Glen and Neil can teach you to play cricket like the Aussies do, in sunny Perth. Read on to find out how...

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Cricket in Australia Names: Glen Ewen and Neil Holder Ages: 43 and 45 Occupations: Glen: director of fitness at the Western Australian Cricket Association, marketing director of Revolution Sports and TCI Perth Director; Neil: director of Revolution Sports and level 3 cricket coach director (creator) of TCI Perth. So tell us about your cricket courses: who are they aimed at? Do you need to be a serious cricket-player to take part? The original concept started by word of mouth. Cricketers from the UK would seek out one of Australia’s best batting coaches, Neil Holder, to do some batting practise on their off-season while either playing cricket in Perth or just relaxing in our summer haven. Last year Neil asked me to join the programme and we decided to formalise what we offered. We now offer programmes not only for professional cricketers such as international Robert Key, but also for the gap year cricketer who just loves the game and wants to improve or have a crack in Australia. Our programmes are serious but include a lot of fun and Aussie-style experiences. What does the course include? All courses - whether you’re a pro or a part timer - will include a full fitness assessment and a fitness programme. This includes swimming, cycling, weights, circuit training and flexibility sessions. Another section is the individualised batting, bowling and field sessions. Development of your mental skills, massage therapy, recovery techniques, high performance issues, personal development via kinesiology and diet advice are offered, as well as Aussie adventures such as surfing and social gatherings. We have just moved our indoor training base to the brand new indoor sports facility with the best cricketing set-up in Western Australia - Revolution Sports. Click here >> for more. We also include a free one-month membership to Challenge Stadium, home of the 1998 world swimming champs and provider of things like world class gym and fitness classes Your courses aim to improve the ‘whole person’ - what do you mean by this, and why do you think it’s important? Too many programmes only worry about the technical side of the game. Hit some balls, go home, come back and do the same the next day. We include the physical, mental and social sides of cricket. We deal with people as individuals and hopefully they go home or move on as better people. On a recent trip to the UK I caught up with Andy Barnard, cricket coordinator at the Shrewsbury School and Cricket Club. He was the coach of one of last summer’s participants Ed Foster and could not believe the changes in him after his stay. We can’t take all the credit as Ed was already a great talent and fantastic lad, but we were really pleased that he had not only come back a better cricketer but a better person! You’re called Test Cricket Initiative because you want participants to aspire to test cricket standard - isn’t this a little over-ambitious for some people? I guess it might be seen that way, but if you aspire to mediocrity that’s where you will end up! Test cricket is the Everest - not everyone climbs it (or wants to), but it sets out something to strive for and keeps our courses as professional as possible. We set more short-term goals during the programme so success is a constant companion (along with having fun). Where do people stay when they do your courses? Participants on a budget can stay at one of our fully-catered university dorms; those who’ve saved a bit more can stay in beautiful apartments on the beach at Scarborough. We can even pair you up if you’re on your own. We keep an eye on our participants with a few visits to their accommodation, but this is mainly for social purposes and to help them in a foster parent role. Are your courses a good way to meet like-minded people? Absolutely! A few of last summer’s group still keep in touch both from a cricketing perspective and socially. We are hoping to get participants not only from the UK but also from South Africa, New Zealand and the Sub Continent. With some of the sessions we like to mix professionals and amateurs so each gets to rub shoulders with a vastly different group of sportspeople. Is there a good social life? A little too good sometimes. We try to have a blend of hard work during the sessions and relaxation at other times. It’s not a boot camp, so if you like a man in army greens shouting abuse at you at five in the morning you’ll be disappointed. Life is too short not to enjoy these sorts of opportunity and we want to make their Australian experience one that participants will remember forever. How long are the courses and when do they take place? The length is left up to the group or individual. However, the average length is between four and six weeks. There is course starting every Monday from December through to March. Because the courses are highly individual, participants merely merge with other groups which may have begun their programme, but work at their own level on their own activities. Plenty of flexibility. Do you train girls as well as guys? Absolutely. I am currently fitness coach to all the Western Australian youth teams - both girls and boys. I am really enjoying working with the girls and hope this will carry over into the TCI Perth programmes taking on some girls this year. Australia has embraced the integration of male and female cricket and girls are now enjoying the full support of our governing bodies. Have people gone on from your courses to be successful in the cricketing world? Although this isn’t the primary focus of our programmes, we have had three recent success stories at three different levels of the game. Firstly Ed Foster, at the grass roots level, came to Australia a determined but directionless cricketer. After doing our course, Ed was selected to play for the minor counties team Shropshire, and then invited to the Worcestershire CC programme. A second story, at a county level, was Alex Loudon (head boy at Eton when William and Harry were there - my wife wouldn’t let poor Alex get away during a meal one night without giving up the gossip on the royals). He returned to Kent to be a regular player in the best county squad in the country. The last is Robert Key - a fantastic bloke and an even better cricketer. After being dropped from the England team, he chose to come Downunder to see if he could rediscover his 'mojo', so to speak. He retuned to be the fastest player ever to reach 1,000 runs for the season (by May) and was selected in both one-day and test teams during this summer (and made a huge double hundred during the test series against the West Indies). Aren’t you worried that if you train us Pommies to be as good at cricket as you Aussies, we’ll start beating you?! There is every chance that with Australian Rod Marsh at the National Academy it’s going to happen anyway. Seriously, except for the odd joke and friendly dig we really want participants to enjoy the programme wherever they come from. Finally, lots of British backpackers stick to the East Coast when they visit Oz - give us three reasons why they should visit the West too... Beaches, weather and people... but that could be anywhere around Australia. 1. Perth is a great starting point. A friendlier and smaller place to get your bearings and to get used to Aussie ways. You won’t be gobbled up in the big city free-for-all like travellers to Sydney and Melbourne. 2. Such a contrast of places, from the beaches of Perth, to the nightlife of Freemantle, to the rugged surf and coastline of Margaret River, to the tropical north of Broome which makes the outback seem tame. 3. The variety of activities (of course including TCI Perth), from surfing to paintballing and bungy jumping: it’s all available in Perth... Click here >> for cricket projects that you can take part in Click here >> for TCI Perth Click here >> for Australia info

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