It was my pleasure to spend some time with David O Connor this weekend at the Ocala Horse Trials; he was on top form – relaxed, friendly, he seems really happy, and yet there can’t have been a busier man. The only busier man might have been organizer Peter Gray!
In addition to coaching countless Canadians, the O’Connor Event Team was out in force, and David also conducted a course walk for examiners for the Canadian National Coaching Association. Despite all of this, he was still a few minutes early to meet me, but still apologized for being late (because I was!). As we talked, I also realized that David’s impeccable manners and easy-going exterior belie a real hunger for the US job – he wants it.
I asked him when he decided to apply:
“I have thought about the opportunity for years, and I had been thinking about it in particular since they announced the job opening. I have been trying to put that desire into thoughts about my relationship with what we’ve been able to achieve with Canada, which has been a great, rewarding experience – to be able to go into a system that wasn’t working and be able to put a team together, and be part of that team is an amazing experience. We were able to scout riders, scout horses, put them on programs, guide them along, and start to have success.
So it was very much trying to balance those thoughts, and I’d have to say that my patriotism for the US job as much as anything is something I’ve thought about and talked about for a very long time. On top of all that, Jack le Goff, who was coach for the US Team, and who I rode under for a long time, had talked to me about coaching the US Team. He was always interested for me to be the coach, and he was very, very supportive of that process. So when the timing and the opportunity came up, I put my name forward.
How the Canucks might cope without him
Q: It seems like you have such a great thing with the Canadians, a real bond, and if you do get the job and have to leave them, they’ll be heartbroken…?
David: (he does look surprised, and laughs!) I think we’ll talk about it in 2012. If I do end up getting the US job, we’ll talk about helping the transition for whoever would be the replacement. I have some ideas about who that might be already, but right now, I don’t think we’ll really talk about it until that process might start.
The success of the Canadian program will be it’s sustainability–whether I’m there or not, whether the players change–whether or not it has sustainability, that’s always the final test of a program. I’m really not a believer that it’s a one-shot deal, or just going to win “a championship.” I think that’s way, way below what our goals are. Our goals have to be sustainability and sustained excellence. I’m not even a believer that the medals are just a goal–they’re a result. They’re a result of how one does one’s job. As a rider, as an athlete, as a program and as a country, so it’s a result of how you do things.
So I would hope that the program would have sustainability even though some of the individual players may change.
Some insight into David’s Training Philosophy
Q: Is that how you’ll approach the US job if it’s yours?
David: Absolutely. It’s a philosophy. You can talk to any of the Canadians, I’m not dictatorial about training, more of a guidance. The riders put their ideas forward, and together we make plans about their progression, the assessment of where they are. This conversation leads to what I think the next steps for them are, and we talk about how to achieve those steps, whether that be with private coaches, or if they want to come and take lessons from me.
For the private coaches in the US, we would expect to see a progression much like the Canadians, and so, yes, I think I would use much the same system for the USA. The US has a wider variety of riders, from riders that are just starting at the international level to riders with a lot of experience at the international level so that conversation would be on a wider scale.
For instance, the way I would talk to Hawley (Bennett) out on the West Coast, is quite different to the way I deal with Steph (Rhodes-Bosch). Steph’s here in Ocala to work with me because she’s chosen to do that, so I’m much more involved in the teaching process; with Hawley I’ll go out there and make assessments about our program and progression. She’s got very good people that she works with, and I have conversations with those people about the overall plan, so that everybody is thinking the same thing. We literally have a conversation between the three of us–me, Hawley, and her private coaches–because she’s going to get much more out of her personal coaches since that’s where she’s going to spend her time.
My thought process with the American program would be much more about that with the experienced riders; having those conversations with their own coaches, so that we’re all having a plan with what expectations are, and a plan to realize those expectations.
I don’t think it’s about ME doing all the teaching. There’s a huge difference between teaching and coaching – huge. It’s one thing to stand out in the middle of the arena doing assessments, or going through your teaching thing, but that’s got very little to do with coaching, which is putting programs together that build expectations, builds confidence and then builds success.
Q: Although you do both!
David: Absolutely, and if the athlete wants that access, then I have a record that proves that we can do that, with the Canadians, and also with so many of my students.
David as Team Leader
Q: Does it worry you at all that, whereas the Canadians seem to have such a wonderful public wellspring of support, sometimes it seems that the US almost has the complete opposite with a very vocal and opinionated media and public, and that you might be setting yourself up for some harsh criticism?
David: No, not at all. I think you can have an effect on that kind of attitude. I’m a very positive kind of person, so the positive attitude of support for each other, support for the team, for the administration team, along with the vets and all that kind of thing is very important to me. Leadership comes from the top, and I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve been able to have been in different situations where my job was to create the team positively.
The USEF, for example, came out of a very divisive situation when I became President, and my job was to pull a team together. I did that with the staff, and the same thing with the Board, so now it’s a TEAM that can see things in the future and everybody has a part. I think that’s what your job is as a team leader.
The same thing is true with the Canadians, and we do the same thing with our OCET (O’Connor Event Team). That will go on because Karen will continue to coach and teach a lot of the people at home, but that program is very small, realistically, for producing international riders. We only usually have two at a time, like now we have Lauren (Kieffer) and Hannah (Sue Burnett). Most of the teaching I do now is Canadians–I would say I teach 80% Canadians now.
David on US Prospects
Q: But Lauren and Hannah, after 2012, could conceivably have a real shot at being contenders for Rio, and being on international teams?
David: Oh yes, absolutely, if the horses are there. I’m not quite sure if I buy into the whole conflict of interest argument. They would be more on their own. I’m not a selector. I couldn’t give them any more thought than I would anyone else.
There’s a job preparing a group to be ready for selection, and then selecting the actual team is about taking the five, or six, or however many, that are ready, or at the top. Selecting is like a bet. My job, for Canada now as coach, is to try and get everybody as high and as far as they can go within that progression. I don’t think your job as coach is much about selection, it’s INPUT, so the selectors can ask, “is that real, is that good, is this what we’re seeing?”, and you can give your opinion, but not have a role in selection.
I think the American program is about to explode. There’s a level of talent right there that is so high. Karen is going to retire in 2012 no matter what, and Philip is undecided about what he’s doing, there’s a bunch of people like that are actually toward the end of their careers, and this next group is really strong, so that’s quite exciting.
Funnily enough there’s a lot of guys right now. Boyd’s fantastic, Will Coleman’s really good, there’s Will Faudree, and there’s Clark Montgomery–there is a group, especially of guys which is quite an unusual situation right now, that are very, very strong, and I think that coaching, and belief, and trust will help take things to an incredibly high level.
On having a clean slate
Q: So, will Karen retire just from international competition, or from four star events?
David: Just from team stuff, from the process of being on teams, rather like what Scottie (Ian Stark) did. He retired, then came back and said he might ride 2*, 3*. Lately he’s been talking about even riding around 4*, (we both laugh). I can see Karen doing exactly the same thing! She’ll just take herself out of team consideration and out of the team situation.
I’m very optimistic about the possibilities, and with a track record of being able to build these type of situations, even with the USEF, or our own business at OCET, I see that the model is so much about belief and support. There’s a technical side to it, but that technical side then leads into the belief side. That to me is very similar models of how we rode, how we did our horses, how we run our business, how we do it at the USEF.
Q: You’re stepping down as President of the USEF?
David: Yes, I’ll be totally done, and I’m looking forward to not being President of the USEF. I will have done it for nine years and that’s just the presidency, which makes for 17 years service, so I will have put my time in.
Q: So how busy with other commitments would you be, if the job was yours in 2012?
David: I wouldn’t be. This would be the only job I would have. The FEI stuff would go away because I wouldn’t be President of the USEF. The business would very much be run more by Karen. I do some course designing, but it’s only five or six courses and at lower levels. I enjoy that, I think that’s a good education, I think it’s good to keep your hands in building, and you can go around the world and have those conversations with everybody because you’re involved in it. I think that’s a plus. I’m still riding, and I think that’s a plus too. So I’m involved with every aspect of the sport, but this would really be the only job I would have.
On being hungry for it
Q: It seems like you really want it.
David: Absolutely. I’ve been preparing myself for coaching international teams, forever really; for example, by studying farriers and vets for years so I’m able to have intelligent conversations with those people. Course design, teaching, administration, leadership, studying coaching from other sports; I study basketball quite a lot and Phil Jackson (L.A. Lakers Coach) is very much a model that I like in a very, very aggressive sport.
So I’ve been preparing and studying for years, for this reason. I knew back in the 80’s that I wanted to coach international teams, and everything has been a step in that direction. When my competitive career was done, I wanted to be good at coaching, and the Canada coaching slot has been a fantastic experience and a great test bed for my philosophies. The attitude for the team, for me, is the major thing – trust and belief and technically they’re very important too.
I’m really excited for the next two years. We fully expect to win the Pan-American Games this year, and medal in London, absolutely. There’s just a lot of cool things that are happening with Canada right now that I’m really excited about.
So having a track record of creating what we were talking about, with a program that wasn’t going anywhere – it works! I want to do it again, and I’m ready to do it for the US team. I’m excited, I would be very excited to get into it, sit down and talk to the riders, and ask them what they think, what they want, what they feel should be done. I know what I think, I want to hear what they think.
Fostering Team Spirit
Q: The Canadians really do seem to have such cohesion and TEAM spirit, and that seems to be lacking within the US, is that what you’d hope to foster again?
David: We talk about it with the Canadian Team. We talk about it a lot. That’s the Phil Jackson side of the picture again, you have to be involved with the athletes at a level that creates a tremendous amount of support, confidence, and trust. There are conversations we have that build that level or teamwork. We talk about supporting each other, we open up. We have had a lot of dinner conversations especially during training sessions. We’d talk about all sorts of things, throw a bunch of stuff out there – horse training, where do you see yourself in 10 years, get everyone to start talking about it, get into a little argument, some discussions about stuff…I think that really builds a cohesive group.
Q: Have you considered if you don’t get the US position, will you continue on as Canadian Coach?
David: That’s up to them. Really, I wouldn’t want to force that card. The athletes have asked me that, and I’ve told them it’s up to them. Before the 2013 season, I would expect them to discuss it on their own, without me there, and decide if they want to continue, but it’s completely up to the athletes and the Canadian administration. No matter if was applying for this job or not, they have got to be the ones who come back and say yes, they would like for this to continue, they have to have that opportunity, independently of me.
Q: I suppose if the job is yours, there would be no way for you to “shadow” Captain Mark Philips, which there had been some discussion about?
David: No, because I am definitely committed to the Canadians through 2012, and I think that was actually much more about somebody if they were coming from the outside. A couple of the applicants are from Europe, they DO need to get here because our system is so different, especially on the legal side; dealing with the USOC, as well as knowing the personalities — the blacksmiths, selectors and things like that. I think it would be very important for someone not from here to be part of the system so they start to really know, not just the riders, but they get the lay of the land. 3,000 by 2,000 miles with some 200 odd events – it’s quite different.
There’s a rumour that we may know the outcome by Rolex, which either way would suit David well as he’d like to concentrate on winning the Pan-Ams, and then his assault on London next year. I was surprised that he genuinely seemed to underestimate the strength of the personal bond and connection the Canadians feel for him, and also by his lack of ego for one so confident and successful, but perhaps that’s the secret to his success!
Once again, I’d like to thank him very much for talking to EventingNation.com, and thank you reading.
