The Teesra

Category: Coach education

  • Paul Shaw: “you’ve got to coach the individual in front of you” — the icoachcricket podcast

    I met Paul once, at a coaching workshop, and this appears to be a characteristically thoughtful, warm contribution, and a coaching philosophy that it should be easy to buy in to.

    Two thoughts really stood out, for me, however.

    “…the insatiable drive, hunger and thirst to get better is so important [for coaches] and I think it’s the fundamental thing that if coaches have got that then they can progress, they can grow, they can work at many different levels in the game…”

    ”…you’ve got to be able to coach the individual in front of you, to inspire them, to engage them…to enthuse them to love this great game in the first place…”

    How is any of this being conveyed via Coach Education courses (below level 4 “Specialist”, where Paul tutors)? Or in training for National Programmes Activators (the ultimate grass roots gig)?

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  • Does anyone speak up for the coaches?

    Does anyone speak up for the coaches?

    I don’t think it would be unfair to suggest that ECB Coach Development (the group within the England & Wales Cricket Board with responsibility for developing coaches, at all levels of the game, from grassroots to the professional game) has lacked a little direction recently. An interim Head for two years, then a vacant post for another year, and most recently an appointment who, 12 months in, has yet to be introduced to the coaches he is tasked with developing.

    There have been a couple of revealing “coach development” news snippets, recently, revealing in that neither said anything at all about developing cricket coaching (or coaches) beyond the professional game or the private schools in England & Wales.

    Nor about addressing the genuine issues of inclusion raised by ICEC, nor the ongoing (apparent) failures of coaching (at all levels of the development pathway) in England (& Wales) to develop players ready for the international stage.

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  • REVIEW: Dynamic Coaching — A Playbook for Cricket Coaches

    REVIEW: Dynamic Coaching — A Playbook for Cricket Coaches

    I have very much enjoyed reading Dynamic Coaching — A Playbook for Cricket Coaches by Ian Renshaw assisted by Stephen Rollnick.

    Ian Renshaw’s presentations to the ECB Coaches Association Conference in 2017 were one of my earliest practical introductions to the constraints-led approach, and provided a justification of my own preference for games-based learning. I have been waiting for this book since then!

    And I have not been disappointed.

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