A Case for Regional Trainers
Fri, Feb 27, '04
It has been several months since my last column, when I spoke about my introduction to the magical ice bath/hot shower recovery treatment. Since then, there has been a huge change in my life -- the birth of my son a healthy baby boy we have named Khayeel. I was able to spend some time with him two weeks after his birth for 10 days when we had a break here for the Holidays season in the cold and bitter New York winter. I want to personally thank all my family, friends and fans who were kind enough to pass along their best wishes.
Being a father comes with many responsibilities and sacrifices, for me it?s especially tough being away from my family for long periods because of my job, it?s one of the toughest things a professional athlete has to deal with, and I want to thank my wife for the courage and strength she has shown during this time, Northerns Cricket Union, my teams mates and friends here for making my life on the road such a great experience.
I want to use this diary to compare the West Indies regional first class structure to the system here in South Africa and to make some small suggestions to the folks in the Caribbean. There is no shame in borrowing or even copying from successful programmes and I hope my suggestions are taken in the sprit in which I?m giving them.
First of all, it would be useful to take a look at the length of our (West Indies) first class competition and try to stretch it out over a couple of months, instead of squeezing all the games into a packed schedule. Due to the unpredictable weather pattern in some parts of the Caribbean at the end and the beginning of the year, the financial constraints and the International schedule it would be a tough task. Here?s an example how the season is spread out over here, since November last year, Northerns has played 10 games, 3 in December, 3 in January and 4 in February and they all have been one-day, 45 overs games.
The season here is long and sometimes too far spread out between fixtures, as a person being away from home it?s tough, but as a professional cricketer, it?s perfect to deal with the physical nature of the game. The more time you get to recover and prepare, the more you can concentrate on being fitter and stronger that would enable you to peak at the right time. And it reflects directly on the quality of cricket on the field. We keep hearing the same complaints year after year that the standard of cricket in the Caribbean is declining rapidly and I think one of the reasons maybe because of too many games being packed into a short schedule.
As a fast bowler, I know that it?s very stressful to play every week on the hard surfaces in the West Indies, then you have to take into account all the traveling from country to country you will see why our fast bowlers are breaking down, it all comes back to the need for a policy in the West Indies to manage and limit injuries among our fast bowlers.
With the way the schedule is set up here in South Africa it allows players to remain fit and strong for longer periods. Being introduced to such a fitness culture has greatly contributed to me being fitter and stronger, and has improved my chances of staying fit for longer periods. Being fit is a luxury and it has helped my concentration levels and refined my mechanics for which I?m very pleased with the way the ball is coming out my hand, so far in the one day games I haven?t taken a big haul of wickets but I am pleased with my economy rate.
Another suggestion I would like to make to the cricket authorities in the West Indies is to hire qualified Physical trainers on every regional first class team, right now I believe only three teams Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago have trainers, that?s is not good enough. I understand the financial constraints but I don?t see how it is more important to have a manager instead of a trainer.
Let?s get qualified trainers to take the place of managers; a qualified trainer should have some knowledge of physiotherapy which would also help in the treatment and management of minor injuries. The manager?s job for the most part is taking care of administrative stuff like airline tickets and hotel bookings, these administrative duties could be shared by the liaison officer assigned to each team, the coach and trainer.
In Guyana teams I have played on, we have had a manager only, during my first couple of years then we had a coach/manager for a year or two and now we have a manager and a coach. From a cricketers point of view it would be more beneficial to me if we have a coach and a trainer. We have to get more serious about cricket development in the Caribbean.
We have to be more creative and use the resources wisely to look after our players. We're leaving the players to do too much guessing when it comes to training especially in these times where science plays a big part in our lives. People might want to say it?s babysitting the players but I don?t think that is fair, you want the players to concentrate on the game and let the qualified trainers work on getting and keeping them fit.
At Northerns we have a staff that consists of Head Coach/manager, two assistants coaches, a trainer and a Physiotherapist, in addition we have access to specialists for shoulders, ankles, backs, knees, podiatrists, dieticians, physiologists and orthopedic surgeons, I understand the financial reality in the Caribbean but we can?t hope to compete with the South Africans if we don?t even have qualified physical trainers with our first class teams. That?s a reality we have to deal with and the earlier we do it the better for our cricket.
The retainer contracts being negotiated now between the WICB and WIPA will definitely help with improving the fitness culture and injury management issues but I don?t think that will automatically solve the problems we are having. It would be tough to make a player fit at the West Indies level with the busy cricketing schedule that international cricket consist of, when a player gets into the West Indies team he should be fit enough, that he should last for a three month tour.
The retainer contracts won?t fix all the problems, there are a lot of problems that need to be fixed at the territorial level and even lower, at the club and school levels. The gaps are too wide between these levels. In South Africa the provinces have the obligation to institute a fitness culture among the first players to get and keep them fit for the next step, can we say the same for the all the territorial teams in the Caribbean.
I think of Northerns as the same for Guyana, both are feeding the test team, but realistically there is no comparison in terms of preparing the players for the jump from first class to international cricket. When South Africans players make the jump from provincial cricket to the international team they are well prepared because the fitness culture is the same. In the Caribbean some players making the West Indies team for the first time have never been in a gym and professional training comes as a shock to them.
We have to fix these things and fix them fast, like I said before, there is no shame I borrowing ideas from our rivals.