The Teesra

Blog

  • Where does the “meta-learning” & socialisation happen? Or — there has to be more to cricket coaching than hitting and bowling.

    Where does the “meta-learning” & socialisation happen? Or — there has to be more to cricket coaching than hitting and bowling.

    Back in the day, schoolboy cricketers (and it was, almost exclusively, boys, back then) played ay school, and were invited to play “adult” cricket, initially to make up the numbers and do the running around for the older players.

    But a lot of essential learning happened in the game, talking and watching, often in the bar after the game.

    Understanding how to win. How not to lose so often. Why a bowler might prefer an unorthodox field setting. How to get on with the rest of the team.

    But that learning opportunity has largely been lost.

    Partly because young players are not being led astray, into the bar, as used to happen. Probably not a bad thing!

    But also as the organised pathways develop, and more youth cricket is played, young players possibly get to play less with more experienced players.

    And I think that loss of exposure to more experienced players might need to be addressed.

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  • New ECB hubs with Government funding? What really matters?

    New ECB hubs with Government funding? What really matters?

    With the Essex Over 60s 1st XI due to play Yorkshire Vets at Bradford Park Avenue last week†, I was reminded of the recent news about the new cricket centre in Bradford, and the (then) Government’s promise of £35m funding to support “grassroots” cricket.

    The talk of “16 new hubs by 2030” was, perhaps, all too reminiscent of the promise to build “40 new hospitals for the NHS”. And with the demise of the Conservative government, it might be that this funding never does come through.

    But I do wonder if the emphasis on investing in building new cricket hubs was ever really the best strategy.

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  • Where’s the evidence? A multitude of “n=1”s

    Where’s the evidence? A multitude of “n=1”s

    Last month I attended a fascinating event, “Playing by the Rules: Using the CLA to your Advantage”, hosted by Alex Lascu and Alex Sarama.

    Lots of open conversation around how to make CLA work — very practical, not too much theory.

    One of the questions that came up on the evening was the availability (or absence) of evidence to support the wider application of the CLA.

    I do believe that it is there.

    It’s just that no-one has bothered to report the evidence.†

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