The Teesra

Category: psychology

how we think about playing the game, mostly as related to “sports psychology” and “psychological strength”…not sure how much I believe in the latter, but it is a topic for consideration

  • Bowling meditation

    • How my legs & feet are moving as I approach the wicket;
    • where back- and front-foot land, and the sensations from the floor;
    • tension between index & middle fingers, spread around the seam;
    • how the bowling arm unfurls from the gather and swings down, then up again, over-the-top or slightly round-arm;
    • the feel of the ball as it is released…

    And repeat.

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  • Teesra Talks – In-tournament coaching

    The latest edition of Teesra Talks : In-tournament coaching considers the opportunities for coaching during a tournament, with an emphasis on tactical/strategic and psychological inputs.

    Teesra Talks are hosted on anchor.fm, and are also available as a subscription podcast from various distribution sites.

  • Coaching the Mental Game & Self Esteem — working with children

    Back in the summer, I completed Coaching the Mental Game, the final course in the series led by Paddy Upton, from Deakin University via FutureLearn.

    Since then, I have endured an enforced break from coaching, to recover from a keyhole surgery to tidy up some damage to my knee — caused by an inexpert sliding stop in the outfield to save a long chase to retrieve the ball from beyond the boundary…or perhaps it’s just that my knees are getting old…

    The time out has given me chance to reflect on the course, and on how it might apply to my own coaching, especially working with children.

    Closely related to the discussion around self esteem was a question about how to manage mistakes to build confidence and self esteem.  I wholeheartedly subscribe to the concept of the ‘growth mindset’, but sometimes this can come across as wishful thinking — “you will get better if you put in the effort” reeks of unsubstantiated positive thinking.

    I want my players to have a growth mindset, and I want them to respond to challenge with counter-challenge; I expect them to develop appropriate focus behaviours…but if I don’t help them to develop these behaviours, I might only be setting them up to fail.

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