The Teesra

Month: June 2020

  • From a “holistic approach to talent development” to suggestions for grassroots coaching

    I was very taken by this infographic from Alex Lascu, and the thinking behind it.

    It captures so much of what I believe is good about current coaching practice, but also sets a high standard for “talent pathway” coaches to aspire to.

    There was some discussion on Twitter of the applicability of the advice to grassroots coaching.

    One senior coach commented that he believed that most clubs ran a “talent” development programme, even if that wasn’t the label it was given. We are all looking to find and develop talented players…although, for some of us, “talent” might be the ability to mix with team mates, to muck in and get things done around the club, rather than bowl at 85 mph and hit 90m bombs, 360°.

    I believe strongly in a joined-up development pathway, with best practice and ideology shared across the game, from Test to primary school. It makes sense (to me) if we all (Performance/Talent, Development, Grassroots) followed a similar philosophy.

    So what follows is my attempt to re-position Alex’s guidelines very specifically for the grassroots coach.

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  • Just watching some cricket, again — T20 Blast

    A couple of days ago I posted an idea for coaching tactical analysis during lockdown and even developing game awareness. Very simplistic — watch a video, and try to work out what is going on.

    In the second part of this series, I have found a video of a remarkable match from the 2019 Vitality Blast, featuring the eventual champions, Essex, hosting London rivals Surrey.

    As before, the challenge for your players is to watch, analyse, and begin to formulate their own tactical responses.

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