The Teesra

One hand, one bounce — revisited

I do like a bit of one hand, one bounce. I use it as a gamified drill, to get the players used to playing with soft hands.

Yes, I do think there is a place for a little batting subtlety, even in T20 — a couple of drop-and-run singles just might make the oppo change their field, opening up space for bigger hits. In the recent T20 World Cup, batters were even stealing twos on the huge Aussie outfields, with shots that didn’t leave the fielding circle!

I tried this at the weekend, with a group of u11s, then played a short game to test out the new “strokes”. It nearly worked (most got the idea, but still preferred trying to hit the cover off the ball). but on reflection the game wasn’t quite right (not “representative” enough; not enough reward for playing the drop-and-run).

A typology of coaching — what is coaching? (4)

I have just completed a fascinating online course from the Open University, hosted by Future Learn — Sports Performance: Different Approaches to Sports Coaching. Highly recommended for all coaches.

Sports Performance: Different Approaches to Sports Coaching

It got me thinking (again) about a definition of what coaching actually is. Both a philosophical and practical enquiry, from which a typology of coaching has emerged.

I am deliberately not calling this a hierarchy! Although the later levels will undoubtedly be paid more (infinitely more than the volunteers).

Many (most?) practicing coaches will fit into more than one of these categories, often simultaneously.

From inspirational yoda master, preparing his charge for the ultimate challenge, to the (pre-) participation coach, crawling around on the floor with three year olds. All “coaches”…but not all coaching, necessarily.

NLP, ED, CLA — coach’s glossary

I have written previously about my conversion to non-linear pedagogy (NLP) and a constraints-led approach (CLA) to skill development. I believe it works, and, for me, CLA simply feels more honest (and interesting) than the “coach as instructor/guru” approach — “do it this way because I say so” or “…because that’s they way we have always done it”.

But there is a lot of jargon used to describe the NLP, CLA, and related concepts, which can obscure the simplicity of the approach.

What follows is my attempt to translate some of the jargon into non-academic language. There will be oversimplification and error, I don’t doubt. But hopefully it will be of interest to a coach coming fresh to, CLA, NLP, ED etc.