Sanjeevan Sandhu
Thank you Chandigarh!
What an experience to connect with the athletes and coaches at Cricket with Nagesh. Special thank you to Nagesh Sir himself, who was kind enough to be a brilliant host. From the initial contact to the organisation of session to the introduction and to finish with the cap presentation, wowie…
What stood out from our time with these aspiring cricketers was the ability to grasp opportunities. On one hand, this is such an exciting time to be an aspiring athlete: the quality of facilities; the amount of coaches; quality of coaches; earning potential; access to self-analysis through media; opportunity to consume content of those at the highest level; information regarding nutrition, mobility, the mind and beyond. On the other hand, it is the most challenging time to be an aspiring athlete – the amount of those playing sport / amount of academies / scrutiny of social media, parental pressure and beyond. It’s a double-edged sword and we believe that being in a healthy frame of mind tilts the odds in your favour.
The session format was fluid. There was an introduction from Nagesh Sir and then he handed it over to me. We started with a general intro to mental fitness with some case studies of certain exercises that male and female athletes use to increase the likelihood of skill execution under pressure. After 5-7 minutes, the floor was open for a Q&A.
The main themes were dealing with rejection, a string of poor performances, parents expectations, online mockery and practicing with purpose. Many students shared about their experiences in selection matches and how that was the most pressure they’d ever felt and how to replicate this so they are better prepared for next time. Here, we dived deeper into practice and how confidence must come from evidence and the best place to get that evidence is in practice. The athletes I’ve worked with who are most consistent, are surprise surprise, specific with their practice. Yes, volume is crucial in the development phase, but once the skill has been acquired and realised, the dynamics of practice should also upgrade.
For these aspiring athletes, it’s about replicating match situations, setting fields in the nets, having consequence (out is out etc.) and accepting a battle won or lost. One of the greatest strengths of pathway cricket in India is the amount of games played. Still, it is common to hear stories of multiple matches played across one day. The ones who will progress to the next level, are likely to be those who practice with purpose.
We finished with a team pic and the youngsters ran out. The batters strapped themselves up, the bowlers marked their run ups, explained their fields, eventually they both haggled to an agreeable scenario and then it became time to play!
What a thrill to be back delivering in Dubai!
Dubai has such a special energy – whether it’s the diverse nationalities, the wide-laned roads, the sunshine and the feeling that people want to make things happen.
The latter was definitely the case for our session with the team at Tish Tash. A special shoutout to Cheryl for hosting us and ensuring everything from the intro meet to the date to the title to the IT set up to the session itself went smoothly! We missed Laura and Tash and hope to see them next time.
It was amazing to work with an all-female team who are doing brilliant work across the Middle East and beyond. It was exciting to learn more about how they support clients and see first-hand the importance they place on well-being. It’s clearly more than a tickbox exercise. Right from the outset, the team were engaged and curious and welcoming, of course! It was an open discussion where the team felt comfortable to ask questions infront of their peers and ensure they get from the session exactly what they wanted to.
Time flew by and I really appreciate the quality of conversation that we had. Themes that stood out were regarding overthinking, self-talk, filling your own bucket while supporting others and simple tools to catch yourself in a negative loop before things get out of hand.
A highlight for was definitely when we explored the concept of gratitude expression. It’s so important to remember that when we do this exercise, we do it for the right reasons, and the right reasons are because it helps us feel good, in a healthy way and it could make somebody else smile. If we end up thinking about others messaging us back or we have some other expectation it gets very difficult and that’s the opposite of the intention behind expressing gratitude.
A brilliant experience and I look forward to going back very soon to work with Tish Tash and one of their public events at the end of the month.
