RugbyKO

6 Degrees with Leah

February 02, 2022 Season 2 Episode 7
6 Degrees with Leah
RugbyKO
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RugbyKO
6 Degrees with Leah
Feb 02, 2022 Season 2 Episode 7


Sport, rugby in particular, formed the foundation of Nick Leah’s childhood. Walcha where he grew up,  had several Ex-Wallabies and aspirational Wallaby trialists namely Peter Fenwick – who captained the Wallabies & Andrew Laurie who both along with his Dad drove  a lot of the sport in the town & coached Rugby and Cricket. His dad also coached NSW Country and various zone representative teams, and heavily involved in reviving Junior Rugby in Country NSW during the late 70’s and early 80’s.
 
This  passion for developing the next generation of players took Nick from a passionate player as a child into an equally passionate coach and development expert as an adult. 

Over the past 20 years Nick has worked with sportspeople at all levels all over the world (with a 1 in 4 record of producing professionally contracted players!), and today, he is the Global General Manager of 6 Degree Sports, an elite performance consultancy which he shares some details about in today’s episode. 

We also get into what drives Nick to do the work that he does, what he sees as the main issues preventing Australian rugby from thriving as it should, and why he believes that creating a clear vision is essential for the future of the game.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • A rundown of Nick’s professional background.
  • Nick explains the fundamental role that sport has played in his life since he was a child.
  • Inspiration behind the founding of Ignite Rugby Group, now 6 Degree Sport.
  • The key factor that made Nick’s hometown so successful in sports. 
  • Nick’s thoughts on the current state of Australian rugby. 
  • Characteristics that Nick believes make a good coach. 
  • Some of the pros and cons of Australian rugby. 
  • Learnings from a study that Nick conducted on a former NFL player. 
  • Articles that Nick has written in the past. 
  • What Australian rugby needs to do to gain back support of the players and the fans. 
  • How women’s rugby is evolving across the world. 
  • Nick explains what the 6 Degree Sport platform consists of. 
  • A new Rugby App launching soon in conjunction with The NSW Positive Rugby Foundation.
  • What the 6 Degree Sports platform consists of and how it will benefit rugby players.

“I saw what an organisation could do when everything is interconnected and there’s clarity around what you can do, and then I saw the exact opposite.” — Nick Leah [0:08:16] 

“The Ignite concept was born out of, “How do we create a platform that can provide the information that grassroots coaches can easily access and provide to the players?” — Nick Leah [0:10:08] 

“The best coaches provide a clear vision, can get people together, and are also looking at what’s next.” — Nick Leah [0:19:41] 

“In terms of skill development and acquisition, the body learns when the conditions for each repetition is slightly different – the body then has to adapt to get movement to a certain ‘end-point’.' — Nick Leah [0:26:51] 

Six Degree Sports
Six Degree Sports on Facebook
Six Degree Sports App
Chris Coyle
Nick Leah on LinkedIn
Walcha Rugby Union on Facebook
Country Rugby Union

Show Notes


Sport, rugby in particular, formed the foundation of Nick Leah’s childhood. Walcha where he grew up,  had several Ex-Wallabies and aspirational Wallaby trialists namely Peter Fenwick – who captained the Wallabies & Andrew Laurie who both along with his Dad drove  a lot of the sport in the town & coached Rugby and Cricket. His dad also coached NSW Country and various zone representative teams, and heavily involved in reviving Junior Rugby in Country NSW during the late 70’s and early 80’s.
 
This  passion for developing the next generation of players took Nick from a passionate player as a child into an equally passionate coach and development expert as an adult. 

Over the past 20 years Nick has worked with sportspeople at all levels all over the world (with a 1 in 4 record of producing professionally contracted players!), and today, he is the Global General Manager of 6 Degree Sports, an elite performance consultancy which he shares some details about in today’s episode. 

We also get into what drives Nick to do the work that he does, what he sees as the main issues preventing Australian rugby from thriving as it should, and why he believes that creating a clear vision is essential for the future of the game.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • A rundown of Nick’s professional background.
  • Nick explains the fundamental role that sport has played in his life since he was a child.
  • Inspiration behind the founding of Ignite Rugby Group, now 6 Degree Sport.
  • The key factor that made Nick’s hometown so successful in sports. 
  • Nick’s thoughts on the current state of Australian rugby. 
  • Characteristics that Nick believes make a good coach. 
  • Some of the pros and cons of Australian rugby. 
  • Learnings from a study that Nick conducted on a former NFL player. 
  • Articles that Nick has written in the past. 
  • What Australian rugby needs to do to gain back support of the players and the fans. 
  • How women’s rugby is evolving across the world. 
  • Nick explains what the 6 Degree Sport platform consists of. 
  • A new Rugby App launching soon in conjunction with The NSW Positive Rugby Foundation.
  • What the 6 Degree Sports platform consists of and how it will benefit rugby players.

“I saw what an organisation could do when everything is interconnected and there’s clarity around what you can do, and then I saw the exact opposite.” — Nick Leah [0:08:16] 

“The Ignite concept was born out of, “How do we create a platform that can provide the information that grassroots coaches can easily access and provide to the players?” — Nick Leah [0:10:08] 

“The best coaches provide a clear vision, can get people together, and are also looking at what’s next.” — Nick Leah [0:19:41] 

“In terms of skill development and acquisition, the body learns when the conditions for each repetition is slightly different – the body then has to adapt to get movement to a certain ‘end-point’.' — Nick Leah [0:26:51] 

Six Degree Sports
Six Degree Sports on Facebook
Six Degree Sports App
Chris Coyle
Nick Leah on LinkedIn
Walcha Rugby Union on Facebook
Country Rugby Union