Writing exclusively for All Out Cricket, Glamorgan seamer James Harris takes us behind the scenes at the England Performance Programme in Loughborough.
The first day back at Loughborough for all those involved in England programmes over the winter always signals the end of your scheduled break for the year and the start of the upcoming season. Being selected for the Performance Programme is a great thing; it shows that you’re in the selectors’ thoughts and, although it’s very tough, they aim to test you as a person as well as a cricketer. It can be a rewarding experience. Having just gone through the first week, here’s my diary of how it all panned out.
Monday October 31
First day; all the guys are to report to the NCPC (National Cricket Performance Centre) in Loughborough for a spot of lunch. After a mad dash up the motorway from South Wales on a bleak morning and a quick chat with our respective specialist coaches upon arrival, it’s a pretty easy start to the upcoming week.
During the first week of the programme we’re very lucky to have some superstars of England cricket past and present come in to talk to us about what it meant to them to play for the national team. Straight after lunch Alec Stewart popped in for an hour to have a chat. This was great for all of the players and the biggest message coming out of the time spent with Alec was the pride and passion he had playing for England.
After the early part of the afternoon spent in the seminar room it was time for some proper stuff; a conditioning assessment and a modified yo-yo test. Unfortunately, I’m still carrying a bad groin from the end of the season which meant I was going to have a very quiet physical week and some time spent worrying about it, alongside doing some rehab. Then from 3.30-4.30 we did some fielding work with current Gloucester cricketer and gun fielder Chris Taylor, who works in the winter for the ECB as a fielding coach. With only a recovery session after this and dinner at 6.30, it’s a fairly gentle start to the week and the winter as a whole.
Tuesday November 1
Up early for a healthy breakfast of porridge in the university then it’s back to the NCPC where ECB managing director Hugh Morris meets us for an introduction to England chat and explains his role in the system, along with recent events involving the England team. Then we’re all off to the gym just prior to lunch to work on the guns (with some proposed time away in some warmer climates over the winter, it’s always handy to look good in a vest). After lunch it’s time to get stuck into some nutrition stuff with advice on what to eat along with a look at some supplements. More fielding and some conditioning work follows (basically lots of little exercises which are really boring, but they do keep the body in shape and ward off potential injuries). Dinner again at 6.30 and a quiet night in for the lads watching the Champions League football and playing pool.
Wednesday November 2
Another early morning chat today and none other than the current England captain Andrew Strauss is in the hot seat for the guys to fire some questions at. This proves particularly valuable because all the guys in the room are hoping to make that step up and join him in the Test team sooner rather than later. Wednesday is the toughest physical day of the week; conditioning and an endurance session are to follow combined with a hill running session later in the day. Combined with a tough session of fielding and some lunch in between, it’s pretty easy to see why the guys had an early night.
Thursday November 3
England batting legend Graham Gooch was the next of our special guests for the week, and as a run-maker of the highest order throughout his career, it’s easy to see why the batsmen in the camp grilled him on how he used to go about things. Plyometrics and more strength work and fielding made up the physical part of this day, along with a talk from the sport psychologist on mental toughness. Possibly the best part of the day came when one of the guys from adidas popped in with some new sunglasses for us to have a look at. His job was to explain to us the dangers of not protecting the eyes and the performance benefits of wearing them; but once they were laid out the lads’ attention was directed at the new eyewear. Another very healthy dinner rounds off the day. Not enough cheesecake or apple crumble up here for my liking!
Friday November 4
The guys up here really enjoy taking you out of your comfort zone and the ‘Lions Den’ experience the boys were put through on Friday morning certainly achieved that. Lions Den was based around the popular television series Dragons Den; the lads were expected to walk into a room and sell their product (i.e. themselves on why they should be picked to play for England) to the Dragons. In this set-up the Dragons consisted of the national selectors Geoff Miller and James Whitaker alongside performance director David Parsons. Let’s just say all of the lads were particularly nervous about this part of the week; walking in to sell yourself and being grilled ferociously to see how you would react is a pretty tough experience to go through. It was followed by a final lunch and a quick meeting to discuss next week, which strangely was to be spent away from Loughborough, a very rare thing indeed. The guys in the know said we were all to report to Llangollen in North Wales on Monday morning and to pack some warm clothes. I wonder what on earth they’ve got in store for us!
Click here to read week two of James’ blog as the squad try their hand at firefighting.
AOC Exclusive: James Harris’ England Performance Programme Diary
Writing exclusively for All Out Cricket, Glamorgan seamer James Harris takes us behind the scenes at the England Performance Programme in Loughborough.
The first day back at Loughborough for all those involved in England programmes over the winter always signals the end of your scheduled break for the year and the start of the upcoming season. Being selected for the Performance Programme is a great thing; it shows that you’re in the selectors’ thoughts and, although it’s very tough, they aim to test you as a person as well as a cricketer. It can be a rewarding experience. Having just gone through the first week, here’s my diary of how it all panned out.
Monday October 31
First day; all the guys are to report to the NCPC (National Cricket Performance Centre) in Loughborough for a spot of lunch. After a mad dash up the motorway from South Wales on a bleak morning and a quick chat with our respective specialist coaches upon arrival, it’s a pretty easy start to the upcoming week.
During the first week of the programme we’re very lucky to have some superstars of England cricket past and present come in to talk to us about what it meant to them to play for the national team. Straight after lunch Alec Stewart popped in for an hour to have a chat. This was great for all of the players and the biggest message coming out of the time spent with Alec was the pride and passion he had playing for England.
After the early part of the afternoon spent in the seminar room it was time for some proper stuff; a conditioning assessment and a modified yo-yo test. Unfortunately, I’m still carrying a bad groin from the end of the season which meant I was going to have a very quiet physical week and some time spent worrying about it, alongside doing some rehab. Then from 3.30-4.30 we did some fielding work with current Gloucester cricketer and gun fielder Chris Taylor, who works in the winter for the ECB as a fielding coach. With only a recovery session after this and dinner at 6.30, it’s a fairly gentle start to the week and the winter as a whole.
Tuesday November 1
Up early for a healthy breakfast of porridge in the university then it’s back to the NCPC where ECB managing director Hugh Morris meets us for an introduction to England chat and explains his role in the system, along with recent events involving the England team. Then we’re all off to the gym just prior to lunch to work on the guns (with some proposed time away in some warmer climates over the winter, it’s always handy to look good in a vest). After lunch it’s time to get stuck into some nutrition stuff with advice on what to eat along with a look at some supplements. More fielding and some conditioning work follows (basically lots of little exercises which are really boring, but they do keep the body in shape and ward off potential injuries). Dinner again at 6.30 and a quiet night in for the lads watching the Champions League football and playing pool.
Wednesday November 2
Another early morning chat today and none other than the current England captain Andrew Strauss is in the hot seat for the guys to fire some questions at. This proves particularly valuable because all the guys in the room are hoping to make that step up and join him in the Test team sooner rather than later. Wednesday is the toughest physical day of the week; conditioning and an endurance session are to follow combined with a hill running session later in the day. Combined with a tough session of fielding and some lunch in between, it’s pretty easy to see why the guys had an early night.
Thursday November 3
England batting legend Graham Gooch was the next of our special guests for the week, and as a run-maker of the highest order throughout his career, it’s easy to see why the batsmen in the camp grilled him on how he used to go about things. Plyometrics and more strength work and fielding made up the physical part of this day, along with a talk from the sport psychologist on mental toughness. Possibly the best part of the day came when one of the guys from adidas popped in with some new sunglasses for us to have a look at. His job was to explain to us the dangers of not protecting the eyes and the performance benefits of wearing them; but once they were laid out the lads’ attention was directed at the new eyewear. Another very healthy dinner rounds off the day. Not enough cheesecake or apple crumble up here for my liking!
Friday November 4
The guys up here really enjoy taking you out of your comfort zone and the ‘Lions Den’ experience the boys were put through on Friday morning certainly achieved that. Lions Den was based around the popular television series Dragons Den; the lads were expected to walk into a room and sell their product (i.e. themselves on why they should be picked to play for England) to the Dragons. In this set-up the Dragons consisted of the national selectors Geoff Miller and James Whitaker alongside performance director David Parsons. Let’s just say all of the lads were particularly nervous about this part of the week; walking in to sell yourself and being grilled ferociously to see how you would react is a pretty tough experience to go through. It was followed by a final lunch and a quick meeting to discuss next week, which strangely was to be spent away from Loughborough, a very rare thing indeed. The guys in the know said we were all to report to Llangollen in North Wales on Monday morning and to pack some warm clothes. I wonder what on earth they’ve got in store for us!
Click here to read week two of James’ blog as the squad try their hand at firefighting.