The results are in from Australia – shorter pitches will be introduced for U11s & U13s, nationwide, starting from next season.
Good to see this is going ahead – time for the ECB to pick up another CA initiative?
Category: player development
Grooving that stroke…does music help?
Interesting net session yesterday, working with a batsman to get ready for the new season. Lots of work on grooving the bat path, a little on developing bat speed.
We were next to a group who had set up a (small) speaker in their net, and played music during their practice.
This could have been a distraction – we generally practice in a controlled (even slightly sterile) environment, where the only sounds are bat on ball, or ball on canvas, or occasionally the slap of skipping ropes and bouncing medballs – but I saw real benefits from having the music playing.
Three years with the Legends and Masters – cricket coaching with 4-year olds
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 and Mini Masters 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.
Continue reading Three years with the Legends and Masters – cricket coaching with 4-year olds
