Worcestershire CCC’s senior squad are being given the opportunity to mentor an Academy player during the next 12 months and assist with their development as cricketers.
The current professionals will have the chance to work with members of the 2021-2022 Academy intake during the winter programme at Malvern College, and then next summer on matchdays.
Head Coach Alex Gidman has come up with the scheme and already has received good feedback from players willing to be involved in the project.
He said: “What I’ve done is ask any members of the senior squad who might want to mentor one of the Academy players.
“The idea will be that a professional will spend time on two or three occasions over the course of this winter with an Academy player.
“They will head over to Malvern College for an Academy session and can sit and chat over a coffee and-or do some technical work, share some experiences.
“Throughout the summer, the idea is that the Academy player will join us for a whole day, a T20 game or a day of a Championship match, and be around the group with that mentor and learn as much as they can in that period of time.
“It is just about trying to enhance the learning and accelerate the learning for Academy players as much as we can.
“The quicker and sooner they learn about our environment, and what will be expected of them if they ever made it up to that level, is really powerful and important.
“A bowler will mentor a bowler, a batsman mentor a batsman. It’s optional but we’ve had a good uptake of pros already who want to do it.”
Gidman himself spoke to the latest Academy intake and their parents on the 2021-2022 Academy Induction Day.
He said: “Elliot Wilson (Academy Coach) asked me to make a presentation on the Academy Induction Day and I spoke to the players and parents about the basics of the game, what we would expect from our players, and what those younger players should start working towards, and what they should expect from themselves
“I really enjoyed it and it was nice to go and spend some time with them, having had that gap between us in the last 18 months (because of COVID-19).
“It was nice to share some time with them and share my thoughts on what the difference is between where the Academy players might be at now and where we would like them to be in a couple of years time.”
