Cricket is played and loved by millions all over the world. It is also a great way to spend time with your friends and family. Here are some tips on how to teach your child to play cricket and use this game to bond the generations together.
Cricket is easy to learn and can be enjoyed by boys and girls from as young as 5 years old. Many schools include cricket in their physical activity curriculum. Perhaps, learning the rules of the game is the most difficult thing for a child, especially of a young age. But before that, there are some exercises that might help your children to improve their physical skills that are necessary for cricket.
Basic skills needed to play the game:
- Good hand-eye coordination;
- The ability to throw and catch a ball;
- Good batting and bowling technique;
- The ability to concentrate for sometimes long periods of time.
While you can teach your child how to throw and catch the ball correctly, as well as good hand-eye coordination, concentration is a skill that can only be developed over time. One of the greatest cricket batsmen of all time, according to Stumped, Don Bradman, practiced the following exercise to improve his batting and hand-eye coordination when he was a kid: he was hitting a tennis ball into the wall as many times as possible before losing control over the ball. To make the exercise more challenging, you can choose a golf ball instead of a tennis one.
Throwing and catching exercises are much easier. You can simply throw a ball with your child, also encouraging him/her to use a non-dominant hand to catch or throw the ball. To make an exercise more challenging, try throwing a ball faster. You can also simulate a cricket match: you and your child can fulfill different roles on the pitch while training own throwing and catching skills. By doing so, you will also learn the rules in an entertaining and engaging form.
Sometimes, children do not feel engaged in physical activity in any sort. To address this issue, encourage your child to follow the latest news in the world of cricket. Different platforms can be used to track the cricket results and features of your child’s favorite team. By becoming a fan of cricket, your child will receive extra motivation to exercise and improve own skills at the game. Moreover, there are plenty of prominent cricket players that can become the role models for your children. They always want to play and look like their favorite player, so finding appropriate role models among the professional cricket players might be a good idea.
In conclusion, teaching your child to play cricket might look challenging at first. However, it is quite simple: if you dedicate your time and energy into it, your children will most likely appreciate it. You have to just find a way to keep them engaged through entertaining physical exercises and following the latest news of your favorite games together.
