Do coaches need to demo?

Should coaches be expected to deliver competent, accurate demonstrations of the skills they expect their players to develop?

I had an immediate answer to this. Then I changed my mind. Twice. And now I’m not sure.

I am very fortunate to work with a group of coaches who are prepared to think about how they coach, and to question what they do.

And as they progress through their coaching qualifications, I get to hear some of what they have been discussing.

Last week’s conversation concerned the vexed question of skill demonstrations — yes or no?

Take 1 — of course coaches need to demo!

Demonstration is one of the simplest coaching tools. So much easier than telling, or simply leaving a player to work it out for themselves (see Take 3, below, for the counter-argument to this!).

Back in the day, you could fail a coaching qualification if your demos weren’t up to scratch.

For my ECB Coaching Assistant (level 1), back in 2009, we were required to demonstrate batter’s set up, bowling from base position, close catching (just the pose…fortunately), and an over-arm throw.

Level 2 required demonstrations of actual techniques — I distinctly recall practicing a pull stroke, repeatedly, out on the sports field at the back of NewVIC!

I don’t think anyone on the courses I took actually was failed on their demo, because we all practiced before the assessment. And I think we all believed that a coach who couldn’t show a player how to perform a skill probably could not coach it.

But it is certainly true that requiring coaches to have a pre-existing knowledge of the skills of the game (or the time and aptitude to acquire the basics) and the ability to demonstrate those skills does tend to exclude anyone who has never played the game, even though they might well have the potential to become a perfectly good coach.

Take 2 — have a player demonstrate the skill, or fire up the internet

Does the coach have to demonstrate himself?

Current advice is to have one of the players demo, or even refer the players a video YouTube or icoachcricket.

Which will work out OK, so long as you have another player with you who can deliver a credible enough demo, or a strong enough wifi connection (and a device with a screen large enough for the whole group to view at once).

Take 3 — if we are meant to “find our own way”, what’s the point of a demo?

I do believe in ecological dynamics and the use of a constraints led approach to skill acquisition. The coach creates the training environment, with just the right balance of opportunity and challenge, and tasks the player with finding their own way.

There is no “ideal solution”, no perfect technique. So what would the coach ever need to demonstrate?

Well, much as I believe in the CLA, I do think there will be occasions when a player is heading down a blind alley to a sub-optimal “attractor”. The coach could perturb the environment, to destabilise that solution. But sometimes, a quick demo can be enough to get the player out of the rut…if the demo is of a viable alternative solution.

Conclusions…sort of

What does a demo need to include?

I don’t believe that a coach needs to deliver a text-book perfect demonstration of any skill.

Partly because there is no definitive text-book. And because one person’s demo of a complete movement might look very different to someone else’s.

I could be coaching a 4’6” school child or a 6’6” quick bowler…and at 5’6” (and 62 years of age, and counting), my body and movement patterns will be very different to theirs.

But I do ascribe to the concept of “coaching principles”, basic movement patterns that are more likely to work for all players, whatever their size or skill level.

Like energy transfer through the ball — present the full face of the bat; when bowling, project energy towards the target.

And if a player needs to be encouraged to quit their sub-optimal solution, a quick demo of an alternative might help. Call it “helping them to identify a new affordance”, if you must.

So a coach might not demonstrate a full bowling action, but should perhaps be able to illustrate a suggestion with an appropriate movement — maybe a strong follow-through at the moment after release, or a delivery stride aligned with the direction of the delivery.

It probably is important to direct the players’ attention to the relevant component of the demo. Last week I found myself demo-ing a straight bat stroke by swinging a bat one-handed (right- i.e. bottom-handed, in fact) — how I grip the bat seemed far less important than the bat path, straight from the top of the pick up, through the point of contact, and on in the direction of the stroke.

So — demonstrations of principles, perhaps, if not of a “perfect” complete “technique”.