I read a fascinating piece in the Guardian, by the novelist Rebecca Watson about her love for football, the drama and emotion of it, and how we create our own narratives whilst watching games. Two bits stuck out for me with regards narrative coaching:
“The space for imagination – for what your mind can build – is vast in football. The experience of being a football supporter is complicated and dramatic, and that’s what I love about it. I love the emotions, the bias, the narrative built into watching a game.”
With my clients, we often explore whether biases are affecting the narratives they tell themselves – football fans can be the most biased bunch you can come across! The same act (e.g. a deliberate foul) will by one set of fans be seeing as clever gamesmanship and the opposing group as blatant cheating!
And my favourite part of the article is this:
“Watching football can have a kaleidoscopic lens: you’re holding the potential of what could happen, of what isn’t happening, of how things could be different.”
I love the kaleidoscopic metaphor – what I enjoy about coaching is looking forward with my clients of what could be. We take a look through the kaleidoscopic and see different glimpses of potential futures and outcomes and develop a plan for getting there.