The eyes have it

THIS young boy was desperately keen on his cricket. He would practise, practise, practise and dream of the day when he could play for his school team (as well as his province and indeed country). He had lofty ambitions but was frustrated because there just seemed to be no visible improvement. Despite the coach’s best help, in putting him through drills, exercises, training and advice, the boy just did not develop; in fact, he did not make the team. The coach went through all the actions, the grip, the technique, everything, with the boy but sadly to no avail.

The player and his parents, both were frustrated, disappointed and despondent. In the end, in an act of desperation, the father decided to move his son to another school further afield, to try to give his son a chance. On his first day at the new school he went to the cricket nets for a trial under the watchful eyes of his new coach, though not with a great deal of confidence or hope. The coach stood at the side of the nets as the young boy went through his paces as a batsman and after five minutes the coach had seen enough. In fact, he did not so much make an assessment but rather asked a question. He called the boy over and simply asked him: “Have you ever tried batting left-handed?” He hadn’t; he did then; and he went on to play

for his school’s first team.

Another young boy began his hockey career at the age of eight at his prep school. For four years he played left wing before moving to inside-left. When he went to high school, he played left wing for four years before moving to inside-right. After school he played for a club first team overseas (leftwing) before going to university where he played for the university first team — on the left-wing. In his second season at university he was captain of the team so chose to play in the midfield (what inside forwards had come to be called). On one occasion, halfway through the season the club discovered they had no centre-back available — the first team one was injured, the second team one was away on holiday, the third team one was probably drunk and so on. In the end, the captain decided that he would play centre-back for that game, a position he had never played before.

It so happened that one of the umpires for that match was one of the selectors for the national universities team and after the match he asked this youngster to come to the trials for the national universities team the following week, which he did — only to

be advised that he should play as sweeper, a very far cry from leftwing and a position he had never played before! As a result of the trial the young man was selected for the national universities team (as sweeper) and then within a year went on to play for the national Under-21 team (as sweeper) and then the full national team (as sweeper), which he continued to do for many years thereafter.

In political circles, there is a tradition that when votes are taken in parliament and those in favour of the proposal are in the majority, the cry goes up, “The Ayes have it!” What we see in sporting terms from the two stories above is that, “The eyes have it!” The two young boys were ensnared by how they had been initiated into the sport, into playing in a certain way, in a certain position, and after all, who is the child to say to the adult coach that they are in the wrong position? What they needed was a coach who could see that something was not right and who could see a better solution. The most important thing therefore that a coach can and must do is watch, look, see what is there and what is not there. They need to see if there is perhaps not another way to do what they are doing.

All too often, the coach will simply persevere with what has been done previously, trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole, the effect of which is simply that the hole and the peg are most likely to be broken. They try to force a particular style of play on their team; they endeavour to persist with a child playing in a certain position or way, even when there is no improvement. Sadly, children too often will declare (and become convinced) that they should play in a certain position or fulfil a certain function, purely because an adult once told them (and yet all too often the most able coaches are not put in charge of the teams where children start out in the sport).

Let us be positive about this: “The Ayes have it” in thinking the eyes have it — for the sake of those two boys and the hundreds like them. This writer knows very well — he was the second boy above.

Tim Middleton is a former international hockey player and headmaster, currently serving as the Executive Director of the Association of Trust Schools Email:

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