The Teesra

Category: practice

design of practice sessions

  • Bring the ropes in…a conversation with @ballsrightsreas

    Interesting conversation with Dave C, aka @ballsrightareas, on setting boundaries for junior cricket.

    Should we bring the ropes in, to encourage batters to (try to) hit boundaries?

    But risk having games dominated by batters mis-hitting 6s?

    Or set the line back, and reward the strokeplayers who can exploit the wide open spaces?

    But see games dragged out as young fielders trudge after the ball as it pulls up short of a full-size boundary?

    (more…)

  • Sledging – the missing component from the coaches’ tool kit?

    I mentioned in an earlier post that I sometimes used “sledging” as a coaching tool.

    This is something I picked up working with an experienced Aussie coach – that the coach can sometimes use a little psychological pressure to focus the player on the challenge at hand.

    “Can you hit this one?  I don’t think you can.”

    Not because the player will “just have to get used to sledging” when she starts playing.  Not abuse, not questioning the player’s parentage (I work with young players – Mum or Dad will be standing next to the net!), certainly not banal “banter“…but I will tell a batter that I think I have spotted a weakness, and that I am going to put his technique to the test.

  • Jail-break cricket – another variant for CGBL

    Here is a game variant that can be used to encourage players to apply a specified batting technique in a practice session.

    We call it “jail-break cricket” – players are challenged to hit a ball to a specified target area to release team mates who have been “sent to jail”.

    The game encourages the batter to play a particular stroke, so could work well as the final, modified game in a whole-part-whole session.

    It also teaches team spirit (it is amazing how quickly the “jailed” players come to actively encourage their batting team mates) and introduces the concepts of responsibility and consequence – if you are the last “free” batter, you really do need to try to hit the target to free your team mates; if you are dismissed, you go to jail, and if the last batter does not release his team mates the innings closes.

    N.B. I did not invent this format, but have only adopted (and adapted) it from others.  But it works so well I wanted to share it. (more…)