IN BLOOM
Training was never on the cards for Zane Webster. Now, the UWC alumnus leads strength and conditioning for the Proteas’ women’s cricket team By Zaahier Adams | Photography: Cricket SA
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hen the Proteas’ women’s cricket team returned to the international arena in January after almost a year spent on the sidelines, the focus was not just on results. Everyone wanted to evaluate the fitness of the players after they were totally inactive for 143 days due to the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike their male counterparts, the women’s team faced altogether different challenges during the lockdown period. Even as the restrictions were lifted and outdoor physical activity was allowed again, the majority of the women’s team still did not have access to facilities where they could train. This created a unique working environment for Zane Webster, the Proteas’ strength and conditioning trainer
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and University of the Western Cape (UWC) alumnus. Webster, who graduated in 2018 with a Masters degree in Sport Recreation and Exercise Science, had begun his national duty in August 2020, replacing Russell Clarke. This placed him in a complex situation where he had not even met the players that he was now supposed to keep in peak physical condition under the most unique circumstances. “Yeah... it was interesting, to say the least,” Webster says from the Cricket South Africa High Performance Centre in Pretoria, where he is busy preparing the Proteas for a proposed tour of the West Indies. “I spent hours on Zoom calls, introducing myself to each and every player. My way
of working is that I first try understanding and building a relationship with the individual before putting any plans in place. During the lockdown, that was really difficult but we worked over Zoom and I managed to get some sort of an understanding. “Fortunately, Russell provided the girls with home-training programmes during the hard lockdown to maintain a base level of physical fitness but I needed to assess how they had fared following it because it is harder to train alone for some than others.” And judging by the Proteas’ performances since January, Webster has certainly achieved his goals. Even without the leadership core of captain
