Hawkins: World champion in 1983

While England's players take a break from competition, England coach Sue Hawkins has been considering what makes players tough under pressure and turns them into winners. In her second exclusive column for skysports.com, she asks is it innate or are you trained to win?

Before Australia went to the World Championship in Singapore in 1983, we knew we were going to win as a team.

Not once did the thought enter my head that we weren't going to win. Every time I stepped out on court, I knew I would beat that team and my opponent. I trusted my team mates to do the same, we had the same attitude and we had the long hours of preparation work that was needed to beat the opposition convincing. We trained for perfection and while I can't say that the game was perfect, the result was.

I would still skin my knees for my team mates from the 1983 team; we hold a bond that no one can take away from us. Once you have that feeling, you never let it go.

You had to have a hard-nosed approach to every training session and every time you step out on court. If you didn't, then the next person was ready to jump into your place and you would be left behind.

Success doesn't come without the knocks. If you are smart you use them as a power source, for the next game.

Nothing is easy and nothing comes easy, when you think you have it, someone, or a body of people can take it away with a swirl of a pen. So be prepared and have a new plan ready - and mine was and still is coaching.

I grew up with authoritarian coaches - it was their way or the highway but now, times have changed. Yes, Australia were dominant then, but our coach was criticised for her authoritarian ways, and it could have been so much better. I firmly believe that you can be tough but organised, and can learn as a coach from all sorts of sources, even if you choose not to use every single technique that's used on you.

So who has the answer to the magic question, how do you win? How do you teach people to win? Is it something inside you or is it trainable?

All I know is what worked for me as a player - as a coach now I look at the traits of winning teams and am using them to formulate and refine a coaching methodology that will enable this English team to get that same winners' feeling that I had back in 1983.

Combining all coaching styles and approaches to your team is the key. Everyone is different and every team's heart beats differently; however isn't that the new challenge that as coaches at this level we are looking for?

It is the art of coaching, of communication, the blending of 20 personalities and the ability of bringing them together on the right day on the right year, on that last whistle. It's the magic mixture that brings out the X - factor in a team when it counts.

Toughen up!

Out on that training court, this will help prepare you for the international or Co-operative Netball Superleague scene. Players need to train as they compete. You are kidding yourself if you think differently. Toughening up doesn't mean you send your team off to boxing lessons during the off season, although some players need the fast swift footwork that boxers have. It means that you work to near-exhaustion every time and learn to handle it, physically and as important mentally. Yes, it is hard but it is also the challenge within to improve each time. Each time you will notice it isn't as hard as the last time, as the body and mind adapts to the work load and rate.

I remember when I was 12 years old. I came home and said to my mum, "I want to change clubs as they all muck around and just want to have fun." She knew then that she had a competitor on her hands. That's me all over as a player and now as a coach, if we are going to train lets make it sharp, specific and with quality. If someone says I am ambitious than they are right but don't stop me trying to achieve it. If a drill or theme does not work, change it and then return later to see the improvements.

A team's aura is developed through hard-nosed work, on and off the court and its confidence comes through winning matches with the right game plan, by having a professional attitude and by the whole team, including the staff, having a balanced life. I believe that if your life is out of balance than success will not be achieved as easily. This is how I look at what makes a winning team and what our England players need to do to be World Champions.

So is success taught or is it innate? In short, both. If you have that X factor it will be developed faster with the right coaching. Challenge, toughen up and enjoy the journey...