Report

The talent identification programme for cricket is a long programme that identifies talented athletes from the ages 6-18+. It is a structured and detailed programme that breaks down in to five stages that athletes will be identified to have potential for elite success in.  The stages are fundamentals, learning to Train, Training to Train, Training to compete, and Training to Win.

Fundamentals

This is the first stage, where talent is identified at the ages of 6-9(boys) and 6-8(girls). This stage is seen as the developmental stage, which aims to identify and provide young performers with the overall athletic skills in addition to a introduction to basic throwing, catching and striking skills. This stage uses drills involving Agility, co-ordination, and balance, speed, throwing, striking and catching. Also the approach towards these sessions is very personal, and about the game. The first stage is performed in a fun environment, performing drills and other sporting activities.

This stage is very beneficial because it identifies talented athletes at a young age. This is an advantage as being able to identify at a young age means that, they can be nurtured and moulded into a successful athlete. The youth that are selected for this programme show the ABC’s specific movement skills(agility, balance, coordination, speed, striking ,catching and throwing) and are  selected by coaches as they are  watched performing, by coaches. This is an early stage in talent identification, and only those athletes that show the charisma are selected at this stage for further development. This can be slightly stressful, especially as the athletes are quite young, and are still developing, physically and mentally. Also it can ruin confidence of some youths, however overall this stage is quite selective and only few people are selected at this stage, as the level of performance that is required is evident when selecting the players. Commonly, like most of the stages the players are also recorded, in games or drills, without them being too aroused by it, so that they can perform in full confidence and in a stress free situation. This is a good way of making the assessment as at the age that they athletes are its not advisable to cause them, such a heavy pressure or burden and also  if they have the charisma, it will be evident in natural, drills and games. An example of a cricketer that was founded at this stage is the great Sachin Tendulkar, who has gone on to become an icon in cricket and is commonly called the ‘little master’.

Learning to train

This is the second stage that identifies talent at the age 9-12(boys) and 8-11 (girls). Again similarly to the fundamentals stage it looks at the basic sport skills that athletes may have. The aim of identifying talents at this stage and at this age is to get athletes that can develop their movements associated with batting bowling, fielding and wicket keeping. Furthermore developing overall athletic skills they have.

Coaches that are assessing young talents at this stage are looking for athletes that again show the charisma, alongside key components such as strength flexibility and speed. They asses the players again through observation of performance and ability. And on selection they are introduces to the skills in more specificity. They will look at the techniques and movements of performing the specific skills, (batting bowling ECT...) along side will be introduced to training programmes that emphasise on the shoulders, elbow, spine, core, and ankle stability. Further more psychological skills will also be introduced near the end of stage.

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This is very similar to the first stage and is still about developing talent and nurturing their techniques and the way they approach the game. This is very influential stage and has positive effects on the athletes as they are more likely to listen and undertake the desired and appropriate approach towards performing the different skills. Never the less  this  stage can again be to early for some of the athletes that might show the ability however they might not be mature enough to carry and understand the principles of this stage in the talent identification.

Training to Train

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