The latest edition of Teesra Talks : Play-Review-Play-Play…and Repeat — a Review takes a look at an alternative session plan I have been trying out with our u9 softball squad this autumn.
The original blog post, referenced in the audio, is here.
Teesra Talks are hosted on anchor.fm, and are also available as a subscription podcast from various distribution sites.
First session of winter practice with the u9s on Sunday; slightly disappointing turn-out (just 5), but possibly compounded by the soft-ball u9s being billed as “the level before you get to play proper cricket”! I can’t imagine this helped the numbers!
I went with a new session plan, making the most of the chance to play games — essentially, we mixed free-play with “directed” review (I asked leading questions) to allow the players to have a bat and a bowl, and to think about the tactics needed to be successful.
I deliberately avoided giving much technical input, but I do now have a couple of ideas for more formal “practice” later in the winter.
We spend a lot of time coaching skills & techniques, not enough time practicing on how to win games — play-review-play-review etc. might go some way to remedying this. (more…)
I had a couple of 1-to-1 sessions yesterday. Nothing unusual in that – I do four or five regular 1-to-1s almost every week – but I came away last night feeling that these particular sessions had gone especially well.
Good engagement, high energy, good questions (all of the above two-way); positive outcomes, clear summary of “learning points” (not too many) and players left with a challenge – “now, go out and try it!”
The players left hopefully having learnt a little, tried something new, and with a clear idea of something they could try in their next game. They both told me they had enjoyed the hour; as importantly (more importantly – they might have been very polite), I think I saw a few “light bulb moments”, when they understood what I was trying to tell them and realised that it could work for them.
So what was going on? And, more to the point, what might have been missing from other sessions that were “OK”, but not perhaps as good as last night’s? (more…)
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