Successful applicants for this elite program will also possess high levels of cricket skill and fitness, be self-disciplined, highly motivated and aged 12 years or above.

Our talented and experienced coaches work under the guidance of Elite Cricket founder and former Australian XI and Australia ‘A’ representative Mark Atkinson (Level 3) with specialist coaches.

Academy participants will train like a first class player and be challenged by an intensive program to further enhance their existing skills.

Players will have the opportunity to choose specific training in their preferred disciplines with expert coaching in Wicket keeping, Batting, Pace and Spin Bowling.

• Sessions on captaincy, strategy and tactics
• Analysis of bowling action by video
• Extensive bowling machine batting technique work

SCHEDULE
Gladesville Indoor Sports, College St, Gladesville – 1st October 2010

Gladesville Indoor Sports, College St, Gladesville – 8th October 2010

The program runs 9am-3pm.

Cheers

Mark

On Sunday, 60 talented young cricketers donned their whites to take part in the Sydney Cricket Club’s annual Junior Tigers Program.

The Academy, run by Elite Cricket Coaching for the Sydney Cricket Club, is designed to provide a pathway for the development, coaching and mentoring of talented young cricketers who will eventually see the Sydney Cricket Club as their home as they mature into Grade cricketers.

The program was launched in 2008/09 and head coach, Mark Atkinson has been delighted with the outcomes to date, “Happily I am able to report that 10 of the final 13 players selected for Green Shield in both 2008/09 and 2009/10 were Academy program graduates, of which 10 players have already progressed into grade cricket, including selections in the NSW U/17 squads, City U/16 representative teams and Tigers 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teams.  Clearly, if talented young players are looking to progress into grade cricket and beyond, the Academy program represents not only a great stepping stone for their career but also an outstanding opportunity to develop their skills.  We are very hopeful of having our first Junior Tiger selected in 1st grade this season”

The program will include the appearance of some special guest coaches including former Blues legends Wayne ‘Cracker’ Holdsworth and David ‘Freddy’ Freedman who will share with the boys their views about succeeding in cricket and taking your game to the next level.

The program takes place over 6 sessions and will focus on teaching correct techniques, developing tactical awareness and game sense, injury prevention and preparation for competition and includes a fitness component where the boys will be put through a challenging routine to ensure they are fit and match ready for when the posts come down and cricket pitches reappear on the grounds.

More information please contact Mark Atkinson 0422 787 727

Designed for cricketers who are looking to take their game to the next level.

High Performance Program Season 2010-11 application form

Admission to the program is by application only as the program has a minimum skill requirement.

Successful applicants for this elite level program will be over the age of 14, possess high levels of cricket skills and fitness, be self-disciplined, highly dedicated, highly motivated and prepared to work extremely hard to develop their game.

Working weekly with Mark Atkinson over a 30 week program players will train like first class cricketers to further enhance their existing skills and match awareness.

Program content includes:

• An individually customised High Performance strategy and program
• 30 x 1 hour individual skills sessions throughout the season
• Mentoring
• Performance planning
• Fitness and nutrition planning

Pre-Season 2010 Fast Bowling enrolment form

Designed for fast and swing bowlers, the program is an ideal way to increase your skills and learn more about the art of fast bowling.

Headed by Wayne “Cracker” Holdsworth this intensive, structured program focuses on developing the correct technique to optimise performance and prevent injury featuring video analysis, a customised individual high performance strategy and comprehensive report

Elite Cricket recently held a one day Boot Camp at Gladesville Indoor Centre.  Players were put through their paces throughout the day including having their bowling action filmed and analysed, net sessions, centre wicket scenarios, specialist spin, pace and wicketkkeping sessions and an individual batting session in the nets against the bowling machine.

The program was a great way for players to start thinking cricket and to gain a clear understanding of what aspects of their game need work before the season begins.  Boot Camps will be held once again in the October school holidays returning to our 2-day format – an intense day of training on the first day and 2 T20 matches on the final day of the program.

Cheers

Mark

INDIA VERSUS AUSTRALIA

The recent India versus Australia Test series was a fascinating and highly competitive contest involving two excellent teams. Not only was the cricket great to watch, it was also an opportunity to learn from watching world class players in action. Below I have highlighted a few of the points that I feel are worth mentioning from a coaching perspective.

• Be In It To Win It – While there is more to batting than simply staying in the ability to occupy the crease is an essential skill for any batsman who wants to make big scores consistently (and who doesn’t!). The outstanding players in the series Gambhir, Laxman, Tendulkar, Katich and Hussey were all able to occupy the crease and allow the runs to accumulate around them while waiting patiently for opportunities to attack frustrated and tired bowling. Impatience and poor shot selection are great ways to throw your wicket away! The ability to occupy the crease is built around a solid defence and good concentration and are the keys to batting success.

• The Best Form Of Defence Is Attack – It’s always better to be on the attack than in defence. When batting this means making runs and when bowling it means taking wickets. The majority of wickets fall in 3 ways – bowled, lbw and caught behind the wicket and simply these forms of dismissal can only occur consistently when bowlers are prepared to challenge the stumps! By challenging the stumps (specifically the top of off stump or thereabouts) bowlers not only maximise their chances of taking wickets but also restrict the opportunity for the batsman to score by denying them width to free their arms. The successful bowlers in the India-Australia series took their wickets by challenging the stumps – Sharma, Khan, Harbajahan, Krezja (former Elite Cricket guest coach) and Mishra.

• Identify and Adapt – Excellent cricketers can thrive under a range of conditions including those that don’t necessarily suit their game – they are able to quickly assess the prevailing conditions and adapt their games accordingly. The Indian pace bowlers Sharma and Khan were successful as they worked out the line and length that they needed to bowl under the conditions and were resourceful enough to find a way to reverse swing the ball – skills that the Australian bowlers struggled to execute consistently enough to win. Significantly the Indian tactics were very simple and largely involved bowling to hit the stumps with the seam up!

DECEMBER 2008 PROGRAMS

For many cricketers late December and January are a break from competition but it is vitally important to maintain the momentum your have built in the season to date and continue to play and practise over the break.

In December we have 2 and 3 day programs over a range of venues including a High Performance BOOT CAMP (places limited).

Click on the links below in red for enrolment details

HIGH PERFORMANCE – BOOT CAMP

This program has a minimum skill requirement and is specifically designed for cricketers playing at representative level or its school equivalent and is limited to 10 players only.

Over 2 days our Academy players will train like first class cricketers and be challenged by an intensive multi-disciplinary program to further enhance their existing skills and match awareness by a range of high performance coaches.

The program features analysis of bowling action by video and extensive bowling machine batting technique work.

• St. Ignatius College, Riverview – 11th & 12th December 2008

SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM

The program is suitable for ages 7 – 14 and will be conducted from 9am to 3pm in both 2 and 3 day formats at the venues listed below.

• Scots College, Bellevue Hill – 8th, 9th & 10th December 2008
• St. Ignatius College, Riverview – 11th & 12th December 2008
• Lindfield Oval, Tryon Road – 15th & 16th December 2008

THE ‘ON THE BALL’ BEGINNERS PROGRAM

‘On the Ball’ is for girls and boys from 5 -7 years, who have perhaps never played cricket or who have just begun their cricketing career. In these sessions run from 9am to 12pm and are a great way to have fun and learn about the game of cricket.

• Scots College, Bellevue Hill – 8th, 9th & 10th December 2008

JANUARY 2009 PROGRAMS

We are just waiting to finalise two January venues but at this stage can confirm we will be starting the January 2009 School Holiday Programs on 8th and 9th January with our annual High Performance Academy at St Ignatius College. This will be an intense program offering turf nets, indoor facilities and full video analysis for players aged 13 years plus who are already playing at district representative level (or school equivalent). We will also be selecting an Elite XI side from this academy to play against a team from Riverview later in January.

• High Performance Academy – St. Ignatius College, Riverview – 8th & 9th January 2009
• Lindfield Oval, Tryon Road – 12th, 13th & 14th January 2009
• TBA -15th & 16th January 2009
• St. Ignatius College, Riverview – 19th & 20th January 2009
• High Performance Boot Camp – Five Dock Indoor Sports – 21st January 2009
• TBA – 22nd & 23rd January 2009

We will be loading the application forms onto the site next week but please contact us should you have any queries regarding the programs.

Cheers

Mark

Now the cricket season is into full swing it is vitally important you continue to strive to be the best you can be and grasp every opportunity that comes your way. Your team training offers you an opportunity to work at your game at your weekly sessions, but as my former Tasmania team mate and now England batting coach, Dene Hills used to say ‘….it’s not the work you do at training (everyone in the team does that) that counts, it’s the extra work you do on your own that sets you apart as a cricketer.’

Whatever your level – beginner, club, school, representative, Green Shield Shires, Grade – the extra work you do and it’s quality is critical to your success. And as the skill acquisition experts tell us, it takes around 10,000 hours or 10 years of focused practice to develop expertise in a skill!

If you aren’t getting enough batting in the nets, or need to catch some extra balls behind the stumps or would like a review and video analysis of your bowling action to help optimise your performance our individual coaching sessions offer you an opportunity for quality, focused practice under the expert eye of the Elite Cricket team and in doing so accumulate the hours of focused quality practice you will need to master your skills.

It is also vitally important to get the right advice. Our team of experienced and skilled coaches are personally trained by me in the unique and proven Elite Cricket methodology which is based on extensive professional experience as an elite player with the Tasmanian, the Prime Ministers XI, Australian XI and Australia ‘A’ teams and an array of clubs in the United Kingdom and New South Wales.

During my playing career, I developed close working relationships with a host of international cricket’s foremost players in order to study, document and understand the methods, tactics and strategies they employed to become successful at the highest level of the game.

Further studies have enabled me to apply my knowledge of bio mechanics, skill acquisition, sport psychology and learning methodologies to Elite Cricket’s coaching methods and my qualifications include Bachelor of Physical Education and Level 3 accreditation from Cricket Australia. (CA grade coaches into three levels with Level 1 being the entry level and 3 being the highest – more details see Cricket Australia – Coaching Courses

Our High Performance Individual Coaching Program focuses on acquiring and mastering critical technical skills to optimise performance.

• Great for building confidence in your own game
• Learn, improve and hone new skills away from the pressure of match play
• Correct bad techniques (particularly those that may cause injury) before they become an integral part of your game and are difficult to change
• You can book for one session or as many as you like however we recommend a minimum of 5 sessions over consecutive weeks to enable a stronger understanding and knowledge of your game

You may also like to review some of the Masterclass articles on the Elite Cricket website (there are many more), simply click on the links below:

• Masterclass: Planning For The Season
• Masterclass: Planning Your Performance To Succeed
• Masterclass: Train How You Play
• Masterclass: Mental Toughness
• Masterclass: 10 Tips From David Freedman
• Masterclass: Starting Your Innings
• Masterclass: Plan And Make The Effort To Be Your Best
• Masterclass: The Benefits Of Staying In
• Masterclass: Enjoying The Challenge
• Masterclass: Dealing With Nerves And The Fear Of Failure
• Masterclass: Back Yourself
• Masterclass: Don’t Make A Good Ball Into A Bad One!
• Masterclass: Turning Negatives Into Positives
• Masterclass: Mental Toughness
  

Cheers

Mark

One of my favourite sayings is, ‘It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get up that counts’.

I think that this is a very relevant expression for us as cricketers. Basically it means that in order to succeed you have to be prepared to accept and learn from failure.

Although failure is not a pleasant part of your job, it is nevertheless part of your job and as such you will need to deal with it and learn from it. Anyone who has tasted success in any field in my view has been prepared to get up at least one more time than they were knocked down! If you give up or admit defeat you risk never tasting success and let’s face it success in any field does not come easy and one of the main challenges in successfully attaining your goals is coping with failure!

You need to develop the belief and mental toughness not to be beaten by failure, you need to develop persistence. In order to succeed you need to summon the courage to pursue your goals and dreams, despite failure in the short term, after all ‘Form is temporary, Class is permanent!’

I will detail three brief examples of persistence, where successful cricketers have turned adversity into success by persistence.

• Justin Langer, Damien Martyn and Matthew Hayden were all dropped from the Test team in the mid-nineties and came back years later to be devestingly, effective Test players
• Shane Warne’s comeback form suspension and personal crisis to achieve his best ever Ashes series wicket haul of 40 wickets since his debut in 1991
• Ricky Ponting comeback from a disciplinary suspension to become Australian captain and one of the world’s best batsmen

If these guys gave up when faced with adversity, disappointment and defeat they would never have gone on to achieve the wonderful success they did. These guys had the belief, courage and persistence to keep going when they were seemingly knocked down! Persistence is a key attribute of a champion and has very little to do with your outswinger or cut shot and the beauty of it is anyone can be persistent! Persistence does require courage, discipline and effort, but the effort is well worth making if your dreams and goals mean a lot to you.

How is your persistence? Is it strong enough to help you achieve your goals?

Cheers

Mark