The Coach Behind First-Class Cricketers, Shannon Young on the Psychology of Player Development

In Episode 38 of The Cerebral Cricketer Podcast, we are joined by Shannon Young, founder of YoungGun Cricket and CEO of Cricket Performance Lab.

Shannon is a former Richmond Cricket Club Head Coach in Victorian Premier Cricket and has worked across private coaching, Premier Cricket and high-performance pathway environments.

He has helped develop home-grown first-class cricketers and brings a unique perspective on what it actually takes to progress from club cricket to higher levels of the game.

In this conversation, we explore the psychology behind player development, understanding the person behind the cricketer, identifying behavioural patterns, building trust as a coach, and why modern coaching has to go beyond batting technique alone.

We also discuss Cricket Performance Lab, cricket technology, bat fitting, BPI, game education, young talent, Premier Cricket, and what separates talented players from players who are genuinely ready for the next level.

This episode is for cricketers, coaches, parents and serious cricket followers who want to better understand how modern players are developed, both technically and mentally.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro to Shannon Young
00:57 Shannon’s coaching journey
02:00 Players Shannon has worked with
03:05 Cricket Performance Lab and elite players
04:20 Jason Gillespie, Richmond and Glenn Maxwell context
06:00 Premier Cricket’s role in developing talent
08:15 Building Richmond’s academy model
10:00 Talent, belief and hard coaching
12:30 Standards, fielding and the 1% mindset
15:00 Pressure, trust and giving players ownership
18:10 Identifying and stretching young talent
20:10 Backing youth over established club players
22:00 Talent, environment and decision-making
27:15 The one club approach at Richmond
32:00 Traditional coaching vs modern cricket
33:25 Shannon’s traffic light system
35:00 Jake Fraser-McGurk, risk and match-winning talent
39:20 Technique, foundations and power hitting
45:00 Shannon’s personal story and coaching philosophy
50:00 Coaching the person behind the player
54:00 Mental performance, self-awareness and pressure
56:10 Neurodiversity, life context and performance
1:00:00 Understanding player responses and the Mitch Perry story
1:06:00 Coaching philosophy beyond technique
1:10:00 Learning from elite players and asking why
1:11:20 Cricket Performance Lab explained
1:14:00 Bat fitting, BPI and the 1% edge
1:17:20 Babar Azam and CPL insights
1:21:20 Final advice for young cricketers
1:22:20 Jake Fraser-McGurk, Glenn Phillips and challenging the game
1:24:10 Outro