TUKS CRICKET Senior Academy Newsletter

Transcription

1 TUKS CRICKET Senior Academy Newsletter August 2012 TuksCricket Academy UP Sports Ground (LC de Villiers) Coaches Say The Senior Academy had a good training month during August. We treated the month as a final preparation phase in the academy before the club training starts during September for the start of the 2012/2013 season at the end of the month. A lot of time was put into altering the mindset of players when approaching a training session. The coaches emphasised the importance of mental preparation, as this leads to practices becoming more effective and good habits being formed. By emphasising good habits, with a good mindset, we become more focused at training and gain much more from a training session both mentally and technically.

2 A lot of hard work went into fielding by dividing the week into three categories; basic, under pressure and under pressure with fatigue. The basic category concentrated on body positions when catching, throwing and fielding under no pressure. The under pressure sessions concentrated on how well the players executed the basics when pressure was put on them. The last category focused on being under pressure when fatigue sets in. These sessions took place 3 times a week and I have been happy with the progress of the fielding standards. The players recently took part in the Northerns Academy trials. This team will represent the province at the annual Academy Cricket Week held in Kimberley. This year the week will be held from September. There were three matches played with mixed teams involving the Tuks Academy and Phobians Academy at TUT. We are pleased to announce that Gerry Pike, Regardt Verster, Saleem Manuel and Cody Mortimer made the team and we wish them the best of luck for the week. I m sure the boys will enjoy a good and well deserved break from the September and should be refreshed to take on the season and test their preparations during competition phase. It is good to have the cricket season upon us. Yours in cricket, Aldin Smith Tuks Cricket Academy Head Coach/Coordinator

3 Conditioning Report Hannah Oguz The measure of life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation. ~ Corrie ten Boom Pre-season phase 2 began this month with some fitness tests to establish where the boys have got to regarding certain fitness components over phase 1. On average, the group has improved in aerobic capacity and intermittent ability, as well as improving their explosive power, muscular strength and endurance. These improvements have been reflected in their skills and nets sessions, at the crease and on the cricket field by many players. Our conditioning focus from now and until the start of the season is on physical power and speed, cricket specific agility, proprioception, balance and reaction. In the gym the boys are enjoying less volume, but higher intensity power movements and reflecting this onto the field in our plyometric and cricket specific speed and agility drills. We have also started to get more match specific by running some conditioning sessions alongside their skills to have the boys perform under fatigue, their sessions are going very well. The conditioning is complementing what the boys are doing within the nets, and their training loads are being monitored in their approach to the start of the season.

4 Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. ~ Soren Kierkegaard This month the Senior Academy players dealt with the topic of Mental Toughness. The Mindfulness- Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) perspective of mental toughness was used where the players identified performance values that form the foundation of their behaviour in situations that become mentally challenging. Challenging situations evoke certain thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. When these become negative they hold us back from performing our task as well as we could because they either distract us from our task or we feel we need to react to them in some way. If the guys are able to accept their thoughts, emotions and physical sensations in these testing situations and commit their behaviour to their identified performance values, they have successfully showed the skill of mental toughness. They are then one step closer to working towards and achieving their goals, despite how challenging the situation gets. Psychology Feedback Maurice Aronstam

5 You can either hold yourself up to the unrealistic expectations of others, or ignore them and concentrate on being happy with yourself as you are ~ Jeff Jacques Ernest Kemm has been appointed as the Tuks 1 Captain for the upcoming season. After the departure of Maurice Aronstam, which led the Tuks 1 side to seven trophies over the last two seasons, there were a few candidates for this position. However, Ernest stood out as a senior player and leader to fulfil this role. Ernest has shown a lot of promise and has grown as a cricket player over the last two years. The role as the Tuks 1 captain will be a big challenge with very high expectations but there is no doubt that Club News Pierre de Bruyn he will sustain the success of the Tuks 1 side.