LCCC Academy Overview - February 2021

The Melton Building Society Academy Sponsorship

You will all have seen the fantastic news that The Melton Building society have agreed to sponsor the LCCC Academy programme for the 2021 season.  It is obviously fantastic to have the support of a local business as successful as The Melton.  We have already had conversations with Jane Gilhespy, Communications Manager for The Melton, about a collaborative approach. The Melton will be on the front of the Academy playing shirts for 2021, but we have also talked about potential workshops and advice for our older academy cricketers and scholarship players through the Melton, some fundraising events and joint marketing ventures to name a few. The Melton are a family orientated business who are a perfect partner for us with parents and family engagement being crucial to the success of the academy programme.

 

The Academy Online Training Programme

Following the National Lockdown post Christmas, we had to cancel our plans to run the academy age group squad winter training sessions and trials. In order to maintain some engagement with our players and to focus on some other skills that they may need as cricketers, we organised a winter online training schedule which you will see below. This included various types of sessions including; sports psychology sessions on “goal setting and performing under pressure” led by the Club Psychologist Karl Steptoe, “A guide to adolescent injury and managing injuries” by Assistant Physiotherapist Ryan Smith, the squad coaches conducted some “get to know your coach sessions” to help build relationships with their new squads, and we have many more to come. Dave Whitmore, Paul Johnson and Jigar Naik have been actively challenging the players with fielding drills and reaction activities to keep them active. None of these things will replace the usual coaching programme that we put in place, but at least it goes some way to educating and engaging with our players.

Date	Age Group	Seminar	Time
17/01/2021	U13/14	Intro + S&C Discussion	4:30 – 5:15
17/01/2021	U15	Intro + S&C Discussion	5:30 – 6:15
19/01/2021	U18	Squad Session	7:00 – 8:00
21/01/2021	U14	Get to Know your Coach – Dave Whitmore	7:00 – 8:00
24/01/2021	All	Ryan Smith – Physio Introduction and Get to Know	5:00 – 6:00
28/01/2021	U18	Squad Session	7:00 – 8:00
31/01/2021	U13/14	Squad Session	5:00 – 6:00
04/02/2021	U15	Get to Know your Coach – Paul Johnson	7:00 – 8:00
07/02/2021	U15	Squad Session	5:00 – 6:00
09/02/2021	U18	Squad Session	7:00 – 8:00
11/02/2021	U13	Get to Know your Coach – Jigar Naik	7:00 – 8:00
14/02/2021	All	Tactical Masterclass	5:00 – 6:00
18/02/2021	U18	Squad Session	7:00 – 8:00
21/02/2021	U13/14	Squad Session	5:00 – 6:00
25/02/2021	All	Get to Know your Coach – Edd Riley-Gibson	7:00 – 8:00
28/02/2021	U15	Squad Session	5:00 – 6:00
07/03/2021	All	How to prepare for a return to cricket & Adolescent Injuries Seminar – Edd Riley-Gibson/ Ryan Smith	5:00 – 6:00
14/03/2021	U13/14	Squad Session	5:00 – 6:00
21/03/2021	U15	Squad Session	5:00 – 6:00

 

Player Pathway Review

With the workload for us as coaches being fairly low during lockdown, it became apparent that we had a chance to conduct some of the administrative tasks that we have been waiting for an appropriate time to carry out. One of these is a Player Pathway Review. This has involved staff members from both the Academy and LCCC Community department over a number of weeks. The task has required a thorough review of each stage of a player’s journey from under 11s right through to under 18s, and school to Academy scholarship. The aim is to identify a pathway that provides opportunities for all players in the county. The pathway needs to be open and inclusive, have numerous entry points for players and the process needs to be clear to everyone in the county. Once the future plan has been established we will be working hard to publish the pathway for all to see.
 

Future Fox Framework

The second piece of work that we have conducted is a Future Fox framework. This is the LCCC Academy’s talent development framework to establish and articulate exactly what we want from our players at the various stages of the pathway. The work has been carried out by addressing three main phases; the Foundation phase U11-13, Youth Development phase U14-16 and Professional Development phase of U16-18. For each phase we looked at the skills of batting, pace and spin bowling, fielding and wicket keeping and established the outcome characteristics that we are looking to develop. The process has been invaluable for gaining clarity and making sure that all of us as a coaching staff are singing from the same hymn sheet. The next stage of this process (if we ever get back to working closely together) is to deliver and present what we have established to the professional coaching staff in order to get their feedback and align our philosophies on developing Leicestershire cricketers. Once this is all done we will be in a place to share our framework with the wider coaching community in the county as a way of helping clarify what we need further down the pathway.
 

Academy Scholarship Training

The Academy scholarship players have been training three times per week since January and have been training incredibly hard both in the gym and on their cricketing skills. As we have moved through the month we have established a weekly schedule whereby Mondays are very much individual focused sessions where the players take complete ownership for their session. Wednesdays are themed days where we work on a batting theme such as playing spin, one day skills or playing pace and Fridays are “competitive Fridays” where everything the players do is in competition against each other. The aim of the week is firstly to allow players to take ownership for their own game, but as the week progresses to challenge them by providing activities and competitions where they have to find solutions to win. It has long been thought that coaching is about developing “independent thinking cricketers” and our strategy is aligned with this philosophy. We are aiming to produce players who can adapt and compete and find solutions to win games which is often the difference between the best players and the rest. As you will have heard many times, players say that “at the top levels, 90% of a player’s success is based on how he or she uses the bit between their ears!”
 

Fixtures

At the end of the month the ECB released the fixtures for junior county cricket and we have planned most of the cricket that we need. As it stands, we are planning for cricket to commence at the usual time of the year. One of my many aims for the Academy is to improve our visibility and relationship with local cricketers, coaches and clubs. I am determined to play a part in local Leicestershire cricket and would love to have a team play in a cup or league competition. Academy cricketers playing against senior opposition and learning to make match winning contributions against adults is a key part of a player’s development. When they play in teams with adults they are often only able to play supporting roles and not be the main player. Even then, they often have a 6ft 4in man stood next to them which is a very different experience to having to stand up to men alongside your peers. Until the opportunity arises (it may not ever be deemed viable) to play a formal part in a local competition, we will play friendly matches against as many club teams as possible throughout the season.