South Sydney are hoping lessons learned from NASA and the Houston Ballet Company can help them go all the way this NRL season.
Many NRL clubs now make a point of sending their football staff on overseas study tours of other sporting organisations, including the NFL in America and English Premier League clubs.
How the Houston Ballet Company and NASA will help South Sydney.
But Souths broke new ground late last year when they spent time with astronauts and ballet dancers.
NASA gave Souths valuable insight into how to recruit the right people, while the Houston Ballet Company boasts the best pathways system for dancers in the US – two areas crucial to running a successful rugby league club.
Souths chief operating officer Blake Schaefer, general manager Mark Ellison and chief commercial officer Shannon Donato started out visiting NBA side the Utah Jazz, which is part-owned by Souths’ billionaire part-owner Mike Cannon-Brookes.
The trio also took in a US college football game with the Utah Utes and toured Real Salt Lake, the Major League Soccer franchise, which has the highest number of locally developed players in US soccer.
Brock Schaefer (second from left) and Mark Ellison (far right) check out the International Space Station Training Centre in Houston
But it was their trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston that was the game-changer.
“This was probably the most unbelievable part of the trip because we spent time with the director of the centre, then spent a couple of hours with the astronaut recruiting and training team,” Schaefer told The Sun-Herald.
“We wanted to find out what they look for when looking for applicants. Every time there is a vacancy in their space program, they get 30,000 applicants, ranging from people with double PhDs, professional athletes, test pilots in the air force … and they only take one or two people.
“We kept asking, ‘How do you pick the right one or two applicants?’
Richmond’s Trent Cotchin with South Sydney’s Cameron Murray earlier this month.Credit:South Sydney Rabbitohs
“And their advice in the end was, ‘Who would you like to go camping with for six months, and you can’t leave your tent?’
“All the applicants are brilliant and elite, but at the end of the day it comes down to relationships.”
Expect that same analogy to be used in future recruitment meetings at Souths.
The Houston Ballet was next on the itinerary, with dance officials wanting to know why an NRL club had travelled halfway across the world to pay them a visit. Surely The Australian Ballet was more than capable of producing a decent performance of The Nutcracker?
“I did some research before we left and found out Houston Ballet Company were phenomenal with their pathways program and developing young dancers into their senior [system],” Schaefer said. “No other ballet company in America keeps as many of their young dancers.
“They were able to do that because of their staff and well-being officers. There are a lot of problems with body images and body dysmorphic disorders, but there are so many well-being officers and support staff, they are able to help the dancers and keep them happy [and performing].
“To employ more staff, you need the money and donations. This also made us realise how important it was to get people investing into Souths, so we can develop the next Cameron Murray and next Campbell Graham.
“We told the Souths board we wanted to look at elite organisations and how they identify talent, recruit them, retain them and develop them. NASA and the Houston Ballet Company did just that.”
Souths know they have one of the best junior bases in the country, but now feel they are better educated on how to not only keep the best kids but bring them all the way through to first grade.
Schaefer and Ellison flew to Scotland, where they met up with coach Jason Demetriou and crossed paths with Storm coach Craig Bellamy and football manager Frank Ponissi. They watched Scotland’s rugby team play the All Blacks, then finished with a two-day conference in London and a quick catch-up with the club’s World Cup contingent.
Meanwhile, Demetriou confirmed the club’s interest in Newcastle’s English winger Dominic Young, who was given the Redfern sales pitch by countryman Sam Burgess.
“There’s obviously interest,” Demetriou said. “I think he’s a talented young kid with a lot of good footy ahead of him. He’s contracted, we’re interested in quality players coming to the club, but there have not been any developments so far.”
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