“How quick is quick?”

I’ve been doing a lot of one to ones recently.

With young bowlers. 12, 13, 14 year olds.

And a pattern keeps showing up.

They’ve been told they’re not quick enough.

So I ask a simple follow-up question.

How quick are you bowling?

They don’t know.

Then I ask another one.

How much quicker do your coaches need you to be?

They don’t know that either.

Just… not quick enough.

Here’s the problem with that.

Pace is one of four principles of fast bowling.

Pace. Bounce. Lateral movement. Accuracy.

All four matter. All four are equal.

And every young bowler develops at their own individual rate.

Some find pace early. Some find it later.

But if we’re going to talk about pace as a reason for deselection, we owe that young bowler more than a throwaway comment.

How quick is quick for a 13 year old?

What does pace look like for an 11 year old female bowler?

If we can’t answer those questions clearly, we’re not giving feedback.

We’re just creating doubt.

Young bowlers deserve better than that.