The Teesra

Category: fielding

  • My new AI coaching guru. A “conversation” with ChatGPT about coaching pedagogies.

    There has recently been some discussion about a new artificial intelligence (AI) system called ChatGPT, and a lot of that talk very negative.

    How it might enable students to cheat by writing their essays for them, how it might destabilise white collar work, even how it might become a “morally corrupting influence”.

    For all that, I thought it might be interesting to quiz ChatGPT about a current topic in coaching, traditional instruction, Direct Instruction, and non-linear pedagogies applying some of the concepts of ecological dynamics.

    And I have to say that I might have found myself an “AI coaching guru”!

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  • WBBL thoughts (2) — is the 23m fielding ring too small?

    I watched quite a bit of this year’s WBBL, and a question kept coming up.

    The off-side field is packed, but the ball keeps getting hit through to the cover boundary. Why aren’t the fielders stopping the ball?

    Are the batters really striking the ball so well, or are the fielders too close to the bat to react, and often too close to each other to move laterally.

    I am told, by Raf Nicholson (who knows about this sort of thing), that the fielding circle is currently the same ratio of circle to minimum boundary size for the men and the women (55%).

    So 23m it is.

    But is this too close?

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  • It’s not the #£*?&@! IPL!

    We have had a few discussions around the Club about a lack of discipline in the field shown by some of the junior teams – fielders wandering out of position between deliveries, not paying attention to the captain when he wants to make changes to the field, even directly questioning and countermanding the captain’s instructions.

    There is an issue of etiquette, and acceptable behaviour – it’s simply not cricket to challenge the skipper…and don’t you dare move one of my fielders!

    There is a question about experience, and coaching – coaches and team managers need to make very clear what is expected from the players.

    There might even be questions about Generation Z entitlement – ‘my opinion is just as informed as yours’.

    But there is also the matter of example – I have seen similar behaviour in senior cricket this year, with two or three players (none of them the captain or bowler) resetting the field between balls, even as the bowler is preparing to bowl.

    If the U15s see this on Saturday, with adult Captains & players, of course they will do the same on Sundays playing with their peers.

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