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Ollie Hunt appointed new Strength & Conditioning Coach

11 April 2022

Gloucestershire Cricket has appointed Oliver “Ollie” Hunt as the Club’s new Strength & Conditioning Coach, taking the reins from Bob Smith who had been in the role since 2016.

Ollie, an experienced strength & conditioning (S&C) coach accredited by the UK Strength and Conditioning Association, has a long history with the Club dating back to his days as an undergraduate student at University of Gloucestershire.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with Gloucestershire for a number of years now,” Ollie said about his recent appointment. “I started with a winter internship back in 2013, working with the Talent Pathway. Following my undergraduate degree, I went on to do a Master’s in sports therapy and drifted away from Gloucestershire a bit but then an opportunity came up to shadow Bob Smith and I was very keen to help out.”

Ollie’s shadowing evolved into a part-time role, and then a full-time position in 2017 when he officially joined the Club as S&C assistant. Initially, he took the lead on the Talent Pathway S&C programme before the scope of his role grew as he began to look after the under 23 professionals as well.

“I was just trying to gain as much experience as I could with whoever needed help, whether that was the age group players or professional staff and there has gradually been more accountability year on year since I officially took on the role.

“Bob’s done a fantastic job with the players over the last five years he’s been here so I’ve been able to learn and evolve myself as a coach thanks to him. I wanted to put myself in a position that I’d be ready to challenge for the position should it ever come up and luckily it did. We’re here now in a bit of a crossover period between Bob finishing and myself starting properly but I’m really looking forward to what the future holds.”

Last year, Ollie and Bob split their responsibilities to give Ollie a chance to gain more experience with the first team squad while Bob tended to the Talent Pathway cricketers.

“It was great experience for me, to build a rapport with the professionals and to learn how they tick; what they like or don’t like and what areas they need to be pushed. I’m very grateful for Bob who was so keen to develop me as a coach and giving me those opportunities have definitely helped.”

Day-to-day for Ollie over the last few years has been mainly working with the Talent Pathway which includes the Academy, Emerging Player Programme and County Age Groups down to under 10. This year, the Club has moved to remote programming for the age group players which allows the S&C coaches to make sure they are getting what they need with regular fitness tests are carried out to ensure progress is being made.

“The younger athletes who would be 10, 11, 12 years of age will have a more generic programme to follow but for the first team, as the players get older, the programmes become a lot more individualised.

“There are some cricketers in their thirties who have a lot of seasons under their belt so they need a bit more managing as they usually have more niggles and soreness. On the flip side, we hope to make some really positive individual strides with the younger guys who are just coming into the setup. That’s something we pride ourselves on at Gloucestershire.”

Growing up in North Devon, Ollie played cricket on the beach front of Instow for North Devon Cricket Club. Now based in Cheltenham, the 28-year-old believes his knowledge of playing the sport has helped him gain an understanding of what cricketers require when they are in the process of coming back from injury.

“My aim for the sports therapy Master’s degree was to really bridge the gap between a physiotherapist and S&C coach. I think sometimes there can be an awkward period after a physiotherapist completes their rehab work with a player and passes them over to the S&C coach. Through educating myself in both areas I can make that transition smoother, not only for the players but us coaches as well.”

Ollie takes over the role in an exciting period for Gloucestershire Cricket with the team set to play in Division One of the County Championship for the first time since 2005. In the off-season Steve Snell was appointed the Club’s new performance director while Dale Benkenstein was named head coach.

“It's a really exciting time, we have a new performance director which we haven’t had before in Steve Snell, so it’s in his best interest to drive us forward and get the best out of us as a unit. We’ve had a new head coach come in as well in Dale who has been fantastic. He believes in hard work and really appreciates the fitness side of cricket and how important that is to performance.

“Moving into the role, the biggest challenge will be to make sure I put my own stamp on it because I think it would be very easy to continue where Bob left off as he’s done such a fantastic job. The professionalism has greatly improved, which is fantastic, but the task in front of me now is how can I push that on to the next level.

“I’ve got my ideas but I won’t be certain how exactly they will be implemented until I officially take over the role. To be able to travel to Dubai as part of pre-season preparations and build that rapport with the players has really helped me. Hopefully we can build on those relationships and I can help put the players in the best place to represent the Club and perform at the peak of their ability.”

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