PitchVision Academy

Cricket Show 148: Gary Palmer

David.Hinchliffe — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:24:42 +0000

Batting coach Gary Palmer joins the show to talk angles, technique and an alternative method that challenges current approaches to caoching.

Meanwhile Burner, Mark Garaway and David Hinchliffe discuss the IPL auction and how the biggest name players are not always the most important (and how that applies to your team).

Plus questions are answered on finding form after an injury, how to stop playing everything off the back foot and how to sport a beard as well as Matt Prior (listen to the show to find out more).

How to Get in Touch With the Show

Our contact email can be found here.

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USA: +1 347 722 1981

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The Four Non-Negotiables of Cricket Coaching

David.Hinchliffe — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:36:27 +0000

There are as many different styles of coaching as there are cricket coaches. Some things are changeable based on your personality and philosophy as a coach, but there are 4 pillars for every coach. These are the things that you take to every session, without question.

1. Never take away a players belief: always build

Lancashire, Sussex and England coach Peter Moores taught me a huge lesson when we were at the T20 World Cup in 2008.

A player was ripping into another player, being sarcastic about the other players cricket and technique.

Peter took immediate action, pulled the offending player to one side;

"The lowest thing a coach or player can do is take away the belief of a team-mate".

That sounds like a no-brainer, yet whilst coaching in indoor centres and grounds around the world I hear coaches asking players questions such as "John, are you batting with a hologram down there?" because the player has played and missed.

The other day I was introduced by a coach to a player who said, this is "Amy, she is a batter who is scared of the ball, looks good in the net but she never scores runs in the middle!"

I was shocked, chose to correct the poor use of language and then spent the next 30 minutes rebuilding the belief that the other coach had stripped from the player.

Be aware of your words, your actions and the impact that those words can have on a player.

Build Belief.

2. Seek out root causes out and apply solutions: coach for long term gain

"You’re losing your wrist, keep your fingers behind the ball!" and "Your collapsing on your back leg, stand up taller!" are two coaching observations that are all too common in sessions around the world.

Yes, those two things are happening yet what is the root cause?

Is the solution to those technical observations really as simple as keeping the wrist behind the ball or standing up tall on your back leg?

Of course not.

Those things are happening as a consequence of the root cause and unless the root cause is treated, the problem will quickly return.

It's our job as coaches to find the root cause behind any challenge that a player is having. Where does it stem from? Work your way back to root cause.

If you treat the root cause then the solution will emerge and then the learning will be longer lasting rather than a quick fix that breaks down under match pressure.

3. Every player and every session is special: be inspirational

When someone comes to your coaching session, do they come with a tag on their shirt telling you where they will go in the game or what role the game will play in their lives?

Of course not.

Therefore, we should coach each session with optimal enthusiasm, drive, enjoyment and passion.

I'm coaching a 18 year old player at the moment who is likely to become a good 2nd Team Cricketer rather than a professional cricketer yet who is loving the sessions, hanging onto each word, asking great questions and is developing well.

He is now really looking forward to playing local club cricket this summer.

Yes, his cricket is improving, but the most pleasing result with this player is that he has just started his ECB Level2 coaching course, is passionate about working with others in the future and about working within the game. I have a sense that this persons impact will be significant he will coach and inspire many others to take up the game in the future.

I hope that my sessions and coaching have inspired him and I predict that he will inspire others through his coaching and his own character in the future.

4. coach your best: you never know who you are coaching

17 years ago, a 3 year old boy walked into his 1st coaching session with a Coach at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.

The Coach was bubbly, positive, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, friendly, fun and focused on developing the potential in every one of those 20 or so players that were standing in front of him.

That coach could not predict what level those players would attain in their careers and it didn't matter. It was about giving them all an enthusiastic, fun, informative positive cricket experience.

Most of those boys are still playing and enjoying the game at Ventnor CC or for other clubs around the world. Some have gone on to become coaches in their own right.

The coach was my Dad.

The then 3 year old was Danny Briggs, England's new left arm spinner who will make his ODI debut against Pakistan in the next 2 weeks.

Danny's positive and early cricketing experiences were essential.

It helped in encouraging his participation in the game, igniting the passion that he has for cricket and refining the techniques, mindsets, perspectives and competitiveness that have underpinned his rapid rise from a 3 year old playing kwik cricket to International cricketer.

The role of the coach in this process is significant so coach your best, always!

How to Use a Trigger Move: Spin Bowling

David.Hinchliffe — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:15:37 +0000

After discussing the best trigger for pace bowling in part one, part two of this video sees Gary Palmer move on to spinners.

Yet again Gary’s goal is to make sure the batsman avoids the common technical problems with a simple move that is an adaption of the popular – and highly misunderstood – forward press.

Click here to view to video now.

Get more batting tips on Gary Palmer’s page on PitchVision

Come and Meet PitchVision in Leeds

David.Hinchliffe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:31:48 +0000

If you are in the UK and play or coach club cricket, you can come at meet PitchVision at the Headingley cricket ground in Leeds this weekend (11^th February).

The Cricket Resource Show heading to Yorkshire and it’s going to be packed with ideas for you to use this coming season, including PitchVision.

There are sections to help you raise funds through your club, get vital training and ground equipment, playing gear and merchandise: everything under one roof so you can explore.

And of course PitchVision will be there to show you the many ways we can help you improve yourself and your club through preseason, into the summer and far beyond.

See you there!

4 Angles: The Only Technical Batting Session You Ever Need

David.Hinchliffe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:39:06 +0000

PitchVision batting coach Gary Palmer has been causing a bit of a stir.

After years of experimenting and developing he has come up with the ultimate batting session.

A batting session that is so effective and so complete he has been showing it to open-mouthed coaches at several first-class counties.

But here is the kicker; it teaches you to bat in a way that has never been taught before.

Gary calls it 4 Angles, and it’s the only session you will ever need as a coach or a player.

Why 4 Angles works

Batting can be boiled down to a simple ABC method; alignment, balance and completion of shot.

To be consistent as a batter, these key elements of batting need to be constantly addressed within a batting technique.

4 Angles is a systematic and innovative session designed for all ages and levels of players. It’s been designed and tested by Gary Palmer to progressively develop your ABC’s through the position and swing of a bowling machine.

By doing this your technique becomes ingrained far more quickly than just facing bowlers from one, or two angles of attack. You are equipped to survive high class spells of bowling early on in your innings and thrive when you get set.

Using different angles the batsman is challenged to:

Construct a solid technical base because the closer to perfection you are, the more versatile you are.
Fine tune a well-established technique against good quality bowling
Monitors and maintains technique to stop bad habits forming
Adds pressure to technical work for advanced players
Identify and, with good coaching, correct good technique
Add natural flair

Unlike a typical technical session, 4 Angles lets you face all angles and swing/spin types. You are forced to adapt to every possible type of bowling and you will be more effective.

The session is a simple way to improve the way you play swing and spin bowling simply, naturally and effectively. Gary has improved the technique of dozens of players over the last few years while fine-tuning it at his Academy sessions.

What Is 4 Angles?

So what is the magic sequence?

At the moment Gary is keeping the exact details close to his chest. He’s saving it for the guys he has been coaching.

But he is so confident it works he has already shown it to 5 first-class counties, with more to follow.

And you can get the exact details too.

Just head over to Gary’s page on PitchVision Academy and put your name down for his free online notebook. As soon as 4 Angles is ready for you, we will let you know.

Until then, why not take a guess in the comments? The really shrewd readers may be able to work it out from the clues on this site.

Cricket Show 147 Competition Winner

David.Hinchliffe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:37:48 +0000

This week’s winner of the Cricket Show podcast question competition is Brenden. He wins a free coaching course from PitchVision Academy.

The winning question was:

"I heard about associated state in your podcast but cannot find anything appropriate on the internet. Do you have any more information and links please?"

Listen to the panel’s answer to his question here.

To enter your own question for the chance to win your choice of online coaching course send your questions in here.

How to Use a Trigger Move: Pace Bowling

David.Hinchliffe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:30:59 +0000

In part one of this two part video on trigger moves, Gary Palmer reveals the most effective way to trigger against swing and seam bowling.

There is much advice and discussion on trigger moves, but the method Gary Palmer teaches allows batsmen at all levels to stay balanced and aligned to the ball without getting closed off.

Click here to view the video now.

Get more batting tips on Gary Palmer's page on PitchVision.

Cricket Show 147: Iain Brunnschweiler

David.Hinchliffe — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:33:57 +0000

Mark Garaway and David Hinchliffe discuss batting collapses in the light of India and England’s poor performances on tour. Every team has had a collapse, so the team talk about ways you can at least try to prevent them in your side.

Iain Brunnschweiler joins the show on the phone to talk about his work with the England Under 17 players in a recent camp, and also his Inspired Cricket Manual.

Plus we answer your questions on returning to cricket after a long break and the NLP term; “associated state”. The links that Mark outlines are:

How to Get in Touch With the Show

Our contact email can be found here.

Use our twitter or facebook accounts.

Or you can call and leave a message (it’s an answer phone, not manned but we check it every day). If it’s a good story or question we will call you back for a chat.

UK +44 (0) 208 816 7691
AUST: +61 (02) 8005 7925
USA: +1 347 722 1981

How to Listen to the Show

You can download the show onto your computer by right clicking on the link below and choosing "Save Target as..."

You can also subscribe to the show:

Click here to subscribe in iTunes.

If you don't use iTunes You can add the feed manually.

Preseason Drills for Spin Bowlers

Mark Garaway — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:00:07 +0000

Just as with the pace bowlers in a previous article, we are concentrating on drills and progressions in pre-season. This week it's the turn of the spinners.

Bowling from the Delivery Stride Drills

I ask spinners to bowl from a stationary position at the crease which enables the player to isolate a certain part of the action or a part of the technique. So get your bowlers to work from their delivery stride initially and once they can hold the action and the technical enhancements that you majoring on in your coaching.

Things to work on and observe in Delivery Stride Drills

Different alignments of the seam angle against the pitch to produce different spin results (top spin, maximum breaking ball, stock ball, arm ball, doosra)

Up and over shoulder rotation within the bowling action (some bowlers have a tendency to rotate their shoulders in a horizontal axis, this reduces the shape of the ball in flight)

Completion of the bowling action. Ideally, a spin bowler should find that their bowling hand completes the action around the opposite trouser pocket area. This is an indicator that a full and complete bowling arm circle has occurred. Many bowlers have a tendency to cut the bowling circle short and their bowling hand ends up near the bottom of the ribcage. This reduces the dip on the ball and often leads to a loss of control of length.

Appropriate flight. Shane Warne's mentor, Terry Jenner carried a "Spin bowlers kit" around in his bag. One part of that was a simple piece of rope that he would fix across the net and challenge the spin bowler to deliver the ball above the rope yet dip and land within a coned area on a length. If a bowler is rotating the bowling shoulder up and over (rather than round) and completing the bowling action to the opposite trouser pocket then there is a good chance of the ball being flighted from the hand, over the rope and down into the coned area on a length.

For a net session, the cones can be taken away and chalk areas applied to the indoor pitch or matted area to measure the flight of the ball in a net session. A batter can then be introduced to play against the spin bowler delivering from the crease

Progressions

Once a spin bower has mastered this then a couple of steps are introduced and the results are assessed, if the technique holds up under momentum then the approach can be extended to incorporate a full run up.

Bowling from the Crease or a Couple of Steps in Nets

Just as with the fast bowlers last week, the stationary drill and then a couple of steps progression can be used within nets. The watchword again is to keep an eye on the competitive nature kicking as this can lead to technical breakdown.

The option here is to take the isolating technical focus away and work on delivery of skills (executing variations) or tactics (field setting/angle of delivery/getting batters off strike) or if the bowler is in danger of complete technical breakdown then take him out of the net and back into the drills above.

As preseason progresses, the bowler will be a more compete technical model who can adjust to the competition scenarios that we put in place, the personal battles with the batters and bowl your side to victory on a number of different surface types.

Coaching to Win Welcomes Iain Brunnschweiler

Mark Garaway — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:31:07 +0000

It is a real pleasure for me to welcome Iain Brunnschweiler and his Inspired Cricket Manual to PitchVision Academy: Coach Education.

Iain was a young player who I started coaching and captaining in the late-1990s at Hampshire CCC. After I moved into coaching, I continued to work with ‘Brunchy’ until I moved from Hampshire to move to Somerset in 2001. We have stayed good mates and often chat through coaching ideas.

As a wicket-keeper, person (and now as an International Coach) Brunchy displays an open mind, an obvious sense of innovation, has a good understanding of people and a infectious work ethic. It was no surprise to me when he moved into coaching and then progressed up the coaching ladder with the England and Wales Cricket Board at such a rapid rate.

As well as heading up Inspired Cricket, Brunchy is now England Under-17 National Coach and is very well thought of in the ECB.

His values, coaching philosophies, innovative drills and ideas shine through in the eBook and I would encourage any player or coach to pick up a copy from PitchVision Academy and build his concepts into your training plans.

The great thing about Inspired Cricket is that you can carry it around on your mobile phone or iPad to every session meaning that the drills are always with you: an instant coaching resource.

Brunchy is one to watch in the coaching stakes as he will no doubt continue to rise through the England Coaching ranks in the years to come. Get on board with the Inspired Cricket Manual and do the things that have taken Iain and the players that he coaches into the International arena.

Be Inspired!