Oscar Nauhaus - Cricket Coach and Beyond

My Cricket Coaching career started in the year 2015 and it has taken shape really well, having been associated with RX Cricket academy, one of the top 10 in the city of Bangalore. Year 2016 got even better, as the summer camp was led by a foreign coach, Oscar Nauhaus. My association with him started from 28th March 2016, one of the important days in my Cricket coaching career. He comes from South Africa, a great cricketing nation, which produced Legends of the game like Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, AB De Villiers and Allan Donald. He has worked with Allan Donald as supporting Coach and he came to India to pass on the knowledge, an opportunity created by RX Muralidhar.

He brought so many new things to the table from day one and made everyone realize that coaching is an art which is not every one's forte. You just need to be well informed of the things that it takes, to make a player gain in the areas of skills and attitude. He clearly laid out plans for the Kids to excel themselves over the 2 months. Coaches need to send a strong message to the Kids that learning a Sport is god damn difficult, as it involves a complete dedication from everyone and cannot be restricted to the couple of hours spent everyday. The programmes scheduled for the Summer camp should send across the same message too. That is where, an experienced coach like him scores over the others. He not only communicated those, but scheduled intensive programme for the Kids.

Another appreciable effort was theoretical sessions, which was a first time effort in RX camp. This is not only new, but very essential for the kids. Some of the talents would take up this game very seriously in future and they would realize the importance of these sessions. It covered step by step approach, right from Identifying a talent to honing the skills and attitude of an individual. Lot of emphasis is put on the time spent with the Laptop, analysing the game, opponents and many other strategies. Such theory sessions are also integral part of the Coaching.

Oscar is great with the Kids, not only because of the obvious reason that he is a foreign coach for Indian Kids, but also because, he brings lot of positive energy and enthusiasm along with him. He is self motivated and passionate about the game. Strange but true, that he sometimes comes hard at the guys, when it comes to discipline and behaviour, but that's what brings him close with every one too, because he treats everyone the same way. The passion and execution of his ideas is for everyone to see and parents did not mind staying back to watch their kids learn from him.

He is Loud and Clear all the time and hardly one would notice him running out of ideas, because he has Plan A, Plan B and sometimes Plan C also ready with him. Some of the important things, he passed it onto the coaches at RX Camp are highlighted below.

• The Value of 1 Run - The toughest aspect for a Coach to teach and a cricketer to learn. It opened doors to the reality of coaching. Coaches spend hours correcting the basics of the game, but forget to pass on this important learning.
• Fitness Schedules - 25 meter run, short sprints, long sprints, squats, push ups etc. were thrust on to the kids every monday, setting a wonderful tone for the entire week. As coaches, we could see visually, the kids becoming more athletic and turning into wonderful fielders for the camp. He wanted to rate the "fitness improvement scale" of each player. He passed on the message to the kids that Self evaluation is the key to success and made each and every player take responsibility for his fitness. Few took it very seriously and had a fruitful discussion with him to shape themselves up.

• Intensity that a Voice of a Coach creates - Few coaches like myself became more interactive with the kids at the end of the summer camp and credit has to be given to him, because he influenced the coaches to be more vocal with the Kids at the camp.
• Discipline - He hates Cheating and punished, not the individual, but the entire team and this is more fitting for the game of cricket. It is after all a team game and kids learnt that their individual behaviour reflected on the whole team.
• Fielding Techniques - "Communication" amongst the fielders is an important thing and he suggested some fielding drills, which focused on this aspect. Coaches did the normal routine of half moon catching drills, which was outdated and he completely stopped that practice in RX Camp. Yet another example of his influence.

• Visual Drills - This is another effort, which improves the concentration level of the kids. Everyone should throw the ball onto the wall and catch it. The challenges are aplenty - the size of the ball is very small, students should use only one hand and within 30 seconds, they should catch maximum number of balls. Some of the Coaches were pushing themselves for this challenge too, as it was fun and learning guaranteed.
• Right Technique for Right Skill - Throwing technique for fielding, bowling technique, head position while batting and bowling, wrist position at the time of delivery and many such techniques were communicated in a manner easily understandable for the Kids.
• Theory Session - He is always well prepared and his theory session would make an MBA Management official proud, as his usage of PPTs and slides are very professional and relevant.

Apart from the ones mentioned above, there were many other drills and sessions, which was a first time experience for coaches like me. Sad that he is not continuing with RX camp at the end of summer, but he left so many things back with the coaches and I would not forget the learnings. 

Life is beautiful for these reasons, wherein a person walks in and touches another person's life and expects nothing in return. I would like to thank my beloved sport "Cricket" for this opportunity and a sincere thanks to RX Muralidhar, who brought Oscar Nauhaus into our lives. And last, but not the least, a special thanks to Oscar Nauhaus for walking in and changing my Coaching style.