An Aussie coach’s ultimate recipe for a medal breakthrough

B.B., July 27, 2022

Philippine boxing team’s Australian Coach Don Abnett shares how his coaching style sparked the national team’s Olympic run, leading to its best showing since 1996.

SILVER FIST. Don Abnett (second person from the right) poses for a photo showing his fist with Olympic silver medalist Nesthy Pestecio alongside two other Philippine boxing team members at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. [Photo Courtesy of Marcus Manalo FB Page]

Overseas coaches coming on board national sports teams is nothing out of the ordinary in the sporting arena. Many Filipino teams, athletes and even coaches got much mileage out of this.

American pro basketball coach Tim Cone ushered two PBA teams to a grand slam win, making him the most decorated coach in the league’s history with 24 championships. University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 76 saw the “heart strong” coach Anursorn “Tai” Bundit from Thailand, an eccentric coach who led the charge of the Ateneo Lady Blue Eagles to overcome five do-or-die matches in the volleyball finals and capture their unexpected first title in 2014. Not to forget the Filipino beloved boxing trainer Freddie Roach who has been by the side of the legend Manny Pacquiao for over 20 years.

Thanks to globalization, these foreigners found their way to the Pearl of the Orient Sea, cementing their imported marks on the country’s sports scene.

Seems this trend is not going to stop anytime soon - surely, not to sportspeople’s dismay. The recent 2020 Tokyo Olympics just witnessed the workings of a genius that restored the Philippine boxing team to its glory days.

Bagging two silvers and one bronze, the national boxing went home as the most bemedaled team in the top international sporting event. Nesthy Pestecio punched her way to a historic silver medal finish in the women’s boxing featherweight division while Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial won silver and bronze medals in the men’s boxing flyweight and middleweight categories, respectively.

The former Australia coach at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. [Photo Courtesy of Don Abnett FB Page]

Though he may be too modest to admit, the short stocky man behind this feat is the “Aussie geek” Don Abnett.

The 61-year-old coach entered the country’s boxing in 2019 as its training director after his coaching stint at the Australian Institute of Sports (AIS). He introduced invigorating changes in the running of the national boxing program, which made an enormous impact on the sport that for the longest time had been the Filipino’s share of pride.

But what is Abnett’s recipe behind the major Olympic medal scoops? While many coaches may subscribe to a set of similar goals, the way they go about realizing them is unique to the individual's style and philosophy.

Pursue Real Relationships with Athletes

As an Australian coach from an advanced training sports institute with stunning facilities and accommodation, the sorry state of Philippine sports should have given Abnett a tough time. Unexpectedly, it was hardly the case for him. “It wasn’t really a big adjustment,” he said.

Despite the meager support the national boxing gets, Abnett revealed that there is not much to be desired as a coach as the boxers made it easier for him. “The Australians are difficult to deal with, the discipline and commitment aren’t there while you’ve got all that with the Filipinos. They understand what you’re trying to deliver,” he said in jest.

There was an adaptation to be had at a personal level to be sure, but how he navigated it was symbolic of his commitment to pursue real relationships.

Getting hands-on and making progress on the get-go was not Abnett’s priority. He first spent time interacting with and learning about the boxers. “When we’re in camp, we spend all the time together. We sleep in the same complex, eat together, and train together,” he narrated. This helped him “get to know the athletes, how they operate, what they like and dislike, and their personality.”

As a newcomer, it was crucial to develop mutual trust and better communication with the boxers. For him, "asking around first before starting to implement improvements” makes all the difference.

If Abnett was to describe his coaching philosophy, it would be that “coaching, teaching, and parenting are very similar.” Even though he considers himself a high-performance coach, meaning he can’t get too close to the boxers, he underscored the value of having an emotional connection to feel reachable enough for them to open up.

Under limiting conditions such as in sports competitions, the proximity he sets makes it easier for both him and the boxers to handle pressure.

“I experienced an athlete pass out during preparations leading to the Olympics last year. One particular athlete had a hard time focusing,” Abnett said. To minimize the levels of perceived pressure, he added that “it’s a group effort” as coaches and sports officials are subject to pressure too.

At an international event, a doctor once told him how an athlete couldn’t sleep for days because everyone was putting pressure on him. “The doctor opened up about her struggles with coaches not wanting to engage with her, thinking they had all the answers,” he lamented. The athlete, despite being a top seed failed to grab any medal.

What the doctor was describing is a performance-oriented climate in sports that neglects developing good interpersonal relationships, which Abnett frowns upon. “They should have supported him more,” he reflected, admitting that he also has trouble sleeping but it is no excuse to project pressure onto the athletes.

Coaches have the most agency in a sports environment, placing them in a position of respect and authority. But he urges coaches to be approachable and interested - one of his secret ingredients to achieving medal-winning performances or personal bests.

Give the athletes confidence to achieve

The top boxing trainer bared that his style of coaching is big on developing confidence in the boxers.

“A lot of Filipino boxers are low in confidence when it comes to the bigger countries,” Abnett recalled as his initial observation during his first year of coaching. He explained that the way he went about it was to “give the athletes the confidence to achieve, then show them examples of what you’re trying to teach and the results that come from them.”

Drawing a roadmap of where the boxers are heading, what is the right way, and the path that leads them there is central to his approach to building confidence.

MIND GAMES. The head coach of the Philippine boxing team sits at ringside with Bukidnon native Carlo Paalam for a pep talk during a warm-up session at the Tokyo Olympics. [Photo Courtesy of Marcus Manalo FB Page]

“You have to show the boxers skills and examples of what they need to do to win. It holds the team in perspective,” Abnett said, stressing the importance of visual proof in training. He recounted an instance when a local Thai boy had to beat a Rio gold medalist, the challenger copied a tactic Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam used to topple the same opponent to get to the bronze medal round.

Aside from visual proof, he also ties confidence-building with his concept of the “boxing brain,” which is a key ingredient to molding a universal boxer, one that “can make his or her own decisions.”

Many coaches organize training in an overly regimented fashion and are convinced that what makes up exceptional coaching is to yell out every instruction and count repetition. Talking about his coaching, Abnett noted that "the boxers are all different.” Given diverse behaviors and management cues, what is most important for him is to spend time with the boxers, know their strengths and weaknesses, and bring out their best when it comes to competition.

While he highlighted that the boxers should adhere to prepared programs, his goal was to train the boxers in different situations for them to learn how to think on their own to make them adaptable in competition.

“We teach them how to stance, guard, deliver punches, defend from punches, and counter punch from attacks. Then we put them in situations where they can decide on how to defend and counterattack,” Abnett said. When the boxers assume responsibility for their outcomes, they develop greater commitment and confidence in the process. This, according to him, “let them shine.”

“A lot of coaches around the world treat their athletes like puppets. Athletes will come back to the corner of the boxing ring and wait for their coach to tell them what to do,” Abnett pointed out. For him, "it's a struggle." Because when athletes act like subservient robots, it becomes difficult for them to adjust as the fight goes on.

He believes that the more the boxers get good at dealing with highly competitive and fast-changing situations, the more confident and better they become.

The no-recipe recipe

The ex-AIS coach revealed that ultimately “there’s no winning formula, you need to create it for yourself.” What a coach must do is to reach the athletes in the best possible way, he said.

If there’s anything to take away from Abnett, he said that more than the game, coaches should strive for athletes to become champions in life, where winning is a byproduct of the relationships they have created with one another. Athletes should also be able to think for themselves, own up to their individual decisions, and accept and learn from the results.

The Aussie coach’s recipe for a medal breakthrough is yet to be fully unraveled, not that he’s not keen to share but because the recipe if there’s any, is not for him to own. The athletes, coaches, staff, and the entire Filipino community had a hand in cooking to make Philippine boxing a powerhouse again.

There are a lot of expectations ahead of him now, but as he said, “I’m okay with losing.” The pint of ice cream his team shares as every competition comes to a close is enough to fill their spirits and move forward.

Coach Don Abnett may be an Aussie, but when Filipinos look at him, they see him as their own.

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