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Improving your game at any time of the year will be worthwhile, however, having a 1-2-1 session during the preparation phase (December to March) of the year tends to be most effective. During that phase, players are likely to be practicing at school, at the club, with their district or county side, meaning that they can top up on their coaching sessions with extra practice. TIP - Look to aim for 4/5 practice sessions a month balancing out the number of 1-2-1 sessions vs club or school sessions. In my opinion, it is a good idea to have a session during the season.  However, players are superstitious and don’t like to tinker with their game mid-season but if you are not playing well then it is more positive to review your game and give luck a chance to happen, rather than repeat poor habits.  When players come to see a coach, they usually have a good idea of what area of their game they want to work on. If you don’t have an idea then you can talk things through with the coach on the phone beforehand or alternatively, you can chat with the coach before the session starts. Hour-long sessions are usually split up into 30-minute blocks, with players batting for 30 minutes and bowling for 30 minutes.  Batters can bat for one hour, but most fast bowlers would physically struggle to bowl for one hour, and the coach will be guided by the ECB fast bowling regulations making a 30-minute bowling session more appropriate most of the time. Players can work on any technical, tactical, mental or physical aspect of their game, and your session may combine a number of these. Younger cricketers benefit from working on their ABC’s of movement (agility, balance, coordination, and speed) during a session as skills transfer much more efficiently when they underpinned by competent physical movement.  Both players and coaches shouldn’t expect too much as a 10-year-old who is in a growth phase or an older adult who hasn’t played sport for 20 years may not be able to control their body very well, and their technical skills will probably suffer.  However, if you work on the technical skills at a lower intensity level, once the player becomes stronger / more mobile, and the coach returns the session to the game like intensity the player's technical skills will improve quickly. The first session will be a mixture of getting to know each other and simply bowling and hitting balls and from this point on the content of the coaching session should be driven by both player and coach. Also, if you have someone else joining you in the session, it is more beneficial to learning if they are of the same standard as you.  I hope that helps you to get more out of your session, and if you would like to book a 1-2-1 Coaching session at Serious Cricket - Basingstoke, please click here. Go well. Rich Hindley (Serious Cricket Head Coach)