The Teesra

Blog

  • Towards a philosophy of coaching

    Back in the summer, Mark Garaway, writing on PitchVision, posted on how having a coaching philosophy will make you a better coach.  Mark’s conclusion – it’s not only about the words (having a “mission statement” for your philosophy), but whether the coach lives and breathes their philosophy.

    Adam Kelly has just taken a look at how the successful coaches define their philosophies.  Truly inspirational.  And the results of applying these philosophies proves their relevance – Gold medals, World Cup wins, Tour de France success.

    So, perhaps I need a philosophy for my own coaching.

    It needs to be simple (I can’t remember anything too complicated).  It needs to be jargon-free (it needs to be readily understood).  And (because they always are) my statement of coaching philosophy needs to be short.

    OK.  With due acknowledgement to a colleague at work who, when asked to propound his sales philosophy, replied simply “just sell”[1], here is my philosophy of coaching.

    Get Better

    It is simple, jargon-free and short, but (I hope) at the same time more subtle than it might at first appear. (more…)

  • Indoor cricket – what can we learn? What should we coach?

    No sooner had we finished our last games of the summer season than we started into the indoor cricket season.  Two senior teams and 6 Colts’ teams have been entered into various competitions over the winter.

    With so much indoor cricket in prospect, it seems sensible for the coaches to run a few sessions around the specifics of the indoor game, at least until we start to work on pre-season drills for the new summer season. (more…)

  • Sir Garfield says…look after the ball

    What question would you ask the greatest all-rounder the game has ever known?

    How to polish a cricket ball?

    Me neither.

    But I heard this from someone who asked this question of Sir Garfield Sobers – just one degree of separation from greatness…and a great tip, too!

    The trick is to keep the ball dry, and to polish so hard that the ball becomes hot.  Try it – it really does work.

    (more…)