Going Upstairs

Ex England, Yorkshire and Notts bowler Ryan Sidebottom joined us for the final Pre Season Series session. 

Topics discussed included:

Stepping up to playing for England
Responding to difficulties in cri…

Gloucestershire & England keeper James Bracey was the fifth guest for the Pre Season Series earlier this year. We're glad to share it here now after a delay.

Topics discussed included:

Adapting to new …

Much delayed but here is the fourth of the 2022 Pre Season Series sessions with Glamorgan batter Sam Northeast.

Topics discussed included:

Making runs for a living
The role of a team mate
Life away from …

Middlesex bowler Ethan and former Lancashire & Leicestershire batter discuss opening the innings, dealing with setbacks and the identity of a professional cricketer.

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Warwickshire's Eve Jones was the guest for the second of the 2022 Pre Season Series sessions.

Topics discussed included:

- Routines for batting
- The challenges of The Hundred
- Switching off from the ga…

Kent keeper/batter Ollie joined us for the first of the 2022 Pre Season Series sessions.

We discussed:

Managing the demands of professional cricket
Preparation as a keeper/batter
Staying mentally healthy

…

Derbyshire pace bowler Dustin opened up on the realities of dealing with injuries. He spoke about the impact at the time, through rehab to the longer term mental challenges.

An important insight to a …

Jon Northcroft is an Opening Up Cricket trustee and football writer. In this episode he talks us the art of ghost writing, something he has done most recently for Peter Schmeichel, including:

• What it …

Primary school teacher Peter has a mission to increase physical activity in young people to the benefit of their mind and body.

We discussed the impact of covid, barriers to promoting activity, teache…

Middlesex bowler Ethan chatted with Mark about how he has managed performance anxiety during his career so far.

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The term 'coaching' is subject to lots of different interpretations, especially in the world outside of sport.

Mark spoke with Jim Hughes about what he sees it as in his work coaching high performers.…

Mark gives his perspective on what he has learned from the experience of depressive illness.

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Paul Smith played for Warwickshire from 1982 and 1996, featuring as a key member of the famous treble winning side of 1994. Here he spoke about the influence of Bob Woolmer, how mental health was loo…

Northern Diamonds bowler Phoebe joined us for the eight Pre Season Series session back in March.

We discussed her unusual journey to being a professional athlete via themes of embracing challenges, pe…

Hampshire's Tom Alsop chatted with Mark about the reasons behind him joining our team to host sessions. The insight to the personal and professional contexts of mental health and wellbeing are well w…

West Indies Director of Cricket Jimmy joined us in March for the seventh Pre Season Series session.

The main themes discussed were managing stress, dealing with burnout and fatigue and adapting to dif…

Abi joined Mark to share his thoughts on the importance of being truly listened to. He reflects on his personal experience of being supported following the loss of his Mum as well as communication in…

Northamptonshire bowling coach Chris  joined us live in February for the sixth of our 'Pre Season Series' sessions so here it is for you to catch up on.

The theme we explored was meditation in cricket…

Kent batter Daniel  joined us live in February for the fifth of our 'Pre Season Series' sessions so here it is for you to catch up on.

The themes discussed were:

Mental strategies to bat long
Overcoming…

Southern Vipers bowler Tara  joined us live in January for the fourth of our 'Pre Season Series' sessions so here it is for you to catch up on.

The themes discussed were:

Sport/life balance
Mindful cric…