ECB Coaches Association links Coaching Insight 2019 | Page 39

What is ‘player-centred’? Will what underpins of the core principles be tweaked? More or less. According to the individual. Things are complex. Feelings run high. The coaching community, being a mixed tribe, will respond in many ways. Surrey may respond to this by making a convincing argument that there is nothing traditional or old-fashioned about their goals or their methods! It really could be that their coaches are as “enlightened” and player-centred as anyone. It just feels like a drift back to demonstrations in nets might happen. Being player-centred might mean providing the context, the activity, appropriate to the recipient individual. But it’s not superficial, ideally. In other words, asking questions and playing games might tick some progressive boxes but may not either really work or be really player-centred. I hope that not too many of us fall into a kind of smugness or vitriol around this. To equate the perceived triumph of traditional values with the need to return to traditional coaching methods would be questionable, in my view, because surely traditional skills and values can be supported by contemporary, less didactic coaching and because who knows, really, what’s making the difference? For the term “player-centred” to really cut it, I reckon we’ve got to be talking about a pretty radical shift in the player-coach alliance. Inevitably the coach will have certain beliefs – patterns he or she hopes to share and follow. But I think the essence of contemporary coaching has rightly moved towards offering the player the opportunity to grow and to self-direct on that pathway. The essence of the task is about using your human skills – social, psychological – alongside those cricket coaching skills to truly, generously develop the player. We’re back to the awesome, exciting, wonderful, challenging enormity of the role of the coach. We aim to get better. Or we should. That was a central message from both Coaching Insight Volume 8 and Wings to Fly 2018 – appropriately, in my view. For many of us this might mean exposing ourselves to ideas which in truth may not make us more sure about what’s right. And yet that same exposure may still be hugely beneficial. Being player-centred, like everything else, is a matter of understanding. Understanding them – as far as possible – understanding our role as coaches and offering a whole lot. A dialogue. A sounding-board. A springboard. 37