David Martín Lozano is the current head coach of the Spanish national waterpolo team. He is also a psychologist by academic training. In the past, he was a waterpolo player for Club Natació Atlètic Barceloneta, with which he won 8 Spanish Leagues, 9 King’s Cups, 8 Spanish Super Cups, and 6 Catalan Cups. He was an international player 180 times with the Spanish national waterpolo team and participated in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the London 2012 Olympics.

As the coach of the national team, he has won seven medals in seven years. Those who know him highlight his emotional intelligence, his strong work ethic, and his ability to instill confidence.

We have talked to him about leadership and values.

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How do you build a team and what role does leadership play in this process?

To build a high-performance team, you need to surround yourself with the best, including talented players and a good staff; you also need a clear game plan and a work methodology that allows you to achieve the results you have set. Having a clear game plan is essential. Otherwise, as a coach, you can find yourself plagued by doubts. When you know how you want your team to play, it’s much easier to define the path forward: which signings to make, how to select the members of your staff.

Can the leader, the coach in this case, afford the luxury of doubt?

In fact, I have many doubts, but as a coach, I need to be clear about what I want to achieve beyond those doubts, which are always there, especially at the elite level of sports where results are prioritized, and there is a lot of pressure and criticism.

“If you have
a clear game plan,
you will always know
how to find the path
to success”

What do you look for when building a team?

Personally, I think that for building a team, it is very important: talent, work, and tenacity. First, talent. You need to fill all positions with talent in a balanced way. Talent is not just about scoring goals. There are other talents that help achieve the result.

Secondly, you also need work. If you have a lot of talent but do not work hard, it’s impossible to compete at the elite level. Physical and mental preparation are very important. Therefore, I look for people with specific talent and also a great capacity for work.

And thirdly, I look for tenacious people, capable of pursuing goals without falling, giving up, or doubting. Intermittent work does not allow you to win. You need people who know that their moment can come and who maintain their effort consistently on a daily basis.

And I would add a fourth element: the ability to adapt. You can have talent and work hard, but if you only do so under certain conditions, you also won’t get very far. You must be aware that the environment changes and you need to adapt to it.

What do you not want in a team?

Excuses and permanent toxicity. On one hand, with excuses, you cannot compete at the elite level. Today, I think they are a widespread problem. Neither the referee, the ball, cold water, nor anything else can be an excuse for not performing at your best.

“Excuses and permanent toxicity have
no place in my teams”

On the other hand, permanent toxicity does a lot of harm to the team. Everyone can have a bad day, but as a rule, the team must maintain a positive atmosphere. For this reason, I make sure that everyone who joins, whether players or staff, understands that bad mood and negative attitudes are always left out.

Does the leader build the team or must adapt to it?

Both, depending on the situation. In the national team, for example, you can choose the players you want, but if you sign with a club, you will find a team to which you must adapt because it will take time to mold them to your idea of play.

A good leader is one who has the ability to adapt, who can build from their own idea but also knows how to adapt to the team’s characteristics when necessary. Sometimes you want to play a certain style of game, but the people you have do not allow it.

Busques talent amb habilitats relacionals?

This type of talent is also very important. You can occasionally win with cold relationships within the team, but if you want sustained success, the relationships among team members need to be positive.

Leadership within the team is very important. In this regard, I believe in shared responsibility and shared leadership. You need to have four or five key figures in the team who can trasnmit your ideas about behavior, training, and play to the rest of its members. When you work with so many people, it’s very difficult to reach everyone individually. In this regard, there is a key figure, the ‘firefighter,’ capable of extinguishing small fires because you, as a leader, cannot attend to everything. If you have people who manage the small things, you can focus on what’s really important.