How can one man coach a whole club?

This question is one that many a coach has been confronted with over the years. You've just been offered a senior coaching role at a new club. With visions of one-to-one discussions with batters, technical drills for bowlers, ongoing assessments and fitness development programs, your creative brain is firing.

Soon after, reality hits.

You’re coaching all four teams. They all train during the same two hour session once a week. Many will come and go at different times, and of course they all have a world of different issues they want to work on.

Oh, and you're on your own.

No assistant, no helpers, and no parents who you used to call upon when you were working with the juniors.

Don’t despair, there are still a few ways for you to make your sessions productive as long as you and your players can work to some simple guidelines.

1. Prepare drills

With only 2 nets available - as is so often the case - having fifteen bowlers queuing up for their turn is never a productive way to spend their time. So get there early and set up 3-4 simple drills around the outfield and leave a card with some basic instructions on it. These drills can be fitness based, fielding based, or anything else you think is relevant. If each drill can last 10 minutes or more, you’re starting to cut down that queue over at the nets.

Don't be too specific with the instructions. Give your players a chance to be creative and make their own decisions. Maybe they don’t get the drill quite right. Does it matter? You may actually find they make the drill even better than you had intended in the first place.

2. Create self-reliance

When you're on your own as a coach, you're heavily dependent on the attitude of the cricketers. Your session is running at its best when you can sit back and observe. So, encourage people to think for themselves. If they make mistakes they'll learn from them.

Put players - young and old - in charge of different things; see how they react to leadership and responsibility. Not only will it mean you're not all consumed by everything that's going on, but you may also see the benefits on the field, as players begin to engage with each other in decision making, rather than solely looking to you as the coach.

3. Small group coaching

Rather than having the same discussion with three or four individuals each session, why not pull them together and make a personal discussion a group discussion? If you keep the numbers involved to a minimum, you’ll notice that not only are more ideas created, but more solution will be identified without you offering the answers.

You may even start to notice that players begin to create their own support networks, consulting with each other seeing as they now know they have a shared goal. Not only does this allow them to solve further problems themselves, but it also increases the environment of self-reliance.

Things are now starting to happen!

4. Ban bad bowlers

Let’s just be clear on this; I'm not talking about stopping the 17 year old who is trying out some occasional off spin. I mean those players who have no intention of ever contributing as a bowler in a game. They are simply getting in the way.

We've all got them, they've tried bowling but it's not for them. If they don’t want to bowl, the batters don't want them to bowl, and the other bowlers don’t want them to, then don't let them bowl.

But what now?

Haven't you just created drifters? No. Now you've just found your assistant coaches.

They can,

• run the fielding drills
• hit catches
• run pitch maps for bowlers
• give throw downs when the bowlers need a break
• take the wickets keepers away and work with them

Does it mean if you try and implement all of the above then every session will run smoothly?

Absolutely not.

But suddenly more people will become active, players start to think for themselves, and you may even get two minutes to yourself to start thinking creatively about your next session upgrade.