photo credit: Neil Saunders

With the new season upon us it's time for an update from some of our Case Studies.

Guy

I gave Guy some specific things to focus on in the pre season. Here is how it went for him:

• Increased practice on bowling and batting after setting practice targets for the winter.
• Set some specific and measurable goals for the season: 500 runs (or average 30), having a set position in the batting order, gym attendance, and number of practices.
• Guy spent some time working out what ‘pushed his buttons' and made him get frustrated. He also worked out how he was going to deal with these issues beforehand.
• Finally, Guy setup a system for having team meetings this summer to outline several policies: match day routine, social events, fitness system, practice nights, team meetings, tactical themes and roles in the team.

Matt

Matt has been adding both strength training and interval work to his fitness plan and more protein to his diet to boost his personal performance.

He has been very creative in his team building skills:

• Working on his own body language
• Developing his ability to discipline players
• 'Ring fenced' some players so they are committed to the 3rd XI squad for the season and will not be promoted up the teams.

He has also gone through the stats of last years performances and found areas to work on in practice that were lacking last year.

Simon

Simon has set himself some goals and some measurable ways to achieve them:

• Improve bowling consistency through extra bowling sessions bowling at specific targets and visualisation before games.
• Improve run scoring rate through practicing more aggressive shots in net sessions, visualisation and improve technique with 1 to 1 coaching sessions.

Importantly, he has also learned what factors are out of his control: weather, injury through accident, captain's decisions and oppositions ability.

On the fitness side, Simon is trying more healthy options and cutting back on the junk food to give himself an energy boost. He has also started strength training.

Charlie

Charlie has been working hard on the exercise routine I developed for him and feels much more mobile as a result. He accepts that he could do more on the nutrition side but has cut out many of the unhealthy snacks and replaced them with more whole food alternatives.

His winter work has gone well and he has been concentrating on his batting technique. He recognises that this season is an important one as he needs to be more consistent and increase the number of runs scored. That will need him to work on concentration and self confidence.

I'm still working with him to identify how he will do this.