NottsCCC Academy
The Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Academy opened in June 2001 and by September was one of the first four County Academies to be accredited by the ECB and Sport England.
The County Academy system is an integral part of the ECB world class performance plan and it is envisaged that many of the National Academy and International players of the future will come through the County Academies. The need to identify, select and develop the next generation of Nottinghamshire and England players is central to the club’s structure.
Each year players are selected between the ages of 15 and 18 onto the Academy programme which covers the five areas of technical, tactical, physical, mental and performance lifestyle.
The 20-week winter programme runs from late October to the end of March leading into the summer competition phase and all aspects of each player’s game are considered.
Physical preparation is achieved through strength and conditioning programmes, including fitness assessments, medical screening, monitoring of nutrition and diet, physiotherapy and biomechanical analysis.
Mental skills sessions undertaken with a sports psychologist prepare the players for the future challenges of first-class and international cricket.
The Performance Lifestyle programme provides academy cricketers with individualised education, career and lifestyle support and guidance. Academy players are encouraged and supported to develop new life skills and to take responsible for their long term personal development while still maintaining their focus on their cricket career development.
This year has seen three of the players attend full days with the club through a day release scheme in conjunction with the AASE (NVQ) programme. This has enabled them to work alongside the professional staff players who for the first time are on twelve month contracts.
Bilal Shafayat, Samit Patel and Mark Footitt are three Academy graduates now on full playing contract at Notts, while all-rounder Jenny Gunn is an established England international. Last year also saw recent Academy graduate Ian Saxelby sign professional terms for Gloucestershire CCC.
