Chris Bodman Interview Part Two
29/12/2011 12:51:31
Chris Bodman believes John Bracewell was a key figure in putting Gloucestershire ahead of the field when it came to employing modern fitness methods in county cricket.
In the second part of his exclusive interview for this website, the club’s Strength and Conditioning Coach talks about varying attitudes towards his job and why he believes it is now an essential role at all first class clubs.
Chris has seen the emphasis on training and healthy lifestyle for players increase hugely during his seven years with Gloucestershire, but found the club already ahead of its time when he arrived, thanks largely to current Director of Cricket Bracewell.
“When John was at the club for the first time he was hot on strength and conditioning so the culture developed at Gloucestershire ahead of other counties,” said Chris.
“He was not here when I joined, but because he had driven it so hard there was already an acceptance that the players had to work hard on the fitness side whether they liked it or not.
“They already understood the importance of that side of the game, which made my job a lot easier. It is as much of an education as a prescription and once players see the benefit of injury prevention, for example, they are more likely to buy into it.
“Sometimes people still tell me that in the old days when far less attention was paid to fitness there were still great players, who played a lot of games, and I can’t really argue with that.
“But I think cricket has changed over the years and, while bowlers don’t bowl more overs or batsmen spend more time at the crease, these days the standard of fielding required is totally different.
“What I do is about increasing performance, prevention of injury and enhancing career longevity. We want guys playing more than half a season and retiring in their early 30s, which may have happened in the past.”
For all the increased emphasis on the right type of training, certain injuries remain common, such as stress fractures in the back suffered by young pace bowlers like Gloucestershire’s Liam Norwell, who was sidelined for much of last season.
Chris admits: “I’m not sure there is anything we can do to stop those injuries entirely. Bowling as an action is not what the body was designed for and it involves putting certain areas under particular stress that they were not built to cope with.
“But if we can get the guys as robust as possible from an early age through a sensible strength and conditioning programme, assessing them in their movement capabilities as they go along, we can help their bodies deal with the demands cricket makes of them and reduce the risk of things like back problems among bowlers.
“In our Academy we do this with kids from the age of 11 or 12. At that age what they do is very different from the pros, but we encourage them to work through ranges of movement to enhance flexibility.
“If the club sign a player in his mid twenties, who has not been through such a programme the difference is immediately obvious and his injury risk is that much greater.”
Gloucestershire’s players have been working for at least a couple of hours a day, five days a week, with Chris since returning for winter training at the beginning of November. And his work doesn’t end when a new season begins.
“We don’t want the players peaking in April,” he said. “Obviously we want them fit for selection then, but I would rather they peaked from a fitness perspective in July.
“We make it clear to them that conditioning is an ongoing process and, while much of the work is done during the winter, they cannot afford to ignore it once the matches start.”
In the third and final part of his interview, Chris will talk about his work this winter with pace bowlers Liam Norwell, David Wade and James Fuller, who all experienced injury problems last season, and reveal what gives him the most job satisfaction.
