Back in the day (as all of us say who played when a coach was just another form of transport) a young fast bowler could bowl away to his heart's content. Part of your apprenticeship as an up-and-coming speedster, was bowling over after over and bowling yourself fit. Not only that but you became fit for purpose and you were 'grooved' in your talents to bowl a line and length.
Sadly, and I say sadly because I am just not sure we have improved things, young bowlers can only bowl 5, 6 or 7 overs in a spell (dependent on age) and up to 10, 12 or 18 overs in an entire day. There is also some 'directive/suggestion/guideline' (delete or add as applicable) that is called '7-4-2' and aimed at the higher levels I believe. This says that in 7 days of cricket, a bowler shouldn't bowl for more than 4 days and certainly not 2 days in a row. 7-4-2 makes it kinda hard to plan for any sort of group practice or training work with a group as it is clear you will need to have twice as many bowlers as you think to fill in the gaps left by the 3 days when NO ONE can bowl in a week, and the 2 other days that a bowler cannot bowl back to back.
Apart from utilising all your form filling skills and writing out sextuplet versions of the same plan, which you might have learned from your new Level 3 or 4 coaching course, you will need to have some degree of project planning. This 'new era' type of coach, armed with laptop, sunglasses and sponsors logos will probably require a decent sized back room staff to help implement it.
Hmmmm.
I do recall bowling hundreds and hundreds of overs in pre-season nets to prepare for the new season. This grooving was essential in developing skill and to learn how to construct long bowling spells. Yes we were as stiff as a board but we bowled through it and seemed to break down far less than bowlers today. Or maybe I am just misty-eyed about bowling for 2 hours in the morning, going to the pub for lunch, then come back for another 2 hours in the afternoon. The truth is many fast bowlers, NEED to bowl.
Ironically, it is in fact net practice that blows apart the directives for young bowlers because if you have watched any net sessions it usually involves people bowling pretty aimlessly for a long time. Coaches rarely, if at all, monitor the amount of bowling. And even if they do, who is going to monitor a young bowler during the week who might bowl every day, with different teams and at different times?
It's mighty hard for a teenager who has been restricted in overs, to then be able to bowl regularly and more often without stress overloading. I'm certain that's why we see more prevalence of injury than ever. Added to the fact that we now build bodies in the gym but not in the nets.
It all comes back to being fit for purpose.. rather than just fit.
Better monitoring leads to better management. The question is, does all this achieve what we want - better cricketers?
When the main aim of a coach is to 'keep the fast bowlers on the park' I think we have shifted our focus away from skill and actions and into a whole area that passes the onus from the bowling coach and over to the strength & conditioning coach. Indeed part of the modern first-class and international coach brief is to interact with a myriad of support staff, analysts, fitness experts, specialists, coaching programmes, directives, media yada, yada...
It is a balancing act of course, but with less and less talented fast bowlers around than ever and fewer overs being bowled it makes you wonder what the reasons are behind changes. We may or may not be keeping bowlers playing longer. I am certain we are not raising the standard though.
If it came to it (and I don't think it needs to be this way), would you rather have an average length career as a great player or a long career as an average one? If we are seeking to be the best, I am not sure averageness is a desirable goal.
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