The Teesra

Author: Andrew Beaven

  • One more time

    We were spoilt by the weather yesterday. This was the view as I arrived for work on Saturday morning, just before 8 am.

    https://twitter.com/theteesra/status/1111902292595355649?s=21

    It has gone cold again, today. Of course it has! The First Class game has started already, and the more ambitious clubs will be venturing outside in the next week or two. It has to be cold, and windy (or cold, windy and wet) for the start of the new season!

    I think it must be in the Laws, somewhere, or perhaps the Spirit of Cricket?

    But this ECB video, from 2018 (with a cameo appearance from a friend), set me thinking about the new season, and getting ready for one more time around.

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  • Is patience over-rated?

    I do quite a bit* of coaching with younger children, 7 and younger, right down to weekly groups with 3-4 year olds. Sessions can be messy, they can be loud, sometimes they must look pretty chaotic.

    In truth, I really do quite enjoy the chaos (sometimes). I’ll let activities run on, if the players are engaging in some sort of “constructive” play.

    Probably the most frequent feedback I receive, from parents and fellow coaches, regards “patience” — how I must have incredible depths of patience to work with the young groups, how much the children enjoy the freedom they get to play and learn.

    And I also get the counter-statement — “it’s OK to be firmer with the kids, if they misbehave” (i.e. “you really are too patient, sometimes”).

    But I am slowly coming to the conclusion that patience by itself might not be the virtue that it is held up as.

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  • Coach education — minimum set?

    I recently updated my CV (no, I am not applying for new jobs, just a periodic review and trim) and it is now overflowing with CPD courses — mostly interesting, and all relevant in some way to the work I am doing, but I suspect that only a few will actually change how I coach (for the better, hopefully).

    Which set me wondering about the “minimum set” of qualifications required to call yourself a coach?

    What are the most important lessons from coach education — formal qualification, ongoing CPD, informal learning — lessons that have fundamentally shaped the way I coach?

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