Rethinking Drills in Coaching

In this conversation, Shiney and Jono discuss the role of drills in coaching, particularly in the context of fast bowling. They emphasise the importance of understanding the athlete's needs and using video analysis to enhance learning. The discussion highlights the limitations of traditional drills and the necessity for personalised coaching techniques that resonate with individual athletes. The speakers advocate for a deeper understanding of the mechanics involved in bowling and the importance of adapting coaching methods to ensure skills are retained under pressure.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi everyone and welcome to Science and Shiny with myself, Shiny and John O. We just thought we'd do a quick sort of 10-minute podcast now on drills. I mean it it's a bit of a buzzword, isn't it, out there, John O. And and we we believe there are there's a time and a place for drills. So for example, the intervention poles, big poles go up, it's it's there to stop people side bending, uh, lateral flexion, because there was obviously research on um on lower back injuries, it can be used for direction. You you can use poles for a lot of things, you can use hurdles, you can use bands. Once again, that they're they're great, and there's a time and a place. I think with uh our experience of coaching now, we're looking much more around um sort of language, use of video, and cues that will help things stick because remember, you can't take a poll out with you. Um, unfortunately, it'd be great if you could, but you can't. So you've got to find a way to to do that. So, John O what would be the you know your take on the use of drills and the use of sort of video and and language to coach with?

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Yeah, I'm absolutely with you on that. Um, I don't I use drills actually as a bit of a last resort if they can't pick up the information we're trying to give them. So I I use video a lot, I video everything. I mean, I've got thousands and thousands, I do private one-to-ones with 10, 11-year-olds, and I've got thousands of videos of them, you know, uh doing their uh bowling and just trying to explain to them using language to say, okay, look at the position you're in. How can you get your I don't know, your bowling hand higher at back foot release, uh back foot contact? How can you get your hand up higher? And then we talk about the the movement of that, and and you do demonstration, you talk, then your video again. Oh look, your hand's gone a little bit higher because you've loaded up a little bit further back. How about that? How about you load up even further back and see where your hand ends up? Oh, look at that, you've now got a little bit higher, you know. So I I just think with the with with with videos, and we've all got you know brilliant iPhones now, or or any other make if you want to use any other make, but brilliant uh cameras on our phones that we can use a lot of video, and as long as our language is good and we explain and we uh we we trust that people um can pick up that information and use that information, and we've got video evidence for it.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, and I think you know there are only so many drills you can do, and you know, and I'm talking about prop-driven drills. Everybody's seen um, everybody's seen the polls, everybody's seen bands, everybody's seen machines that you wrap around yourself and run in with, everybody's seen um you know targets, yeah. They're all out there, and they're great. They are once again, they are great um they're great uh challenges that allow you to just try and improve. But ultimately, I think what what we know from many, many years coaching and and coaching at the highest level is that to make things stick, bowlers have got to get it, they've got to be able to get why they're doing it and be able to once again take it out there when the pressure's on. And by the pressure's on, someone's either trying to belt you into the cheap seats or they're trying to back for a day and a half, you know, and that and that ultimately is what you're up against. So, you know, if if you are doing a drill, and yeah, we there would sometimes, so for example, if you have had you know a stress fracture or occurrence of a stress fracture and you need to be put into safe positions, yeah, it's a great starting place. But I think when we coach, we much prefer to get on that personal level to find out about you, um, but also then be able to put a system together that works for you. So it's it's not about getting you to follow our system. So our system might be stick some poles up. No, it wouldn't be. It would be tell me what you like when you're at your best. You know, that that's generally better than a drill. Um, we've then get we'll then be able to get some um ideas about well, how can we make your form um more repeatable? Because remember, cricket or especially fast bowling, because it's a closed skill, yeah. You've either got your your one-day type skills, which is some stock balls followed by lots of variations, or your longer form, which is being able to just create pressure over a long period of time with skills.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

So I'll give you a good example, Finney, uh Shiny, about the uh the poles. Yeah, sorry, Finney. Shiny um don't know where that came from. Um I'll give you a good example of the of the poles. Um you can put poles up for a couple of weeks, get a kid to go through because you're trying to keep him upright, um, because you don't want the side flexion, and then the first time you take the poles over out, you know, it he's back falling over again. Whereas actually, if you said to the kid straight away, well, let's have a look at where your elbow is when it when it folds, where's your elbow? Oh, look, your elbow's in the middle of your thigh, which is dragging you over. What if you put your elbow on the top of your hip? What position does your body go into then? Oh, hold on, I'm a little bit more upright. So straight away you've solved the problem by doing a slight technical change rather than just running through intervention poles and not knowing what the actual problem is.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

It's the why question, isn't it? You know, so if if you have coaches who do put poles in or give you a band or a hurdle, ask why. And then you've also got to ask, you know, is that going to stick when I go into a game? So, you know, if what you've just said there, Johnny, which is one really good point, if you look to get your elbow in at around about hip height, you'll generally be in a really good position when you release. That might work for someone else, so but someone else might actually need, well, just try and keep your back foot in contact with the ground for a little bit longer because that will then hold you up a little bit. Once again, some people can feel that, some people can't, you know, and this is where your experienced coaches will be able to talk you through some potential really, really good techniques that when you're out in the middle and the pressure's on, you're able to go. Why am I ending up on the third pitch over to the left? Ah, either my elbow, get a bit of contact in the ground, make sure my head position is good, post my back leg. You we're talking about many, many um, many, many different pieces of advice we can give you based on the way you learn and the way you understand. And and remember, if you've got a row of poles there, yeah, and you're gonna hit them, yeah, you'll you'll make your own mind how you're gonna try and stop that from happening. But remember, you then have to keep an eye on the skill. So are you still as fast? Are you still getting the ball to move? That's the bit that we'll hopefully be able to help you with as well. And that's why we go a lot less prop driven and a lot more into understanding your system.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

So if you're interested in working with us, whether that's through coaching, analysis, or the pace flow integration, head to the website, we'll put the link in the description, or feel free to reach out via our YouTube channel or socials. Um, we'll also be continuing our shorter tech talk episodes, uh, breaking down specific parts of fast bowling. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next one.