By way of something different this year we have asked Willower Dan Vann to focus on the mental side of cricket. His words are aimed at coaches / parents of our younger players, wanting to advance in the game. Dan is currently Managing Director of Evolution Sports in Christchurch. He comes from a strong teaching (at Chisnallwood Intermediate) and playing background, mostly as international player/coach in all major cricket playing nations of the world. We hope his message has impact for those guiding our next generation of player.
Cricket is a very unique game in that it is probably the most individual team sport in the world. It is also a game that, like golf, has down time and pauses between actions and because of this cricket is very much a highly skilful game both physically and mentally.
This being said the physical skills and technique is generally where most of the coaching attention is directed. This is not due to any lack of appreciation of the mental side of things but more so probably a lack of understanding how to coach mental skills. Fortunately this has started to change and we are seeing more and more emphasis on the mental side of things.
My coaching personally has changed vastly of late with a much greater focus on mindset and mental skills. For me the first step in a player improving their mental skills is simply an awareness of their thoughts, processes, routines and their focus. With modern life young people have many distractions that keep their minds highly engaged with attention shifting quickly from one thing to another. We rarely are alone with our thoughts and able to just be in the moment.
Confidence is a great place to start, but what is confidence? It’s simply a feeling or thought around how capable one believes they can execute a skill or perform in a situation. What contributes to a players confidence? Stats, match performances, training performances, feedback etc. Coaches can play a huge role in this. Strength based coaching is a great method for cultivating a players confidence. This is when the feedback you give is based purely around what the player is doing well. “I love the way you moved towards the ball there”, “That was a quality strike”, “Excellent decision making”. As coaches we can often focus too much on the weaknesses or work-ons of our players/teams and when we do this too often players confidence can really take a knock. As well as this it is important that the player is able to articulate their strengths, their role and their mindset. The stories we tell ourselves and our limiting beliefs can be a huge barrier to players performing. This is the first question I ask a player before a coaching session, can you describe yourself as a player for me? Very rarely have I come across a player that will confidently say: “I am a middle order batsman that likes to dominate, I am an aggressive player who is strong down the ground and through the legside” or something along those lines….but sadly they can quickly list their weaknesses.
Self talk is another key area all good players need learn to develop. Good quality self talk will bring you back into the moment and remain focused.
Next is ball mentality. The only thing that ever matters in a game of cricket is the NEXT BALL. We cannot affect the past balls and we have no influence over the future balls until we actually face that ball. Young and inexperienced players can often be seen living in the past (after playing and missing the previous ten balls, or a bowler bowling two wides in the over), they can also be found distracted by the run rate or the outcome of the game. This is when having a very clear and consistent process is essential! Having a quality routine will allow those thoughts to pass between balls and to reset for the next ball and be in the moment and ready to react and make a good decision and continue this process over and over again.
Another huge part is only focusing on the controllables. In cricket there are many uncontrollables (weather, pitch, coaches decisions, captains decision, umpires, sledging, supporters, team mates performances etc). These are simply distractions and things that take our focus away from what matters. What we can control is our focus, our attitude, our mindset, our effort, our decision making and executing our skills!
Lastly, one of the most common and often crippling parts of mental skills I see is fear of failure. Again this is perfectly normal, I mean nobody wants to fail right, but if this becomes the focus of our attention, you can imagine it will not help us perform. This is often caused by coaches or parents (unintentionally) making getting out or making mistakes a much bigger deal than it really needs to be. I often hear players being given advice before batting such as: “Don’t get out”, “Don’t play dumb shots” or it could be caused by the reaction to getting out….”Why did you play that shot?” “That was a bit silly wasn’t it?” on the dreaded car ride home. When I ask players what is your mindset when you go out to bat, over 50% of the players I coach usually say “To not get out” or “Defend the first 10 balls” but what if they bowl a pie? I will ask them, what is the purpose of batting? They always say to score runs….So firstly we need to get our mindset and language right “To score runs, to find the runs, to hit the gaps, to be positive” Secondly we need to establish what is failure and what is success? This can be different for everyone. For me this should always be process based (things you can control) rather than outcome (scores/stats etc). For example failure could be poor concentration, poor decision making, lack of effort, negative mindset etc and success could be making good decisions, positive mindset, high effort, positive attitude or consistently following their process/routines. We cannot rely on stats as our measure of success, I have scored runs when I have been dropped multiple times and played poor shots and also hit the ball as good as ever to only get a jaffa and walk off for not many or take 5 wicket bowling 5 bad balls that the batter hit to fielders, but I have also bowled out of my skin for no wickets as I beat the bat all day. Stats only show some of the picture.
This is the basics and only brushing the surface of mental skills but its a great start. So if you can become aware of your thoughts, processes, routines and focus, get clarity and confidence in what you do well and own your role, establish what success looks like and focus on the controllables you will play with more freedom, confidence and most importantly you will enjoy the game!