Criticality of coach-player communication in women’s sports – focusing on women's cricket in japan and player retention

Guidance from the coaches is essential in order to perform well and achieve good results. Both players and coaches, working together, i.e., communicating effectively, will only result in a high-performing team. Communication is key to providing guidance to the players and success towards the goals. Communication should not be one-way from the coaches, but two-way between the players and coaches, and everyone involved with the team. Cricket, the topic of this research, also has similar challenges, especially in Japan where it is a gradually growing but undeniably still a minor sport. So, what is the major challenge with cricket in Japan? Among many teething issues which come with a growing sport, one unique situation in Japan is that many of the cricket coaches come from overseas. Thus, there is a language barrier between players and coaches and difficulty in understanding Japanese culture by the foreign coach. And, this is one of the major cause of miscommunication and misunderstandings causing not only players to loose motivation but an obstacle for coaches to set roots in Japan long-term. As a major issue in Japan cricket, especially women’s cricket, in the worst-case scenario, players may choose to quit cricket, the sport they love, leading to the point raised in this study, player retention. Japan Cricket needs to consider player retention in order to develop a strong and high-performing national team.