A new cricket season came to a start on the 20th April with me looking forward to taking charge of my first game as 2nd team captain at Chelford CC. But before the game, my role as junior coach was put to the test first as I had to do a one hour session with 8 of our junior cricketers.
With it being the first session of the season, I just wanted to focus on all the basics of the four aspects of cricket; bowling, batting, and fielding.
By keeping it to basics for the first session, it is easier for me to ease the juniors into the first session and doesn't ask anything to strenuous of them as the muscles used in cricket are not used as much during every day life. Taking my time to ease them into the new season will only benefit them because it will mean there are no early injuries or burnout from overload due to excessive practice.
As with any session, regardless of sport, we started with a simple pulse raiser for a warm-up and to get the children active and ready to go. Once the warm up was completed I introduced myself, explained my role at the club and what I wanted to try and achieve with them over the coming season. I then explained what we were going to be do during the session.
First of all we started with some basic fielding. This included close catching, long barrier and the one hand/two hand pick-ups. To start with the juniors were stood in a circle and began to pass a ball around the circle with a variety of ball size (tennis ball, cricket ball and small football). The reason for this was it encouraged concentration on where the hands needed to be positioned for what ball as well as working on the hand-eye co-ordination of the players. We moved on to the long barrier next where the juniors were put into pairs and stood 20 yards apart. They rolled the ball towards one and and other and it came to them they performed the long barrier. They did this five times each and I brought them in to talk about what they had done and to check they understood how to do the skill, why the skill was important and what sort of game situations the long barrier would be appropriate. The same routine was applied to the one hand pick and then the two hand pick up with questions being asked after each one to ensure they all understood the skill in its entirety.
We then moved on to basic batting skills, primarily focusing on the front foot defensive shot. Similar to with the fielding drills, the juniors were paired up and given a bat and a ball between them. Because this skill is a little more complicated than the fielding techniques I did a more thorough demonstration for them to show them what the shot looked like. On my coaching course I was told to do two demonstrations from two different angles, so using that knowledge that is what I did. I then asked a couple of questions about what the juniors may have noticed me do and they told me things like "front foot stride, eyes on the ball, straight bat and head over the ball on contact". This was encouraging for me because it not only showed they understood and had good knowledge but for me on a more personal note, that my demonstrations were good and clear. This drill was then progressed into a more attacking shot, the front foot drive. Exact same set up except instead of stepping forward and blocking the ball, the batsmen would be pushing at the ball harder with the intention to score runs off the shot.
Finally to finish off was basic bowling. I kept the juniors in pairs for this as well as it was the simplest way to do the drills I had planned for them. All they were doing this time was making sure they held the ball correctly and bowled the ball with a straight arm. Once again, two demonstrations were done for them and questions asked to ensure there understanding of the technique and once I was satisfied with their knowledge, it was their turn to have a go at the skill.
At the end, I allowed the juniors to have a bit of fun practicing the skills learnt in this session through a game where the limitations were only allowed to use what was done. Points were scored for using the correct techniques at the right time, points were lost for using skills not done in the session.
On the whole, the session was a success and as a coach I felt I learnt a lot as it was a new experience for me to be coaching a group of young lads who I had previously coached where the difference in my confidence, ability to coach and knowledge of drills has drastically improved in the last 12 months with the help of Uni and coaching courses.
Finally to finish off was basic bowling. I kept the juniors in pairs for this as well as it was the simplest way to do the drills I had planned for them. All they were doing this time was making sure they held the ball correctly and bowled the ball with a straight arm. Once again, two demonstrations were done for them and questions asked to ensure there understanding of the technique and once I was satisfied with their knowledge, it was their turn to have a go at the skill.
At the end, I allowed the juniors to have a bit of fun practicing the skills learnt in this session through a game where the limitations were only allowed to use what was done. Points were scored for using the correct techniques at the right time, points were lost for using skills not done in the session.
On the whole, the session was a success and as a coach I felt I learnt a lot as it was a new experience for me to be coaching a group of young lads who I had previously coached where the difference in my confidence, ability to coach and knowledge of drills has drastically improved in the last 12 months with the help of Uni and coaching courses.
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