Trip to La Manga, ICC European Centre of Excellence.
A view from Cameron Shoebridge
Having been lucky enough to be chosen to represent Cricket Ireland at the ICC European Centre of Excellence, Rory Anders (Phoenix CC) and I together with coach Andy “Lenny” Leonard (Pembroke CC) were all looking forward to a week of top level cricket coaching under the guidance of Centre Manager Chris Porter and his team as well as some Spanish sunshine.
With the amazing facilities on offer at La Manga, was is easy to understand why Premier League soccer teams go there for pre-season training. Lenny reckons he is getting used to the luxury having been to La Manga before with a Leinster under-age training squad, but for Rory and I it was all a new experience. The Irish contingent were the last to arrive so the first thing to do was to introduce ourselves to the other 20 boys (from 10 different European Countries) and to the coaches.
The week was designed to develop players’ key performance skills like technical, tactical, mental, physical and lifestyle so we knew there would be a lot of intense batting, bowling and fielding drills as well as video analysis. We soon found out that it is the things you’re not expecting that you should really look out for.
During the first batting drill on the first morning, facing only his third throw down, Rory collapsed in a heap; he had somehow managed to dislocate his knee playing a cover drive. Who says cricket isn’t a dangerous sport? After a very long wait for the ambulance, Rory and Lenny got to see a whole lot of the local A&E Department but not a lot of cricket for the rest of the day.
All the sessions were excellent, concentrating on specific areas of technique like how to play spin, hitting the gaps, playing straight, hitting over the top and so on. After every session we were given detailed feedback from the coaches and identified areas to work on. Every day we finished up with a “swim down” in the outdoor pool at La Manga. What we didn’t realise until we got in that it was unheated so as to replicate the benefits of an ice bath !
We shared an apartment with the boys from Gibraltar who kept us entertained with stories of playing cricket on a “rock”. In the Evenings we either met with all the other lads at Luigi’s Restaurant or were pleasantly surprised by Lenny’s cooking skills. By now Rory was impressing everybody with the speed he could get about on his crutches, despite being fit with the world’s largest plaster cast.
Apart from the drills, one of best sessions was “how to manage match situations” where we talked about how to organise a run chase over 50 overs and how to set up the last 10 and 20 overs of a match. This was a great way to share ideas with each other and to talk about different tactics and strategies.
On the last two days we had the opportunity to put all the tactics and the training routines into practice as we played a 20/20 match and on the last day a full 40 over match. During the second match, a long break due to heavy rain even managed to replicate likely match conditions for the Irish contingent.
The last day was very relaxing as most of the other boys had set off for home earlier in the day. Lenny, Rory and I spent the day at the beach with some of the Centre of Excellence coaches which was a great way to round off a fantastic trip. After a rewarding but tiring week I had one final “workout” which involved pushing Rory’s wheelchair onto a giant cherrypicker that lifted him onto the plane.
It was a fantastic experience. The coaching was excellent and all the training drills were tough but really enjoyable. It was great to meet and mix with all the other boys from the other countries and I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone on Facebook. I also would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to the coaches at the Centre – Chris Porter, Richard O’Sullivan, Gareth Dawson, Mark Bacarese and Hershel Gutman who really worked hard to make it such a memorable week and that includes the freezing cold swims and Lenny’s cooking!
Cameron Shoebridge (St Andrew's College & Malahide CC)