technical, tactical, physical
Interesting conversation with a couple of parents after our last coaching session before Christmas with one of their sons.
“My son annoys me so much – his grip is so low on the bat handle, and he won’t change it.”
[An acute, and accurate technical observation.]
– can he hit the ball?
“Yes”
– consistently, and with reasonable power?
“Yes”
– what do you want to change, then?
The only use for a coach is to get the players to the ground! – Shane Warne
It certainly sounds like a Warne quote, although I haven’t managed to track down the original, yet. And, as with so many Warne sledges, there is an underlying truth in this statement, one that he probably did not intend.
As coaches, we can’t bowl or kick the ball for the player, we can’t clear the hurdle or spend the extra 30 minutes in the gym after everyone else has finished training.
We can’t carry the bag, or the bat, or the racket.
All we can do is help the player to get to the field of play as well prepared as he possibly can be.
All we can really do is get them to the ground.
It’s a common enough refrain from managers and coaches after a heavy defeat, or at the end of an unsuccessful season – we will have to go back to the drawing board/training ground, or (in the modern idiom) get back to our “processes”…
Perfectly understandable, and certainly not wrong.
But what to do when you have just recorded a winning season? When teams have won divisional titles and promotions, when the Colts section has dominated County age group competitions, and produced players who now expect to score runs in senior cricket.
Back to the drawing board, I say!
When you are strong, that is the time to put in the hard yards to make next season, and the seasons to follow, even better. (more…)
The Teesra 