Steve Explains New Initiative For Players
10 January 2013
Gloucestershire physiotherapist Steve Griffin has provided this website with an exclusive look at how the club encourage the players to broaden their skills outside of the game.
As Steve explains in a fascinating article, professional cricket can be a short career, so it is vital that squad members are given the chance to develop in other areas for later life.
He writes: “The average age of squads appears to be getting younger due in increased pressures from a number of areas, including injuries, performance, the current economic climate and individual’s motivation. At Gloucestershire CCC we have seen a huge shift in the age of our squad in the last few years.
“Being a Professional Cricketer has a short life span. In recent years, due to economics, this has very much been the case. At Gloucestershire we are not alone and throughout the sport counties are becoming more ruthless. Gone are the days when you signed a professional contract that was yours till the day you chose to retire.
“With our squads now on 12-month contracts, we see it as important that players don’t idle away their downtime twiddling thumbs. This winter we have introduced an initiative where every player is expected - and given full support - to undertake some form of personal development within their training week. To this end, we have given the players every Friday to carry out their own personal development.
“Some are doing educational courses and others have chosen to carry out work experience. These activities are fully supported by the club and the PCA.
“Many of the squad are carrying out work experience through our sponsors. These include David Payne, who has been working with former player Andy Brassington at Finders Keepers. Chris Dent has been learning about Graphic Design and website building with our Website provider Publicity Matters, whilst Ian Saxelby and Richard Coughtrie are continuing with the University degrees. New squad member Craig Miles is using the time to learn some life skills in the kitchen as this is the first time he has lived away from home.
“As well as fulfilling our moral obligation to get players engaging in potential ‘life after cricket’, we also believe that improving the players in this way will have benefits for their cricket and Gloucestershire. We feel that having other avenues and experiences in life makes the player more emotionally rounded and resilient, it doesn’t mean they are not ambitious about their cricket. But if their whole being is identified by whether they get runs or not, it can be quite an unstable existence.
“With such a young squad, we feel it is crucial to their cricket development and success that they have resilience and emotional balance. As well as their own personal development, we have asked the PCA to put on some seminars to help with Life Skills. These include a seminar on Wealth Management, everything from basic budgeting to pensions.
“We are also lucky to have secured Martin Hewitt to talk to the squad. Martin was an officer in the ParachuteRegiment. In 2007 he was shot leading his men in an attack against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The incident left Martin with a paralysed right arm resulting in medical discharge from the army. From here Martin was part of Walking with the Wounded, Harry’s Arctic heroes and Mountain Heroes.
“We hope that the programme put in place this winter will give the squad insight and perspective to themselves and world. By improving utilisation of their time we will see improved focus and appetite for their skills.”
