Even lockdown can’t stop Louis from coaching

Former Junior Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings youth team) coach Louis, who runs the Elite Cricket Academy at Kottivakkam, continues to look at the bright side of things even during these tough times. By posting and sharing homemade videos that touch upon the basic aspects of the game, the city-based guru is engaging not only his 100+ wards but also budding players from different districts in Tamil Nadu.

As Louis is offering everything for free, his work has received a great response from youngsters, who constantly get in touch with him through various social media platforms. “The initiative is mainly targeted at youth, between 12 and 15 years of age. If you aspire to become a complete player, you will first have to get the basics right. And, it is important you do that at a young age. When a player is technically correct, 70 to 80% of the problems can be solved,” said Louis.

“My videos, on the Sports Ruler YouTube channel, cover all departments – batting, bowling and fielding. I send them to my friends as well, who run academies elsewhere. If any of their boys have doubts, they contact me via WhatsApp. At the end of the day, I started this because I wanted to engage the boys in one way or the other,” added Louis, who coached JSK to victory in a four-team competition in England two years ago.

Apart from interacting, the experienced campaigner is keeping everyone on their toes by conducting online contests on a regular basis. All they will have to do is record a video of their shot or bowling action executed at home and send it to Louis, who in turn will decide the best contestant and come up with inputs.

“The boys have showed a lot of interest. A few days ago, I asked them to play a sweep shot; I got a lot of entries for that. Once the contest was done, I told the guys, including the winner, how the shot could be played better. Most of the boys have started to realise the mistakes they are making in their game, thanks to this method (of having a contest),” he stated.

Louis remarked the shutdown has been useful for sorting out technical issues. According to him, making corrections once the season starts is difficult as matches will come thick and fast.

“This is a good time to improve technique, at least for youngsters. You can’t change the action all of a sudden and bring it out in a game. It doesn’t happen overnight; the bowler has to keep working on it. The same goes for a batsman,” said Louis, who also coaches Ramachandraa Public School and Nellai Nadar MHSS – the teams that made it to the final of the TNCA City Schools Under-14 tournament in February.