I have posted previously on my conversion to games-based learning, and on the challenges of designing games that are both “representative” (of the real game, and that therefore require the players to develop transferable cricket skills) but at the same time not so constrained and artificial as to no longer be fun to play (the “game” element is important, because we want the players to come back to it again and again). (more…)
Month: September 2017
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“Running two” – a modified fielding practice that also develops batting stroke placement and decision making.
Back in the summer, one of the teams I coached was having problems picking up singles and twos – their innings progressed by a succession of big hits and run outs – so we developed a game to practice shot placement and decision making.
I called it “run 1, run 2”, because that is what I kept calling out to the batsmen, but you might come up with a better name!
Try it, though – we found that the results were encouraging, and, as with many games, the tactical challenges were as interesting as the technical.
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One hand, one bounce – what’s that got to do with coaching?
When I started out at my local Club as a volunteer, level 1 Coaching Assistant, sessions were taken by an exuberant 1st XI player – lots of enthusiasm, diving catches and (attempted) big hitting, and always a fiercely contested session of one hand – one bounce, usually with said 1st XI player dominating the game.
The players seemed to love this activity, but to me, as a newly qualified “proper” coach, it looked as if one hand-one bounce existed only so the star player could show off. Not coaching, at all.
It’s fair to say that I never liked one hand – one bounce, but I have recently started to include it my own sessions with our Club U9s. And I think it has a place in the games-based learning panoply.
The Teesra 