SCHOOL NEWS AND CRICKET COACHING OPPORTUNITIES

ActiveKids

Stamford listed in The Cricketers Guide

THE STAMFORD ENDOWED Schools have been listed in all three categories of The Cricketer Guide to the UK’s best schools for cricket. Stamford Junior School (top 50), Stamford High School (top 20) and Stamford School (top 100) have all been listed in their respective categories.

Dean Headley, Director of Cricket at Stamford Endowed Schools, says: ‘The Cricketer recognition just shows the effort all our staff have put in to making cricket really part of our sports provision. From Year 5/6 to Year 13, cricket is part of our culture, and these listings really highlight this.’

Film highlights school ethos

OAKHAM SCHOOL’S FILM ‘Are you an Oakhamian?’ encapsulates what it truly means to be a pupil at the school. The school’s values are deeply embedded into the ethos of Oakham School and this film gives an essence of its wonderful and caring environment. Headmaster Henry Price says: ‘A set of values, or an ethos, is important in any organisation and in any family.’

Oakham netball sucess

OAKHAM SCHOOL’S U19 Girls’ netball team are through to the regional finals which take place in January after finishing runners-up in the Leicestershire and Rutland County Netball Championships.

The team remained unbeaten through the group stages and then gave a great performance in the second-half of the semi-final against Uppingham, winning 13-5. The final against Robert Smyth saw them narrowly missing out on a win after their opponents won 15-14 with the golden goal after extra time.

Their success follows the U16’s recent triumph in being crowned County Champions in October and also securing a place in the Regional Tournament.

ActiveKids Tom Flowers Christmas cricket coaching

TOM FLOWERS CRICKET Coaching (TFCC) offer a variety of cricket coaching opportunities across Leicestershire, Rutland and the surrounding counties. One of TFCC’s most popular offerings is their Christmas holiday camp. Suitable for 8-15 year-olds it runs for four days from 10-4pm at Stamford Junior School from December 12-15. There are early drop off/late pick up options available as well.

The courses are led by Tom’s professionally qualified ECB coaching staff and include batting, bowling, fielding and wicket keeping skills, plus games, competitions and prizes.

TFCC also offer individual one-to-one cricket lessons as well as club and schools coaching. They see hundreds of young local players on a weekly basis and coach at affiliated clubs such as Burghley Park CC, Ketton Sports CC and Oakham CC.

Director of Cricket at TFCC, Tom Flowers (ECB Level 4 coach) is an ex-Sherborne School head of cricket and a previous ECB coach. He says: ‘Our professional staff are passionate about cricket coaching and are dedicated to meeting the needs of every individual we work with. Improvement is inevitable when in a fun, safe and competitive environment. We strive to maximise any individual’s potential, from beginner to advanced. With strong links to neighbouring professional county cricket clubs TFCC work with local youngsters all year round including many children from surrounding independent prep and senior schools including Stamford, Oakham, Oundle, Witham and Uppingham.’

www.tomflowerscricketcoaching.com or 01572 359890

Witham raises funds for Tommy’s Arc

IN THE SUMMER of 2021 Witham Hall Year 1 pupil, Tommy, began a fierce battle with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of childhood cancer. Witham Hall is delighted to have Tommy back at school this year, choosing Tommy’s Arc as its school charity to support his family and to get behind the fight against this horrible and very specific form of childhood cancer.

Only 2-3% of cancer research funding in the UK goes towards all childhood cancers. Tommy’s Arc is a specific fund of the umbrella charity Alice’s Arc – an organisation dedicated to finding a cure and kinder, more targeted treatments for those affected by Rhabdomyosarcoma.

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ActiveBody

EDITED BY KATE MAXIM

Put the turkey in the oven

Physio, Sarah Babbs fi nds that many people come to her to ‘get their back ready for Christmas’

IN THE CLINIC I have a 6kg kettlebell which I use when teaching people to lift weights. Many who have never used weights for exercise balk at this until I remind them that it’s only the same as the

Christmas turkey which they’ll be putting in the oven. In December we have people come to ‘get their back ready for Christmas,’ or others come with an increase in back and neck pain. Many of these people have something in common.

One of the big factors around this time of year is the added stresses of cost, expectation and family time. Then there is the dragging of decorations from the loft, humping a

Christmas tree across the carpet, trying not to ruin either, and then reaching and stretching to place the fairy on the top of the tree, or should that be a star?

A couple of years ago there was a wonderful television advert which featured a sad looking elderly gentleman appearing to dread Christmas. He then searched his garage, found an old kettlebell and much to the amusement and concern of his family and neighbours proceeded to lift the weight, run and generally get fi tter progressing to heavier weights throughout December. The magical denouement was when he lifted his granddaughter so she could put his gift of a star on the top of the tree.

As with so many of the situations which I write about, Christmas also needs preparing for rather than it being an event for which we are not ready and which then pushes our bodies to exceed its capacity.

If someone comes for help with an injury it is likely that they have increased their activity too much. This could be run further than usual, played more rounds of golf, cleaned more windows, cut more hedging or done too much digging in the garden. The common factor is doing too much too soon or without preparation. Other patients may have done their usual activity but had a break and expected to be able to pick up where they left off . They may have been unwell, poorly rested or particularly anxious, all of which can lessen resilience and the ability to manage normal activities.

As well as trying to help the person with any immediate problems they may have with pain, helping them to build more resilience, robustness and reserve is vital. We often don’t know what is ahead of us so if we have that extra back up or tolerance then we can cope with more of what is thrown at us.

This may of course be building a specifi c strength, sometimes with those favourite kettlebells. It may be important to help reduce our fi ght or ight reactions, bringing down the adrenalin by working with breathing, relaxation and sometimes body awareness. It can be surprising how poor the proprioception - the body’s awareness of its position - can be even in good athletes or sports people.

And watch out for those Christmas presents. A lady I’ll never forget came to see me in mid January with neck pain and a particularly nasty arm pain, known as brachalgia which is similar to sciatica but emanates from the neck rather than the low back or lumbar spine. It soon became apparent that this had occurred because of a new and repetitive movement of her neck at an unusual angle. She had been given a large jigsaw for Christmas and had laid it out on the oor watching television as she picked and placed her pieces. My fi rst jigsaw injury, and other than providing a big table on which to do the puzzle, I’m not sure how we could have prepared for this one!