The Teesra

Category: coaching

  • Finger spin basics…in 55 minutes

    Last week I was asked to run a one-to-one coaching session with an experienced seam bowler who wanted to learn how to bowl finger spin.

    The player was already a competent bowler, so I had no issues with his basic action. But he had no real idea of how to bowl spin.

    So I had 55 minutes to introduce the basic techniques of finger spin, to help the bowler to understand what was involved in delivering the ball with high revs (no point aspiring to be a “roller”, I thought), and to leave him with enough insight into the finer arts to be able to coach himself over the next few weeks.

    I had to concentrate on no more than two or three key points of technique, then allow the player the chance to experience the act of spin bowling.

    But how to resolve the mechanics of finger spin bowling into a coaching session that lasts just 55 minutes? (more…)

  • Fast and straight – why not?

    Another interesting discussion on the Cricket Coaches Worldwide group on LinkedIn, this time on the increasing prevalence of wides in junior cricket. The catalyst for the discussion was a posting from Mark Garaway on the PitchVision Academy site, in which he advocates more old-fashioned target bowling, and less (technical) coaching, as the remedy for wayward bowlers.

    Where the balance falls between coaching and individual practice I am not sure (although I do agree with Mark’s initial post – the player does need to bowl more without coaching interventions), but as coaches we need to allow our players to express themselves. If that means running in fast and hurling the ball down as fast as possible, that’s what we have to help them to do.

    (more…)

  • Retirement, LTAD, and the early-stage coach

    In a fascinating article in Sport Magazine last week (“Life After Sport: A study“), Steven Sylvester, former Middlesex cricketer and now chartered psychologist working with world champion athletes, explained the problems faced by full-time athletes as they make the transition into retirement.

    As a recreational/community coach and sports fan, I am not sure that I have ever even thought about the challenges facing a professional athlete at the end of their full-time playing career.

    But perhaps we can help by trying to instil the “growth mindset” into our charges at an early age – the idea that any challenge can be overcome if it is approached in the right way.

    (more…)