commitment

As a coach, we rightly focus on skills and player capabilities, but for me there are a wealth of other factors and behaviours we should be paying attention to, good and bad. 

A friend of mine wrote a short piece on timekeeping recently. For me almost every warning sign starts with poor timekeeping.

Almost, but obviously not always. A lack of ability to understand the purpose of timekeeping for the team culture or the respect for the environment is a stronger statement than simply being five minutes late. Nice guys can be late, it doesn’t mean the flag isn’t red.  

When I started at Exeter University in 2009, one of the key encouragements from the high performance group was to provide the teams ownership of their direction and to create their own team values / cultures. I started in September 2009 and essentially facilitated the training and allowed the players to talk about what they wanted to establish in terms of standards. Timekeeping being very important.

During the winter, timekeeping was okay with difficulties understood due to lecture clashes and so on. The first BUCS game of the season came along. Time had been agreed as to when we would start. As always, I was about an hour early. A cup of coffee, changed into my kit and then I set up a training area for the lads. I chatted to the opposition coach and the umpires. The lads drifted in and I waited. And I waited. The first game of the season and everyone was late. Actions over words. I wasn’t happy! I knew we were in trouble and whilst that season we survived relegation, the culture was so ingrained we only stayed up next season because the opposition didn’t turn up for the play off game!

A lot changed the next winter. A young captain, who had to fight his own timekeeping (but did because he understood its importance to the group), and a set of values a new and young group bought into. They began to self-manage with ‘fun’ fines for players that slipped. Everything changed.

In 2014 the team won indoor BUCS gold and reached the final outdoors – the first non-funded University to achieve this. How much was on ability and how much was on a set of shared goals, behaviours and values?

From 1996 I ran the first academy at Somerset CCC, which was the fore-runner to the ECB accredited academies. From my experiences as a player I wasn’t just looking at player abilities, I was looking at personal standards and behaviours beyond skills. Would they have the right character traits to cope with the harsh realities of professional sport. It wasn’t a break and mould situation. It was essentially an environment where we tried to balance enjoyment with hard work. Players had to know being elite is tough and a challenge. Hard work is an absolute given. But to achieve that, the environment had to be supportive and welcoming.

We had one very talented young lad, but so many behavioural issues. Not bad behaviour, just little things. Poor timekeeping, shoddy appearance, lack of ownership and so on. It’s often quite a coincidence that the poor timekeeper makes excuses (traffic), blames easily (I had a long day yesterday), points the finger (mum didn’t wake me) and so on. A contract discussion came up about him. I had spent two years defending him and yet found myself advising not to sign him. I just felt he would let a professional environment down. It was tough. Could we have worked with him longer? Should we when others show the necessary traits already? It’s professional sport, something has to give. Did he play somewhere else? No.

Another young lad, also part of the academy, said he wanted to be a pro. I lined him up to play a second eleven game with advance notice. He said he was unavailable as he was going to Spain with friends for two weeks. In the middle of the summer. He needed the break (excuse) in the middle of the season of the career he wanted to be a part of. Did he become a professional? No of course not. Younger cricketers are bound by family holidays of course, but it was his choice and if you want to be elite, sacrifices have to be made sometimes (mates holidays being one – I missed them every year).       

Ultimately, it all comes down to commitment. Is commitment absolute or temporary ie. when the player feels like it or can ‘fit it in’ to their schedule. If we have to coach commitment, do we have the wrong player to start with?  

My view is look beyond the visible skill set. What else can you see? What else is there to work on? I have said before, I have seen many really driven characters not reach the elite level as a cricketer, but they have elsewhere. They were committed, but it just didn’t work out. They were able to commit elsewhere though and succeed, because they pursued behaviours and standards reflective of high achievers.



If you aren’t prepared to put in the time, don’t be upset if results aren’t what you expected. It’s simply what you have prepared for.