The Teesra

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  • Review — Beastly Fury: The Strange Birth of English Football — be careful what you wish for!

    Review — Beastly Fury: The Strange Birth of English Football — be careful what you wish for!

    In the continuing debate about the future of professional cricket in England, there is an iconoclastic strand that would see the end of the “First Class” system — a big “no” to the elitist, closed shop of the MCC and the Counties.

    One repeated theme has been the need for an “FA Cup of cricket”, open to all teams, whether (old-style) County or club or, presumably, franchise.

    As if the model of professional football is somehow more equitable than the (admittedly flawed) First Class cricket and County system we have in England and Wales.

    So it was very interesting to read Richard Sanders’ Beastly Fury: The Strange Birth of English Football, to find out a bit more about the early years of the professional game in England.

    And it might appear that a little caution would be advisable!

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  • National Programmes Activator training — maybe not quite what it used to be?

    National Programmes Activator training — maybe not quite what it used to be?

    I have posted previously on how enthused I was by joining the team of tutors for new National Programmes Activators, and how the National Programmes were really getting a lot of things right.

    When I wrote the original articles, the National Programmes were indeed an inspiration for anyone interested in seeing coaching move beyond its basic coach-as-instructor model.

    But a couple of small changes to Activator training might just have taken the heart out of the programme.

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  • Player centred coaching begins with…PLAY!

    Player centred coaching begins with…PLAY!

    I have just received a training script for a tutoring assignment, training new Activators, who will be working with 5-8 yr olds, completely new to the sport.

    And it includes the following statement.

    SKILL DEVELOPMENT: “The basic starting point for being player centred is understanding the skill and technical needs of that player…

    Which seems some way removed from my own understanding of player-centred coaching, and distanced from the child-first approach advocated by Play Their Way.

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