sciences Brühl
- Doctoral degree in sport sciences with a focus on sport psychology at the Institute of psychology at the German University Cologne/Germany
- Education in Wingwave-Coaching (Eilert Academy)
- Education in systemic coaching and change management (INeKO)
- Education in sport psychology and mental coaching in elite sports (ÖBS)
- Sport scientific counselling of elite athletes (e.g., Formula 1, Rallye) at the Sport clinic Bad Nauheim (2008-2009)
- Sport expert for the German National Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB; 2007-2008)
- National coach in Standing Volleyball (male), Cambodia (CNVLD; 2007-20011)
- Bronze-medal winner WOVD Standing Volleyball World Championship 2007
DISCIPLINES
- Team development
- Motivation
- Performance development
- Diagnostics in sport psychology
- Transfer of sport to business
- Identity & identification
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