Off Season training plan | Cricket coaching, fitness and tips
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26 Jan 09 at 21:54
Off Season training plan

Hi,

I'm captain of my university women's cricket team. I'm trying to come up with a program for my team to follow over the next 8 weeks before our outdoor season starts - including technical and fitness aspects of the game. We have two 2-hour coached net sessions a week, and I would like the players to be able to see a structure to the sessions, and be able to set and achieve targets over the course of the term. Can you give me any pointers?

Thanks!

Comments

28 Jan 09 at 23:44

Difficult to know exactly what to emphasise without knowing the specific strengths and weaknesses of team but here goes!
I would say you need to spend about 25% of your time on technical, 25% on fielding and 50% on live batting and bowling (ie Nets)so with 32 hours to play with thats about 8 hours of technical, 8 hours of fielding and 16 hours of Nets. I have left fitness out of the program because that really needs to be worked every day and your time in the nets should be devoted to cricket-specific activities. Just ensure the work you do in the nets is intensive so fitness is being developed as you go.
I would devote the first full week to getting back to basics - lots of tee drills and drop drills for your batters, lots of target bowling for your bowlers, some agility drills working in some catching and throwing with the emphasis in each activity being making the correct shapes and concentrating on the key elements of each skill.
2nd week devote solely to fielding. 1st session do an underarm drill, a close catching drill, a throwing drill, a ground fielding drill, an agility drill and a slips drill. Emphasise correct technique. 2nd session - work through a circuit of 6 stations (using the same 6 drills) in a rotation of 2x(6x8 mins) with the emphasis shifting to intensity.
Weeks 3 to 7 should have a similar structure so the players can develop an expectation regarding what training looks like so they can focus on the activities you are doing rather than deal with constantly changing routines. What SHOULD change over these 5 weeks is the level of intensity! Make the players aware of this expectation in week 3 and then really hammer this idea in each succeeding week. Basic shape of these sessions might be 30mins fielding then 30 mins batting and bowling drills and then an hour of Nets. Gradually make the nets more competitive. Start with the emphasis being on "getting the rust out" - making the right shapes and getting the body moving in a controlled and technically sound manner. By week 7 the batters should be trying to bat as if they were starting an innings in the middle and bowlers should be trying to bowl good sets of six balls as if they were bowling in the middle!
Weeks 8 -10 should be quite physically demanding. Start with 30 minutes of very intense fielding then go straight into a 90 minute net session with batters and bowlers having longer spells. Perhaps you could get your batters to work for the 1st half of their net at not getting out and the 2nd half at scoring at around a run a ball.
Every session must start and finish with a good stretch. Dynamic at the start and static at the end.
Remember to keep hammering the players to work at their fitness away from the nets.
Hope this helps!
All the best!
JH