Breaking new ground

I'm not a salesman, I'm a cricket coach. Promoting something to break down barriers is a challenge. Runmaka is new. We have to change the mindset from "why would I use Runmaka"? to "why wouldn't I"? And that will take time.

Last evenings session at Dauntseys School was brilliant. As always the feedback from the students is positive. They 'get' the technical age and combining tech with active training definitely ticks their enjoyment box.

But I'm a coach. My role / job is to add value. To help players learn and evolve their games / knowledge. Initially, Runmakas USP was in providing a training environment that had never previously been accessible. I'm learning that it's coaching value is growing the more I understand it. Yes, the plan was always to add content to make it more interesting / valuable and draw out skills and knowledge. But it's capability within a 121 session is becoming more evident too.

So, I'll return to Dauntseys. I wasn't there last night to coach and I'm not a coach that likes to interfere. Too many cooks etc.... However, I asked simple questions of the guys during their turns batting. Questions such as, "can you hold your hitting position a little longer"? "How does your weight transfer feel over your front leg"? "Can you hold your top hand height when driving"? "How does your head position feel"? And so on.

Nothing direct. Just questions with answers they can think about, look for. What was evident though, was how often the response was immediate. Why? This is what I want to learn... Is it because the coach is stood safely near the batter and can act as a form of 'coach whisperer'? Little reminders. Does this help? The environment is immersive and focused. Does this help? Repetitions are high. Does this help?

In an early version I had at Kings College in Taunton, a young lad I was coaching found one area specifically very difficult. A key element for batters. I tried numerous approaches - drop feeds, bobble feeds, top hand isolation, bottom hand isolation, feet awareness, bowling machine feeds, sidearms and so on. I had brought the app in to show the head coach. I decided to show the lad. I provided some demos of what I was inputting. He put the headset on. Played some shots whilst I 'whispered'.

I genuinely didn't think anything. He took the headset off and we went back to me throwing balls. The very first ball, he hit it exactly in the area we had been working on for weeks. And he continued to do so. Not just that week but the following ones too. What happened?

As with anything, nothing works for everybody. We all gel better with differing styles of learning for a multitude of reasons. Developing evidence is going to be a crucial phase in helping break down the virtual reality acceptance barrier as a form of training.

Watch this space....