Clarke launches Cricket Academy

Throughout more than a decade as an international cricketer, Michael Clarke’s near-obsessive commitment to training and fitness has become legend within the Australian team’s inner-sanctum.

Nothing is afforded to chance when it comes to ensuring his body, mind and technique are in the best possible shape to meet and overcome his next challenge.

Which, in turn, speaks volumes for the Australian captain’s drive and dedication to making the new Michael Clarke Cricket Academy as successful and highly regarded as the batsman under whose name and patronage it has been established.

Today, as the Academy’s first intake of 24 boys and girls aged between 12 and 17 and hailing from across Australia gathered at Scots College in the eastern Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill, Clarke was fitting in his ongoing rehabilitation from a hamstring injury alongside his day one duties.

Having cast an eye over the morning’s fitness program, Clarke raced off to his physiotherapist for one of the painfully regular remedial sessions on his troublesome back while the scholars underwent a two kilometre time trial.

And having returned to oversee the midday skills session, Clarke then fitted in his daily gym requirements as he attempts to attain full fitness for the first Test against Pakistan in a month’s time while the group was partaking of lunch.

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“It’s exciting, it’s something I’ve been talking about doing for a long time and it’s nice to have this first intake and to get it up and going,” Clarke told cricket.com.au today before he spent the afternoon personally coaching his charges in skills and nets practice.

“It’s a pretty satisfying feeling to be honest, and I’ll be there every day and try to help out wherever I can even though I don’t have a structured role.

“The most important thing is that kids learn, that they get better and that they walk away thinking it was worthwhile.

“I’m really confident that they’ll leave here after five days and they’ll know more about themselves.

“The last thing we’re doing is trying to turn them into Michael Clarke clones – we don’t want them to play like me.

“We want to make every individual player the best they can be, or better than what they are, and just use the experience that I’ve got through the highs and lows of playing cricket since I was six years of age.”

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In addition to the fitness, skills and recovery sessions that make up the bulk of the week-long ‘camp’, evenings are devoted to educational activities including leadership attributes, media training, nutrition workshops and game strategies to ensure a program that Clarke describes as “pretty full-on”.

And while the initial intake, from which more than 280 applicants were whittled down to 24 successful scholars, is evenly split between attendees from New South Wales and from other Australian states, the Academy will soon be available to aspiring young players from around the world.

“There’s no real restrictions, you’ve just got to love the game of cricket and want to get better at it,” Clarke said.

“It’s a live-in camp, so it’s like you’re on tour for a Test match really.

“But they’ll learn all three formats – they’ll do some stuff for the longer form of the game, do some work on one-day cricket and T20 as well.”

Clarke, who ultimately has plans to relocate the Academy to a purpose-built facility at the property he recently purchased at Berrima in Sydney’s southern highlands, believes one of the venture’s strengths is the quality and passion of the coaches he has hand-picked to join him.

They include former Australian representatives Beau Casson and Lisa Sthalekar, while the Academy is overseen by Clarke’s father and mentor from his junior days, Les, along with Director of Coaching Ben Sawyer who has been involved with coaching boys and women’s teams at cricket NSW for many years.

For the immediate future, Clarke’s biggest challenge will be finding time within Australia’s cramped playing schedule – with virtual non-stop international commitments for the next two years – to be part of the quarterly intakes of Academy scholars.

But even if he is on the road with the Australian Test or ODI outfit, the development school he has established will never be far removed from Clarke, nor he out of reach from it.

“I’ll try and make time to be there every chance I get,” Clarke said. “It’s really important to me and it’s close to my heart.

“I’ve always said I owe the game everything, it owes me nothing and this is one way for me to try and give back and play a part in producing future Australian cricketers.

“If I can do that then I’m helping the game and I can do it long after I’ve finished playing.

“So when I’m home I’ll make time, and when I’m not I’ll be on Skype, on the phone and even if I’m not here I’ll go out of my way to make sure I meet every single person who comes through the Michael Clarke Cricket Academy.

“If I can’t do that personally I’ll be calling them and talking to them throughout their time on the camps.”