By Rudi Webster
Once again, Cricket West Indies (CWI) is about to choose a new head coach for the senior team. Let’s hope they get it right this time. But what is coaching all about? Is it necessary? What can it be used for; when and how much can it be used; who can use it well and who cannot? What coaching applicant is best suited to design and implement a performance improvement programme that will arrest the team’s longstanding decline and return it to winning ways? These are fundamental questions that members of the selection panel ought to contemplate and answer before making their final decision. They should also remember that conducting interviews is not the best way to pinpoint the best coaching candidate.
As impressive as the coach’s knowledge and academic qualifications are they are not usually reliable predictors of good coaching performance. This is so because the skills of numeracy and literacy – acquiring and using knowledge – are different from the skills of operacy – doing things and getting results. A famous American football coach once said that coaches who can write down and explain plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. He said that the ones who win, get into their players and motivate. Coaching is an art that demands lots of practice and experience. It is also about knowing the players, understanding the physical, emotional, psychological and cultural environment in which they are operating and having an awareness of how these factors are likely to interact and affect each other.
