Case studies

National wheelchair rugby league team using Thomas assessments to develop team relationships to deliver match-day results

The Challenge

In 2015, the England wheelchair rugby league team were preparing for the annual European Championships tournament and test match against France, who they hadn’t beaten for 4 years. The team was facing a period of change as their coach had implemented a new regime to refresh the long-standing previous regime which had lost its effectiveness. With gameplayers only training once a month, there was limited opportunity to build team relationships and manage the change process effectively.

The Solution

Head Coach, Mark Roughsedge, was looking for a tool to help him gain a more in-depth look into individual players. “The squad is made up of players from diverse backgrounds with varying personality and behavioural styles. I wanted to be able to dig deeper into what motivates them and their preferred behaviours in order to better manage the group and build team morale”.

Mark saw an opportunity after attending Thomas’ Winning Mindsets masterclass at Kent Cricket to use Thomas PPA to help gain new insights into his players.

The Results

At the European Championships, the team beat France for the first time in four years and they then went on to win the whole tournament and became European Wheelchair Rugby League champions. “The PPA tool was perfect for our group and undoubtedly played a major role in helping us to beat France and become European Champions. We look forward to building on the foundations created by Thomas process as we move forward and l look to achieve future success”.

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