The Teesra

Category: constraint-led approach

coaching by manipulation of the training environment

  • TGfU CLA CGBL NLP…omg…can we not just play a game?

    A key theme that emerged from the 2017 ECB Coaches Association Conference was the rise of games as a key coaching methodology.

    Drills are out (or, at the very least, “gamified” by introducing game-like challenges); players should spend as much practice time as possible developing transferable skills (skills that have direct and obvious application in match situations) by playing games.

    Sounds good…if we can get beyond the TLAs & FLAs (that’s Three & Four Letter Acronyms) and just get on with designing and playing games. (more…)

  • The challenge of games – ECB Coaches Association Conference review, part 2

    I have written previously about my conversion to games-based practice, but also about the challenges I have encountered when trying to design appropriate games.

    So when I saw that Ian Renshaw, co-author of “the best book on non-linear pedagogy I have ever read”, and father (and coach) of Aussie opener Matt, was speaking at the ECB Coaches Conference, I knew I had to book in for his sessions straight away.

    And with Professor Chris Cushion, speaking on the Challenge of Games, providing the (very necessary) counter-view to the “game as teacher” mantra, I had a lot of games-based learning to look forward to.

    And I wasn’t disappointed.
    (more…)

  • It’s too easy..

    Interesting conversation with a parent after one of my sessions last week.

    We had been working on hitting front foot drives, and had finished with a game, with bobble feeds from the coach – making it “too easy” for the players to hit the ball.

    As I explained to the parent, just about the only way for a batter to strike a low bouncing (almost rolling) delivery back towards the feeder is with a vertical bat – the feed forced the batsmen to approximate the front foot drive, rather than just hitting the ball anyhow.

    A perfectly reasonable question…I probably should make a point of explaining some of the “madness” to the parents, in future.