Fitness Roadtest: Train like a Meteor, rise like a star
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It’s funny that our experiences as spectators can be light years away from the very athletes we’re watching.
My experience of cricket has always been a lazy afternoon, either in the stands or with the game on the telly, with a cold alcoholic beverage in hand.
That scene couldn’t be further from what lay in front of me at 6am in the ACT Meteor’s gym at Manuka Oval. Athletes dripping sweat, working hard to get their bodies in peak physical condition under the careful watch of Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Kyle Piper.
“Our big thing is we want powerful athletes,” Kyle explains.
“The women who dominate around the world – yes, they’re skilful, but they’re also powerful. That’s a massive focus for us and that’s what we try and have as our point of difference.”
How is this achieved? Well, it’s no easy feat with a team spread over two countries.
“We’ve got about seven players here in Canberra, eight or nine in Sydney and then we’ve got two in New Zealand. It’s a challenge at times living separately, but it doesn’t matter where you live if you’re committed to taking advice on board and making the most of every day, you could live on the other side of the world and still improve.”
The task is made easier with the use of technology. In addition to using Skype, the team are emailed weekly and daily individual programs detailing exactly what’s expected of them. They then log their training into a wellness app with what they’ve done, how difficult they found it, in addition to details about their quality of sleep, muscle soreness, fatigue, and more.
So what’s it like to train like an ACT Meteor? It’s hard.
The training programs are tailored to the needs of the individual, but all are challenging, often with two sessions a day, with a combination of gym and skills sessions. When you consider that most players also hold down a “normal” job, it’s an admirable accomplishment. Many of us find it difficult fitting in the physical demand of a job and a few workouts a week, let alone competing in a grade level, semi-professional sporting team.
And trust me, the girls aren’t swanning around the gym chatting, they’re in there working as hard as they can to get their bodies prepared to perform on the field.
“It’s about giving them really good foundations, we spend a lot of time on competencies and functional movement which reduces risk of injury and gives them more control over their bodies so that they can be more effective on the field. Once they’ve demonstrated they can do that, we make them as powerful as we possibly can,” Kyle says.
The hard work of the athletes and the team at Cricket ACT is certainly paying off. Kyle says he’s noticed a marked change in the team over the past four years, especially when it comes to expectations and results: “The expectations from Cricket Australia but also from within our own Meteors set up. The expectations of players on themselves in terms of recovery and the type of athlete that they need to be has definitely changed over the last couple of years. We’re seeing that in the quality of player that’s being produced and we’ve now got more players closer to playing for Australia.”
Kyle gives credit to Head Coach Andrew Dawson and team Captain Kris Britt for the transformation.
“Since Andrew’s come in and taken over, he’s really driven the change and if you look at people like Britty – she’s always lived and breathed making herself physically as good as she can be, and now that’s rubbing off on the younger people that are coming into the squad. They see her and see what she’s achieving and want to be like that as well which is just fantastic.”
With the squad working hard to take their performance to the next level, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the ACT Meteors for the rest of the season.
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