During the Easter holidays, my local cricket club, for who I have played 2nd team senior cricket for since I was 14 years old, have started their summer net sessions for the seniors and the juniors.
Last year, I was the clubs junior coach because for one I wanted to give something back to the club as the club did a lot for me when I was playing junior cricket, but secondly and most importantly, the experience would go a long way to helping me improve my skill as a coach and learn how different children react to different methods of coaching.
On the Saturday morning, me and another member of the club who have been doing our ECB Level 2 coaching course decided to start up the juniors during the holidays while they were all of school. The first session we did was on the 30th March and was just an introductory session to the basic skills and knowledge of cricket as we had a few kids who didn't know a lot of the sport, they just wanted to have a bat with their mates.
To start with was a gentle jog for a warm-up just to get them warm and loose with a game specific drill afterwards just to get them focused. The game based drill was just throwing and catching a ball in a circle. This is a basic but effective drill for the first session back because it wakes the children up as they need to focus on catching the ball, but also it is an opportunity for them to learn each others names as they are throwing it to the person who's name they call.
Next was the main section of the session which was the basics of fielding. Fielding is the most important part of the sport as it is the one thing that every player is guarenteed to have to do at somepoint in a game, and having a good fielding side can be the difference between winning or losing, a single or a boundary, a wicket or a drop in morale from the missed the chance. If a team can field then batting and bowling will come as the season goes on.
Fielding drills used were all based on three specific skills to fielding; the long barrier, the one hand intercept and the two hand intercept. All of these are used in a game of cricket on a regular basis, but knowing when to use which is the difference between saving runs or conceding runs.
The long barrier drill was a simple one, the children paired up and stood 20 yards apart. They would take in turns to roll the ball towards each other and to stop it they had to perform the long barrier. As they were doing this I was watching their techniques so I could see what they struggled with, so the next time the drill was done I could show and correct them to help them improve.
The same sort of thing was done with the one hand and two hand intercepts, however, instead of pairing them up me and my coaching partner would act as the feeder and wicket keeper with the children stood in a line 20-30 yards away. I would roll the ball out, they would attack it first time round one handed and under arm throw to the wicket keeper. Second time round they would attack it two handed and over arm throw it in. After each had done both techniques, we got them in again and asked them a feq questions about all the skills. Questions such as;
"When do you think a long barrier would be used?"
"If you were trying to run someone out which of the techniques would use?"
"You are fielding on the boundary and the ball is hit low and hard, which technique do you use?"
These sorts of questions allowed me to check their understanding of what we were showing them and allowed each of the children to clarify things with us, ask us about the skills, check they were doing things right and that they did understand.
As always, I finish the session with a game which is related and scored on the techniques looked at during the session. The game that was played included one batsmen and one feeder. A feeder what drop feed the ball and the batsmen would play a straight drive. The fielders are 30 yards away and have to run in/wait for the ball and use the correct technique appropriate to their approach. They score points for a solid stop/good pick-up and for an accurate throw in to the keeper.
For me this session was a good success, it's not always easy to get through the first session of the season as the children are not quite in cricket mood yet and fielding is not the most thrilling aspect of the game, but by making the drills have an element of competition in them, the kids want to get involved and win. But importantly, the drills do maintain the correct knowledge and structure to acquire the necessary skills to play the game
Fielding drills used were all based on three specific skills to fielding; the long barrier, the one hand intercept and the two hand intercept. All of these are used in a game of cricket on a regular basis, but knowing when to use which is the difference between saving runs or conceding runs.
The long barrier drill was a simple one, the children paired up and stood 20 yards apart. They would take in turns to roll the ball towards each other and to stop it they had to perform the long barrier. As they were doing this I was watching their techniques so I could see what they struggled with, so the next time the drill was done I could show and correct them to help them improve.
The same sort of thing was done with the one hand and two hand intercepts, however, instead of pairing them up me and my coaching partner would act as the feeder and wicket keeper with the children stood in a line 20-30 yards away. I would roll the ball out, they would attack it first time round one handed and under arm throw to the wicket keeper. Second time round they would attack it two handed and over arm throw it in. After each had done both techniques, we got them in again and asked them a feq questions about all the skills. Questions such as;
"When do you think a long barrier would be used?"
"If you were trying to run someone out which of the techniques would use?"
"You are fielding on the boundary and the ball is hit low and hard, which technique do you use?"
These sorts of questions allowed me to check their understanding of what we were showing them and allowed each of the children to clarify things with us, ask us about the skills, check they were doing things right and that they did understand.
As always, I finish the session with a game which is related and scored on the techniques looked at during the session. The game that was played included one batsmen and one feeder. A feeder what drop feed the ball and the batsmen would play a straight drive. The fielders are 30 yards away and have to run in/wait for the ball and use the correct technique appropriate to their approach. They score points for a solid stop/good pick-up and for an accurate throw in to the keeper.
For me this session was a good success, it's not always easy to get through the first session of the season as the children are not quite in cricket mood yet and fielding is not the most thrilling aspect of the game, but by making the drills have an element of competition in them, the kids want to get involved and win. But importantly, the drills do maintain the correct knowledge and structure to acquire the necessary skills to play the game
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