The Role of a Coach

The other terms in the dictionary for the word coach are, tutor, instructor, teacher, trainer, etc. The key here is guide.

The coach acts as a guide or a leading light through a player’s career. In the cricketing world today, at the international level, coaches are given much more importance than they deserve. They are certainly vital to every player but can help only to a certain extent.

A coach is most important in the early stages of one’s cricketing rendezvous. The early stage is where the coach can actually guide the youngster and bring home to him as to which direction to move in. The coach can build the cricketing foundation of that person. And like anything else, a solid and stable foundation is almost always required to be a good cricketer.

But, as a cricketer is groomed, his knowledge of the game increases. There comes a stage when he can do many of the things the coach had to do for him at a young age (identifying mistakes, correction, etc.) When a cricketer has matured such and gained sufficient knowledge to manage his cricketing self competently, it is important for the coach to let the player grow (assuming that there are no flaws) by himself. Of course now and, there arises a situation when the player requires a person with greater knowledge to help him and then and only then should a coach intervene.

It is important for a coach to realise his role and stick within it, as overdoing anything can be counterproductive. John Wright said in his book ‘Indian Summers’, “I did not coach Sachin Tendulkar, I helped him, only when he asked for it.” -BS