POWERADE® HELPS TRAIN SECONDARY SCHOOL CRICKETERS

Powerade®, the sports drink chosen to hydrate the Proteas, will be introducing Powerade® Performance Sessions to secondary schools during the upcoming cricket season. Through these sessions, cricketing stars of the future will be introduced to the science of correct training, proper nutrition and the benefits of hydration to enable one to reach peak fitness at the right time.

The program will run in 61 secondary schools in Gauteng and 19 in the Western Cape, all of which are participating in the Coca-Cola T20 Schools tournament.  

“Powerade® is the chosen sport drink of many of South Africa’s sports stars,” explains Craig van Niekerk, Marketing Assets Manager of Coca-Cola South Africa.  “But effective conditioning is a combination of many factors and through the Powerade® Performance Sessions we are helping to educate young sportsmen on best practices which will assist them in keeping fit throughout their life time.”

All of the participating secondary schools will receive a coaching kit, training equipment and a training program designed by Proteas’ Strength and Conditioning coach Rob Walter. As the official hydration partner to the Proteas, Powerade® sought to integrate the link between high performance with Rob’s program and also combining this with biokinetics and sports science.

A Powerade® team led by a trained biokineticist will visit each participating secondary school between 22 October and 15 November 2012 and execute the training program on the ground. “All the exercises target the specific movement patterns that players would encounter on the field of play,” explains Walter. “They have also been designed with specific progressions in mind so that the team may continue to develop them, make them more functional and continue to challenge the players so that they continue growing and improving their cricket skills.”

An integral part of the team is the professional cricketer who will be onsite during the Powerade® Performance Sessions to assist the young cricketers with the technical aspects of their game using his own personal experiences and expertise. Former Proteas’ spinner Paul Adams of the Cape Cobras is one such professional cricketer involved in this initiative. “It’s a great initiative for the players to be introduced to what happens at the highest level with this programme. It makes these young cricketers aware of what the requirements for progressing through the levels are, and it also brings an element of fun to the occasion as well”. Neil McKenzie of the Bizhub Highveld Lions added “So far it has been a great initiative from Powerade®. The young sportsmen love the sessions and the innovation of the warm-ups.

The Session will commence with a fitness assessment and warm-up session based on the program developed by Rob Walter, followed by a net session with the former Proteas player. In between the warm-up and net session will be a “hydration break” where the players will be able to sample an ice cold Powerade® at the point of sweat.

A regular newsletter will be sent to the secondary schools featuring nutrition and hydration tips, higher level training programs as well as news from the Proteas camp and the schools cricket programs.