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

  • We win! Back to the drawing board…

    It’s a common enough refrain from managers and coaches after a heavy defeat, or at the end of an unsuccessful season – we will have to go back to the drawing board/training ground, or (in the modern idiom) get back to our “processes”…

    Perfectly understandable, and certainly not wrong.

    But what to do when you have just recorded a winning season?  When teams have won divisional titles and promotions, when the Colts section has dominated County age group competitions, and produced players who now expect to score runs in senior cricket.

    Back to the drawing board, I say!

    When you are strong, that is the time to put in the hard yards to make next season, and the seasons to follow, even better. (more…)

  • To hit the gaps consistently, you need to know where the gaps are.

    Obvious, really. But how often do you see batsmen doing the exact opposite, and hitting shots straight at the fielders.

    Top batsmen take a quick look around the field, then proceed to thread the ball through the narrowest of gaps.

    How do they do it?  The answer seems to be simple enough…but with a subtle lesson for the psychological side of top performance. (more…)

  • 2014 – nearly over (3): Sports psychology – making it work in 2015

    One of the challenges on the CPD courses was to design sessions and interventions to support and development mental strengths.  We covered the “4 Cs” (Concentration, Control, Commitment and Confidence) on the level 2 course, but at a very superficial level, without really thinking about how to coach them.

    And this might prove to be the key to this difficult topic – rather than trying to “teach” Concentration, or Commitment, the development of mental skills needs to be consciously included into a holistic training programme.

    Easy to write, less easy to put into action.  So my challenge for 2015 is to integrate mental skills alongside technical, tactical and physical, for players of all ages and abilities.

    (more…)