Last week the Joe Root Summer Academy Camp took place at the beautiful Desert Springs Cricket ground in Almeria.. Juniors were invited to make use of the resorts world class training facilities to enhance their knowledge, skills and technique of all areas of the game.
Unfortunately the recently introduced quarentine laws meant many of the youngsters coming over from the UK had to cancel. Even though the camp was lighter on numbers than initially expected, the juniors had a fantastic 5 days of intense cricket coaching from the experienced Nick Gaywood of Desert Springs.
Cricket Espana had four of it’s Juniors for all five days, with a further four joining in for the day on Thursday.
Thirteen year Jaime Riley of Costa del Sol Colts attended throughout the week and this is his blog of the camp.
DAY ONE :
We had a great first day at the cricket camp.
We started with fielding practice, followed by nets where we all batted and bowled. Then we practiced against spin bowling and how to use our feet. Finally we used the techniques we had learnt with lofted drives.
DAY TWO :
Our second day started off with catching practice and then we practiced our off-spin and leg-spin bowling. We then batted and bowled, making sure that we got completely forward or completely back. We finished by utilizing the sweep in a game style situation.
Finally a cool off in the pool!
DAY THREE :
Another great day with Max, Ed, Thomas and Stephen!
We learnt how to keep wicket and batted against the bowling machine. Nick, the coach, cranked it up to 90 miles an hour but not against us. Then we took it in turns to bat, bowl, keep wicket and umpire.
DAY FOUR :
Another great day. We started with a circuit of fielding drills and then split into two groups to concentrate upon batting and bowling.
After lunch we organised batting pairs and a had a very competitive match.
Today we were also joined by four young players from La Manga (Alfie, Connor, Theo and Charlie), the coach from La Manga Andy McCulloch, and the Director of Junior Cricket from Cricket España Rico Phull.
Thank you to everyone for a great day.
DAY FIVE :
Our final day of cricket camp batting against the bowling machine and Rico. Then we all took it in turns to bowl, bat, keep wicket and field.
Another great day to end a great week. We have learnt so much and had so much fun! Thank you Nick for everything, and Cricket España for providing us with this experience.
Jamie Riley
Once more a massive thank you to Desert Springs and the Root Academy for making this possible, and especially Nick Gaywood for his excellent work with the kids on and of the field, you are real legend!!!
Last but not least, thanks also to Terry and Spencer for their help and assistance and making our boys feel very welcome, and Simon for taking time out of his busy schedule to discuss future plans for the resort.
Looking forward to the next camp already.
Rico. (Harmit Phull)
Director of Junior Cricket
Cricket España
