Send your game into the stratosphere with this secret coaching tool.

I recently attended a Coach Education day with some world-class coaches in fielding, strength and conditioning and technique. I came away with a raft of tips, drills and ideas to put into action with club level players.

But one thing really stood out to me.

In fact, it’s a coaching trick that is as old as coaching itself. Yet, in the light of these sessions and my recent experiences as a coach, it reminded my of it’s power.

Many of us think actions are more important than words: Get to work in the nets and stop talking airy nonsense about “culture” and “mindset”. While I agree, action is crucial, it’s undirected without the words.

Words give context, context leads to positive action. The right actions get insane results.

What am I talking about?

The power three

The power three are three simple questions.

They are best practice for coaches trying to construct sessions, but they can also be used by players at practice to turn nets into focused sessions of excellence:

• What do you want to improve?
• Why do you want to improve it?
• How do you work on that today?

Sounds too simple doesn’t it?

That’s what I thought. I almost ignored the point as the speaker moved on quickly.

Then I realised this was one of the most powerful ways to add context to training.

Who is this for?

Think about what most people do at nets and compare it to this.

There is the group who turn up to “hit balls” and “get in form” and, perhaps worse, get frustrated when they don’t middle everything. You don’t improve by doing this.

There are the ones who are keen to learn but just do exactly what the coach has prescribed without thought or question. You could improve by doing this, but it will be slow and painful.

There is a third group who are engaged and thoughtful, but also undirected. They work on whatever they feel like at the time.

The power three are for all these people. Every age, every skill level.

How to use the questions

So, how do you put this into action?

Simple, before every session (or even during the session) ask yourself the questions and answer them. Then get to work.

Let’s say you want to improve your spin bowling. First you ask “what” and decide you would be better if you had more dip. Then you ask “why” and decide you don’t get much dip at the moment, robbing you of a tool to take a wicket. Finally you ask “how” and you come up with a drill to improve your dip.

Then you get to work.

Isn’t that a lot more powerful than just running in and generally hoping magic will happen by itself?

It might.

But with these three words, it’s much more likely.