The game now demands more knowledge.

The current era of cricket makes it imperative that coaches adhere to the principle of 'The governing dynamics of coaching'.

You have to have knowledge of all aspects of bowling performance. It's no longer OK just to say the same things as your former coaches said to you.

It's no longer good enough just to focus on past playing experiences. That's OK for tactical awareness, which is only 1 aspect of the Fergus Connolly 4-CoActive model.

There is so much more that happens before you get to the WHERE to bowl.

In the past, you had an OFF SEASON and an IN SEASON. wherever you were in the world. Some had longer than others, but there was a definite block pattern to the bowlers' calendar year.

That no longer exists. With the continued focus and growth of franchise cricket, planning, workload management, and periodisation become the number one priority in coach education in my view. When I talk about periodisation, no, it's not only S&C PHYSICAL TRAINING it's also TECHNICAL and TACTICAL planning. All aspects of bowling must be planned together so everything compliments each other. For example, you can't work on technical changes if you're hitting a hard hypertrophy block in the gym.

This is why you must have knowledge on all aspects.

A bowling coach needs to have an impact at all levels.

• Long term bowling development. So, a 3+ year plan
• An off season periodised plan for individuals and the team/bowling group
• An in season morpho cycle understanding. How to get bowlers to peak on game day
• Franchise morphocycle understanding. How to recover from match days and how to get IMMEDIATE PERFORMANCE benefits on match days. Yes, with the correct planning and training techniques, you can get bowlers to bowl sharper, faster with more clarity of thought in a day. Tricking the brain and potentiating the nervous system.

Now is the time for progression and to push the boundaries of what has been traditionally thought of as "bowling coaching." Times have changed, the game has changed, we now need to be better as coaches.