Bayern Munich’s Aaron Danks uses animals to explain differences in coaching style with Vincent Kompany

(Photo by Marcel Engelbrecht - firo sportphoto/Getty Images) | Getty Images One of the interesting aspects of Vincent Kompany’s coaching setup at Bayern Munich is the emphasis on having different voices and perspectives rather than surrounding himself with assistants who simply replicate his methods

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What is the story about?

One of the interesting aspects of Vincent Kompany’s coaching setup at Bayern Munich is the emphasis on having different voices and perspectives rather than surrounding himself with assistants who simply replicate his methods.

Aaron Danks offered a fascinating insight into that philosophy, explaining that Kompany actively encourages his assistants to bring their own personalities, ideas, and approaches to the coaching st

“Yeah, I think there are differences. Vince was clear with us that he didn’t want

his assistant coaches to be ‘mini-Vinnies’ and everybody doing the exact same thing all the time. So we’re all different, but we all complement each other,” Danks said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “The analogy that I use with the coaching staff is the zebra and the ostrich. So the zebra and the ostrich live together in the savannah. And they have this mutual relationship, so the zebra has really good hearing and a really good sense of smell, but its eyesight’s not great. So if it smells something or hears something, it goes, and the ostrich follows. But the ostrich has really big eyes and got incredible eyesight. So if it sees something and goes, the zebra follows.

“And we’ve got to be zebras and ostriches; we can’t all have the same opinion, we can’t all have the same view of things. We have to look at it slightly differently. So we try to do that as a coaching staff. Every training session, one of us works on the attack, the other one’s working on the defense, one of us is working with the midfield players, one of us is working with the attackers, whatever it may be. So we have different perspectives. And then we come together; we have our discussions, and we end up finding our solutions.

“Obviously, then Vince fits into that in terms of his leadership style, in terms of his experience as an ex-professional player, and he gives us some really good perspectives from that as well.”

In other words, Kompany does not want a coaching staff full of yes-men. He wants different perspectives, healthy discussions, and people willing to challenge one another to find the best solutions.