Gilbert Enoka is a name few of you will be familiar with in rugby, yet he has arguably been one of the most important men in the game over the last eight years.
Enoka was added to the New Zealand New Years' Honours List, bestowed the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit along with Dan Carter.
Enoka is New Zealand's mental skills coach, and it was revealed in a profile of him with stuff.co.nz the critical shift in mentality he brought following the chastening defeat to France in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Emoka stresses the "red head, blue head" theory, which is a fancy title stressing the importance of composure.
The mental skills coach asks his players to take control of their emotion and switch their mindset from a "panicky red" to a "clear-thinking blue".
The task for players is to get into a position where they can harness their composure.
Most interesting here is how the players did it : Richie McCaw would stamp his feet, Brad Thorn used to throw water on himself and Kieran Read would stare the length of the pitch.
New Zealand have won back-to-back World Cups since Enoka introduced the policy.
Any hope that Enoka could switch his considerable talents to a wealthier sport - perhaps football - would seem to be extinguished by his revolutionary "no pricks" policy.
I don't think you can be a positive person on the rugby field and a prick off it. If you're going to reach your potential, you've got to be who you are on and off.
If this environment spits out people that are robust and strong on the inside, then society becomes better because you get better fathers, brothers and mates.
In my 15 years with the All Blacks, if you can get both parties growing together that's the only way an athlete will achieve their potential and access the gift they've been blessed with.
It is a really interesting profile, and you can read it here.
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