Shaurya, is a nine year old little boy who has developed a passion for Cricket as a sport at very early age. Akin, to many boys of his age he loves playing cricket with his friends and takes pride in being part of his class team. But unlike his peers, he has keen eye for watching the game closely and has strong favorites and beliefs about the sport he loves. Shailesh, his father, has confessed that even at such a young age he out does his father for his dedication towards the game. As an insightful father, Shailesh has enrolled him for coaching nearby.
I recall having taught him how to pick up the bat and how to take stance at the crease a few years ago. Since then, Shaurya looks up to me every time I meet him and discusses what is going on in his cricketing life. Perhaps he searches for an additional audience or perhaps he is a keen learner and wants me to share my thoughts and give him some tips.
Last weekend was no different as we went over to Shailesh’s for dinner. I found Shaurya, playing cricket with his father on the terrace and I was immediately invited to join them. It was also the time to give him next lesson about the game. ‘Always look for where the ball is pitching and play the ball pitched up on a front foot. If it is short, go on a back-foot’. A simple yet most important lesson one has to imbibe very early in order to play cricket at any level.
What shocked me was his resistance to accept this first and then his constraints of applying it. He insisted on cross batted swipe at each delivery. He wasn’t able to transfer his weight on his back-foot at all. His bat refused to come down straight to the ball and his backlift was always higher than his shoulder. His instincts were just not allowing him to apply the basic rules. His father and I persisted and made him shadow practice and instructed him to perfect it.
Kids of Shaurya’s age get all too excited about flamboyance of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni. Unknowingly, they imbibe their imperfections as well. What these kids do not know is that these players have played enough and have a natural talent of hand-eye co-ordination. Now they rely more on their natural talent than their foot movement. But I am sure when they started playing cricket they would have learnt and perfected these basics.
This is where the role of the coach becomes absolutely critical now. Kids are entitled to learn from what they see, but it is the job of the coach to ensure that they don’t miss out on basics and get carried away by what they see their heroes do. The kids, with all their passion towards the game aspire to be decent (if not best) cricketers. If they fail in cricket tomorrow because what they have learnt (or not learnt) today, it will most likely hamper their self-confidence tomorrow… and Achrekar Sir wouldn’t like it one bit!!!
© Shailesh Nigam, Varun Khanna (for respective articles)
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