The Teesra

Category: session planning

  • Coaching neurodivergent players…and how it just might be a better way to coach, full stop.

    A learning week!

    Neurodiversity training from Headstuff ADHD Therapy, through one of my “zero hours contract” workplaces.

    An online webinar in the always interesting Myths of Sport Coaching webinar series (hosted on YouTube by Sequoia Books), on the proactive role of sports psychology.

    And more reading, away from the functional “what to coach” and towards the more productive, much more interesting “how to work with people”.

    And out of this has emerged a series of ideas on how to better support players with ADHD and autism.

    But as I re-read the list of accommodations and adjustments, it became very apparent that what I had written down could be profitably applied to most coaching activities.

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  • Session plan — off side batting, (mostly) back foot

    Session plan — off side batting, (mostly) back foot

    Working this term with a group of u11s, with the transition to hardball cricket in the summer firmly in mind, so I want the batters to become more confident when facing a short(er) pitched bouncing delivery. They will have done plenty of pull shot games and practice (bread and butter in soft ball cricket) but quite possibly nothing on the off side. Hence the theme for last week’s session was “back foot, off side”.

    The plan below is an idealised version of what actually transpired on the day. The practice and game both happened, but some of the additional constraints only came to mind mid-game, and I decided not to complicate the game by changing the rules half-way through. Next time, though…

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  • Session plan — all round fielding plus

    This session starts with a modified fielding activity from icoachcricket — “all round fielding” (I have also seen this called “fielder’s wheel”, “modified T-drill”, or Williams’ wheel (a reference to a colleague who particularly favours this activity), but then adds a competitive element — fielders vs. runners — to try out the skills under simulated game intensity.

    With the group I am working with this term (u11, transition to hardball), I had wanted to use a hard ball (or possibly a lightweight bowling machine ball) to get them accustomed to stopping and throwing a hard(er) ball, with the coaches taking any direct throws, catching with a mitt if required, switching to an “incrediball” when a runner is introduced.

    In the event, we stuck with the incredi throughout, for safety.

    But I think this works as a more active variant of the ground fielding drills we sometimes run with.

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