Greenfield's men get down to basics

LONG-TERM athlete development was the theme of a session conducted by Sussex's senior county cricket coach Keith Greenfield at Rue Maingy Scout hall. Assisted by the county's conditioning coach Ben Haining and opening batsman Carl Hopkinson, Greenfield met more than 25 coaches from different sports in the island to instruct them on the theory behind long-term development of athletes.

'That was good,' said GCB development coach Jason Shambrook.

'It's about co-ordination and teaching kids how to run, throw and jump properly, which is something that is not really done.'

Nobody was more happy to see the session go ahead than Commonwealth Games 1,500m runner and athletics development officer Lee Merrien, a keen advocate of the long-term athlete development strategy heralded by top Canadian consultant Istvan Balyi.

'He always says it take 10,000 hours to excel at something in sport,' said Merrien.

'So you're looking at 10 years or more in bringing someone through from beginner to world-class,' he added.

'It got the coaches thinking about doing basic skills in an interesting way.

'The idea is for the athletes to develop properly and excel later on.'

It was the first trip by Sussex coaches since the island entered into a development partnership agreement with the county champions. They also met the senior island squad and had training sessions with the junior teams.