Interesting tweet from Phil Kearney yesterday:
For me, the key line from the quote was “…as much of the game as the players can successfully manage…”
Which made me think of how my favourite practice game, Jailbreak Cricket can, sometimes, break down – we have been doing it wrong, all along!
We finished our first All Stars Cricket programme at the Club last week. A lot of fun, and a lot of learning, for All Stars, Activator and Centre Manager.
https://twitter.com/oakfieldparkscc/status/890145143478784000
Did we get everything right, first time?
No…but there was more than enough that went well to make us want to run All Stars Cricket again in 2018.
Back in 2014, I started coaching at the MCC Cricket Academy, and was assigned to support a coach delivering a “Little Legends” session for a group of 3-5 year olds.
Not really cricket, I thought – more 45 minutes of childcare, with a cricketing theme, perhaps, but not really cricket coaching.
I found out later that some of my new colleagues had directly requested not to be scheduled to work with the Little Legends, and I could understand why. But as the new coach, I didn’t think I could get away with opting out.
Three years later, I find myself leading the delivery for 5 weekly sessions for 5s and under. And the more I do, the more I appreciate the value of coaching the very young players in the Academy’s Little Legends (pre-school) and Mini Masters (Reception) programmes.
What changed?
I remembered one of the first pieces of advice I was given when I first trained as a coach – always coach the player, not the skill. And I also remembered how much I enjoy playing games.
(more…)
The Teesra 