Believe it or not, these questions and more were answered only last week.
For four years Essendon fitness coach John Quinn has been asking club officials to approve a player development trip to Japan. Two weeks ago that dream became reality when 10 players, two coaches, including Quinn and tour guide Hayden Thompson travelled to Japan to participate in a Leadership and Development program.
James Hird, Matthew Lloyd, Jason Johnson, Mark Johnson, Dean Solomon, Adam McPhee, Andrew Welsh, Damien Peverill, Mark McVeigh, David Hille, Dean Wallis, Quinn, Essendon CEO Peter Jackson and Thompson departed on the 4th of December for a 10-day tour of Japan.
They returned on Monday with all agreeing the trip had been a resounding success.
""We were overwhelmed with the success of the trip. You can notice the difference since we have been back because everyone seems to have taken a step forward,"" Quinn said.
""The success of the trip was two-fold. The first was the trip itself, which was a success because we achieved all of our goals and tasks that we had set down in our itinerary.""
""Secondly was the product of the trip. This aspect may not be determined until next year, maybe in June, maybe in September, we will just have to wait and see.""
Quinn said that for some players, the success of the trip may not be achieved for another four or five years.
""We had four aims we wanted to achieve while in Japan. We wanted to develop the players as people, expose them to honesty, integrity and discipline in lifestyle, exposure to different forms of leadership and the opportunity to experience another culture,"" Quinn said.
""Out of those four aims we wanted to identify whether success is a product of culture or environment. Are we going to be successful if we change the culture or if we change the environment or if we change both? That was the question we were asking,"" he said.
The group participated in a variety of activities across the country from Tokyo to Hiroshima. These included Karate, a visit to Tsukiji Fish Market, tours of major businesses Toyota and Yakult, attending a sumo wrestling training session and a tour of the site of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
The toughest part of the trip however involved each individual spending two nights with a Japanese host family that spoke little or no English at all.
""As Matthew Lloyd drove off with his host family he felt he was going to die. By the time he left his host family were crying. That’s a massive shift in attitude in only 48 hours,"" said Quinn.
Quinn found it hard to pinpoint one aspect of the trip that was a highlight to him, but said that watching the players develop during the trip and seeing them in combat at Karate was excellent.
""The visit to Toyota was also brilliant because the way they do what they do is unbelievable,"" he said.
""I can’t help but think that if Toyota can co-ordinate all their employees around the world to be focused on their goals like they do, then surely we can do that with 44 footballers.""
Quinn hopes the program can be an ongoing feature in the personal development of the players at the Essendon Football Club providing the long-term success of this trip can be proven.
If the positive feedback of the players is anything to go by then the Leadership and Development trip may become a feature of the Bombers pre-season program in the future.
Next week BomberLand reporter Ben O’Brien will start an exclusive five-part series on the Essendon trip to Japan, speaking to the players and coaches about their different experiences. Find out how Hird fared at Karate, how Lloyd dealt with his Japanese family and just what did happen to Dean Wallis at Hiroshima.
