As the cricket season draws near, athletes must prepare their bodies for the game’s physical demands. Preseason training isn’t just about enhancing performance—it’s also a critical period for addressing health and injury prevention. As a sports physiotherapist, I want to highlight some key areas of focus for women in cricket during this preparatory phase.
In the realm of professional sports, cricket captivates audiences with its strategy, skill, and athleticism, with much attention often focused on the players’ on-field performance. Whether they’re competing at the international level or striving for success in domestic cricket, with its demands of endurance, agility, and mental perception, pose a unique challenge for female cricketers both physical and psychological pressures. The physical demands that come from the repetitive motions, explosive power, and the time on feet for matches and training. Female anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology must be considered to optimize injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies. Like their male counterparts, female cricketers are susceptible to injuries such as sprains, strains, and stress fractures. Therefore, the need for a well-structured preseason is vital to giving the test the best platform from which to begin the season.
Planning for the new season begins long before the actual season ever starts, the management group sat at the end of the last season and set about discussing how each of our skill sets would be best utilized in the preseason and in what way could we improve to continue our journey of searching for high performance.
Women’s bodies experience different physiological changes compared to men, and these variations can impact performance and injury risk in sports like cricket. Factors such as hormonal fluctuations, biomechanics, and bone density are crucial considerations. The preseason usually includes early, mid, and late preseason. Physical evaluation and functional testing, formulating strength training programs, conditioning, endurance, and sports-specific drills, as well as skill work training all make up the preseason schedule. All the while monitoring the load management of the players’ training intensity and volume to avoid overtraining ensuring adequate rest and recovery periods are essential to prevent fatigue-related injuries.
With diet being so important to fuel the body correctly a large number of research studies indicate the link between nutrition and the physiological gynecological conditions that women may suffer from that is unique to the women’s cricket game as compared to male players. We decided to add screenings by a sports dietician to create tailor-made nutrition plans for the players. Education is the foundation of all long-term change, and in light of that fact, for the first few weeks, every friday we held educational talks on hydration, and recovery techniques, to commonly experienced gynecological problems faced in the female population. This fosters personal growth within players rather than the do what you told technique that most athletes follow without the lack of true understanding that results in actual long-term behavioural change.
Preseason is a vital period for female cricketers to prepare for the challenges ahead. By focusing on personalized assessments, strength and conditioning, injury prevention, nutrition, and mental wellness, athletes can optimize their performance and hopefully enjoy a successful season. My role as a sports physiotherapist is to support and guide athletes through this critical phase, ensuring they are physically and mentally prepared for the demands of the season ahead. Remember, preparation isn’t just about physical training—it’s about setting the stage for a season of health, performance, and hopefully achievement. So as the new season finally kicks off this coming Friday, a preseason successfully navigated and all the cogs of the wheel in place and ready to go, excitement is high and let the games begin….
