The Teesra

Category: coaching

  • Jimmy for England — what makes a “coach”?

    Jimmy Anderson’s announcement of his retirement from Test cricket was greeted with a suggestion that he should immediately be taken on as a coach-mentor with the England Test team.

    Earlier in the year, Rob Key stated that he believes Andrew Flintoff could be the next Head Coach of England. And Flintoff will be Head Coach for the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred this summer.

    Anderson and Flintoff are both great cricketers.

    But what does the suggestion that both could be fast-tracked into senior coaching positions say about the standing of professional coaches in English cricket?

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  • What is coaching? Education for kids and parents? All aboard!

    What is coaching? Education for kids and parents? All aboard!

    We have had some positive feedback on one of our Saturday courses this term. Whilst it is gratifying to be told that we are doing something right, it is also slightly worrying as to what might have been going on previously.

    As far as I can tell, we have been doing nothing exceptional with the group — some skills, plenty of games, not too much standing around — but we are being told that this is a huge improvement on earlier in the year.

    What has been going on?

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  • Review — “Something in the Water: The Story of England’s Football Talent Hotbeds”. And some thoughts on “natural” talent development environments.

    Interesting conversation on Xtter last week on talent development in English football, and the next generation of superstars.

    So Callum Murray’s Something in the Water: The Story of England’s Football Talent Hotbeds provided some very timely background reading, with a case-study of the emergence of south London as a hotbed of soccer talent development,

    Front cover of “Something in the Water”, by Callum Murray. Four footballers set against the background of a brick wall with a football goal painted on it.

    Murray identifies some of the factors common across old and new hotbeds — working class communities with strong community support for children and their aspirations, space (and time) to play — but goes on to address some of the reasons why south London is now outperforming areas in the north of England that have traditionally produced disproportionate numbers of top footballers.

    And there could, perhaps, be cross-over for cricket, and other sports, looking for new talent.

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