It included:

• meeting with the NTIS re cooling program for the players on Saturday night
• arranging the rosters for massage, physiotherapy for the players for the next three days
• finalising requirements for hydration for all of the playing group
• making a start on the rotation program for the game on Saturday – making sure to take into account the specific requests of each of the clubs for their players
• getting to the shops to buy some specific needs for the game
• going through equipment needs for the next three days
• going to the NTFL to discuss plans for the game – use of cool room; cool tubs; need for magnetic board; change room allocation; communication system; fans; bikes; ice; food; water….
• a number of meetings through the day.

Which all meant, by the time I had finished, the players were back and it was time to get to work!

The team doctor, Hugh Seward arrived today. Hugh is a very well respected doctor within the AFL, having served for 25 years as the club doctor for Geelong Football Club. He is currently the Executive Officer of the AFL Medical Officers Association and is also a member of the AFL Research Board. To date we had had no injury or illness issues to speak of. It was to be hoped that this would continue and we would not really need Hugh at all. However, it is always best to have a doctor on site – just in case.

Thursday evening was a special night for all those attending the camp. It was the AFL Boomerangs Graduation dinner. The Boomerangs is a young selected group of Indigenous AFL players whom have spent the past 18 months completing an Indigenous Leadership Course. It was also the night when the players participating in the All Stars game on Saturday received their playing jumper. Whilst both of these activities were enjoyable, perhaps the most significant presentation was that given by Allan Turner.

In December 2004 Allan’s daughter, Zaidee complained of a headache. The headache turned out to be a brain aneurism, and sadly, Zaidee lost her life. She was just 7 years old. I sat listening to her father speak with compassion, courage and love for his daughter so tragically lost. I wondered how I would cope with such a huge and unexpected grief in my life. For Allan and his wife, their immediate thought was to donate Zaidee’s organs. To think of others in a time of such loss is surely the true reflection of selflessness. Allan told us that “Zaidee had spoken to he and his wife several times, that if something ever happened to her, that she wanted her organs to be donated to others so that they had a chance to live”. He encouraged us to have that same discussion with our own families. “You never know…”

Some weeks after his daughter had passed away, Allan received a phone call from the hospital – not only thanking him for the donation of his lost daughters vital organs, but also to advise him that Zaidee was officially the youngest ever donor in Victoria. This set Allan to thinking. More lives could be saved if people became aware of this.

To raise awareness, and also to stand as an ongoing tribute to his daughter Zaidee I would expect, Allan and his wife started “Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation”. The foundation raises awareness by asking people to wear coloured laces in their shoes. By such a simple act, people think about organ donation. Allan now spends significant amounts of his time raising awareness about “Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation” and as such, raising awareness about a very important need in our community. Out of this tragedy, Zaidee and her benevolence live on. Allan’s final request was for the players to wear the coloured laces in the All Stars game versus Adelaide on Saturday night. It was a moving and thought provoking presentation. (You can read more about Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation at www.zaidee.org/index.php)

Training on Friday was scheduled for 9.30am. The session was fast and direct and the intent of the team was obvious. Given the smaller stature of the All Stars team, speed was going to be the most potent weapon to attempt to defeat the Adelaide Crows. With training finished the players were free until later in the afternoon – that was all but two, Andrew Lovett (Essendon FC) and Richie Tambling (Richmond FC). Both had been selected to do a promotion for the game by being lowered in a Perspex box into a crocodile enclosure. I decided to go along to see what happened – rather than talk about it, I have attached some pictures of the day. Given that the croc was about 10m long, I didn’t really envy them!

At 5.30pm both the All Stars team and the Adelaide Crows attended a function at Darwin’s Parliament House. It was a good opportunity for more game day promotion and to thank the NT government for their support of both the game and of AFL in the Territory in general. As we left the function, the rain started. It was torrential, tropical rain. And it just kept on coming. It was good to get back to the hotel. If the weather was the same during the game, it was certainly going to be a low scoring affair.

Game day arrived and the first activity was an activation session. This consisted of a team walk, stretch and pool session. From that point it was free time until departure for the game later in the afternoon. With final preparations, the afternoon slipped by pretty quickly and before we knew it, we were in the rooms at TIO stadium getting ready. Everything was as one would expect at an AFL club – team meeting with the coach; strapping; massage; individual needs; team warm up; final talk to the players; final warm up; pre game functions and then – game on!

One of my key roles during the game was to monitor the rotations of the players. Each club had requested different game time for their players; some even asking for specific rest breaks. I was determined that, as practicable as possible given the constraints of a game of AFL, that we would adhere to the club requests. Given the fact that the team numbered 30 players, it was not really all that surprising that I saw very little of the game. What I did see though, was a fast and attacking game of football. Almost from the opening 5 minutes of the game, the intent of the All Stars was obvious, and despite tropical rain falling intermittently throughout the game, the All Stars beat Adelaide 14.13 (97) to 6.7 (43) at Marrara Oval.

The paper the next day reported the coach of the Adelaide Crows, Neil Craig, as saying: “It was an eye opener in terms of speed. That’s an unnatural AFL side; you’re not going to come up against that too often.”

What this team did on Saturday night was highlight the natural sporting gifts of indigenous Australians. With greater opportunities for pathways into the game being set up by the AFL, more and more indigenous Australians will play the game at this level in the near future. Whilst Neil Craig may be spot on about the fact that it was an eye opener in terms of speed, he may not be so correct in thinking that teams will not come up against that type of speed too often. Perhaps, this game is a harbinger to the future of footy?

On Sunday morning at 10am a recovery session was held at the hotel pool. All players were checked over for any injuries by the team doctor and physiotherapist. Fortunately, we were able to send all players back to their clubs with no injuries. Further, all players had completed training requirements as requested by their clubs and had played the requested time allotments of their clubs.

By lunchtime we were flying out of Darwin heading for home. Jason Mifsud and Corey McGrath (both from the AFL Players Association) had done a great job in pulling this camp together. It had been a huge success. It can probably be best summed up by a comment from Richie Tambling (Richmond Football Club). We were standing by the carousel waiting for our bags to be offloaded from the plane. Richie was asked if he had enjoyed the camp and game in Darwin. “I loved it” he replied. “Actually, I would get on the plane now and go back and do it all again if I could! It was great!” Enough said.

The logistics of co-ordinating the All Stars Team is huge. There are about 60 players here in Darwin and all of them are completing the leadership program each day from 8.30 – 4pm. In addition to this they are also doing the required team training and additional work as required by their respective AFL clubs.

When I was involved at Club level (Essendon Football Club 1998 – 2008), one of the biggest frustrations I had with this type of initiative was the feeling of not knowing what was going on. As a club we felt that we had done so much work to get the players ready for the season, and then at a crucial stage, they were flying off to some camp where we had no idea what they would be doing, intensity, volumes of work, etc. When the opportunity came along to do this program, I was determined from the outset to ensure that all fitness coaches at each of the 16 clubs felt as if they were in control of what was happening with their players. To that end, each club has indicated individual work/training requirements for their players; strength programs; rehabilitation programs; running sessions; lactate sessions; recovery sessions; pool sessions and more. My role here is not to interpret or comment on any program. It is simply to implement the program and report to the prescribing coach of the actual outcomes. Sounds simple enough. But doing this with 60+ players has been very challenging.

I have been really fortunate to have such great staff helping me out. Michael Vadiveloo is the team physiotherapist. Based in Melbourne, Michael had worked for 14 years at St Kilda Football Club and brings a wealth of knowledge and practical hands on experience to this role with the All Stars. Michael has been an enormous help not just in terms of physiotherapy but in assisting with the overall co-ordination of activities and sessions.

Our head trainer is Ray Spiteri. Ray has been (and continues to be) the Head Trainer at the Carlton Football Club. He has great energy, enthusiasm and ability – and he brings it all for the benefit of these players. Like Michael, Ray is a great asset in helping to ensure the delivery of a “total program” to the playing group and has a great ability to identify tasks that need to be done. He then wanders off and completes them with a minimum of fuss. Whilst he might have magic hands for massage, I cannot say the same for his sense of humour. Ray has brought with him to Darwin, some of the most pathetic jokes ever told. I have decided it is better to laugh along in order not to raise his competitive nature of persevering until he strikes “a good one”!

On a recommendation from the AFL, we appointed Kia Naylor to the role of Assistant Fitness Coach. Kia is a qualified exercise physiologist and has a degree in sport science. Whilst she has had experience at the Northern Territory Institute of Sport (NTIS), Kia now runs her own sports services business here in Darwin. She is unfazed in the face of different challenges and has proven to be a very able and helpful fitness coach. In fact, based on our first session, Kia’s presence has been essential.

The team doctor is Hugh Seward – former team doctor of the Geelong Football Club (1981 – 2006). Hugh is the current Executive Officer of the AFL Medical Officer’s Association. The doc arrives on Thursday morning to relieve our local medical team of their “on call” positions.

And then of course there are the local organisers from the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL). My Godsend here has been Gaye Messer. This lady appears to be “unflappable” and has helped to establish everything I have needed from drinks orders to food alterations, massage staff, water runners, additional physiotherapists, on call doctors, gym contacts – the list goes on. As does the actual people behind the scenes to get this show up and running.

I was very interested in a number of things so far about this camp. Two however, stand out the most:

• 1. The indigenous population of Australia makes up less than 2% of the entire Australian population. Yet the indigenous population of the AFL is 10%. Add to that the fact that at the last draft, 11% of those players selected were actually indigenous. This would suggest that the indigenous population of Australia are massive overachievers insofar as AFL is concerned – or they are very, very talented. I do not want to take anything away from the hard work and dedication of these individuals, but I have no doubt as to their athletic ability and potential. And it certainly does not stop with AFL.
• 2. I was asked to sit in on a leadership program today for a group of young AFL players whom have been identified for their leadership potential. The 19 young men are participating in development activities designed to assist them to achieve all that they can and to make a positive impact on their community – both their indigenous community and the broader Australian community. Titled the Boomerangs, I witnessed some very intelligent, articulate, motivated and inspired young indigenous Australians. If they are the future for AFL then the sport has a lot to look forward to.

The last couple of days have seen the players in the All Stars camp participate in further indigenous leadership programs. In addition to this, they have had a group training session, recovery session; most have done a weights session and/or running session along with other personal needs such as flexibility, physiotherapy and so on. The next couple of days will be similar until Thursday when the actual team to play the Adelaide Crows will predominantly turn its attention to the game itself.

For me, I have been flat out doing the job I have been requested to do. I am enjoying the interaction with the players from each of the clubs and the challenges that this role is presenting to me. Today I had a couple of hours to spare and ended up spending it with an old mate of mine, former Essendon Champion, Michael Long. Mick is looking fantastic and is pulling together a number of very successful projects – for the AFL and for himself personally.

As I walked away from being with Mick today I was reminded of the fact that AFL (and all sport really) is not about the winning and losing. It’s not even about the effort and sweat and tears. It’s not about money or endorsements or fame or adulation. At the end of the day, when all of those things have faded to become just nice memories, it is the people that we will remember as being the most important aspect of sport. For me, Michael Long is one of the great memories I will forever hold of my time in the AFL. And as I work with this group of people that make up the AFL All Stars for 2009, a whole new set of great memories are just beginning.

Once all players had arrived introduction meetings were held that outlined the aims and objectives of the camp and the benefits that were being sought for all involved in this special program. To assist in recovery for what for many had been an early start followed by a long flight, a session of stretches and water recovery was held at the hotel. The atmosphere is very positive and the players are eager to participate in the process that is being offered. It looks set to be an excellent week.

The camp is very diverse and has been created by the AFL and the AFL Players Association (AFLPA). Monday is predominantly an Indigenous Leadership Program run by a group of professional facilitators. Monday afternoon will see the entire group involved in a training session at the nearby Marrara Stadium. All players programs have had input from their respective clubs and aims to meet the needs of both the individual and that of the AFL All Stars Team.

The Indigenous Leadership Program continues on Tuesday with further light fitness and conditioning activities such as bike and/or swimming. Some players will also undertake their own personal programs as required by their AFL Club.

Wednesday will be predominantly an AFLPA program including topics such as finance and other sessions particular to this group of individuals. The whole squad will be back at Marrara for another skill session on Wednesday afternoon. On the Thursday, all of the players will be involved in visits to the local community where their positions as role models in society is expected to have an enormous influence on the venues that they attend.

The players whom are not playing in the game against the Adelaide Crows will depart Darwin on Thursday afternoon. The remaining 30 players will then be asked to turn their full attention to the upcoming game and all effort will be directed to that preparation.

Friday morning will be a final opportunity for game preparation before heading off to Parliament House in Darwin City. The remaining 28 hours or so will be spent preparing and resting for the game 2009 All Stars vs Adelaide Crows. The game is being held at Marrara Stadium in Darwin and starts at 7.30pm (Darwin time).

Well after plenty of preparation time, the squad arrived in Darwin today for the 2009 All Stars Camp and Australian Football League game against the Adelaide Crows. Players have been invited from every AFL club in Australia to participate in this initiative and as the camp starts there are just over 60 indigenous players from every part of Australia here.

Once all players had arrived introduction meetings were held that outlined the aims and objectives of the camp and the benefits that were being sought for all involved in this special program. To assist in recovery for what for many had been an early start followed by a long flight, a session of stretches and water recovery was held at the hotel. The atmosphere is very positive and the players are eager to participate in the process that is being offered. It looks set to be an excellent week.

The camp is very diverse and has been created by the AFL and the AFL Players Association (AFLPA). Monday is predominantly an Indigenous Leadership Program run by a group of professional facilitators. Monday afternoon will see the entire group involved in a training session at the nearby Marrara Stadium. All players programs have had input from their respective clubs and aims to meet the needs of both the individual and that of the AFL All Stars Team.

The Indigenous Leadership Program continues on Tuesday with further light fitness and conditioning activities such as bike and/or swimming. Some players will also undertake their own personal programs as required by their AFL Club.

Wednesday will be predominantly an AFLPA program including topics such as finance and other sessions particular to this group of individuals. The whole squad will be back at Marrara for another skill session on Wednesday afternoon. On the Thursday, all of the players will be involved in visits to the local community where their positions as role models in society is expected to have an enormous influence on the venues that they attend.

The players whom are not playing in the game against the Adelaide Crows will depart Darwin on Thursday afternoon. The remaining 30 players will then be asked to turn their full attention to the upcoming game and all effort will be directed to that preparation.

Friday morning will be a final opportunity for game preparation before heading off to Parliament House in Darwin City. The remaining 28 hours or so will be spent preparing and resting for the game 2009 All Stars vs Adelaide Crows. The game is being held at Marrara Stadium in Darwin and starts at 7.30pm (Darwin time).

The whole experience of coming to India – not on a holiday but to work – has been very good for me. It is not that I am looking for anything in particular, but it can be very confronting at times. The sheer size of the country. It’s vast population. The poverty. The traffic. The noise. The scale of operations such as the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The day to day lives of Indians.

Some of the more unusual things I have seen include:

• Well let’s start with today. It is not often that you get woken by the sound of donkeys outside your hotel room. It’s like some mournful laugh but with one look at them, I know they are not even smiling!
• I loved the street sign that proudly proclaimed that the company had been in the advertising business for 75 years. It looked as if the sign had been there for all of those 75 years!

• On a busy highway outside of Delhi, we stop in a queue for the toll way. There are 8 lanes going in each direction. I can hear strange music. As we creep forward in the bus, I see the snake charmer coaxing his cobra out of its basket.

• Transport is anything that moves – bikes, cars, motor bikes, auto rickshaws. Then add tractors, bus rooftops, trolleys and animals ranging from donkeys to elephants to camels.
• So long as you get the idea, spelling is not always an issue.

• Occupational Health and Safety is not high on the agenda. Every day, you will see someone clearly putting their life at risk doing menial task such as cleaning, painting or construction.
• Get a haircut at a makeshift salon on the sidewalk. Whilst you are there, get your knives sharpened at another set up 100m down the street. By the way, the power for the knife sharpener is a push bike that operates when the pedals are rotated.

• We went out for dinner. The menu proudly proclaimed that all food would be reheated in the microwave!
• When I walk down one of the main roads in Ahmedabad, I see all of the things mentioned above. No one even glances. When two of us decided to go for an evening run along the street, it was one of the strangest things the locals had ever seen!
• I went to a phone company in India to get my phone recharged. A guy comes in off the street with a shotgun over his shoulder – it would have been well over 1m in length. No one gave him a second look.

I could go on, but I guess that you get the idea.

In terms of tourism, I can recommend a visit to India. It really is Incredible India (and do not believe all the rubbish you are told about getting sick/water/food/travel etc). If you go about your business with some common sense and respect of where things are at, you will be just fine. Having said that, I have to share with you some comments I got off a tourist poster behind the Concierge Desk in one of the hotels I have stayed at here in India. From a distance, the poster looked like any other tourist blurb. It was about 1m x 1 ½ m and had small pictures highlighting the various attractions of the city. I had a closer look to read the various descriptions. Here are a few that caught my eye (I have excluded the name of the city):

• “..rich, multicultural and architectural heritage of x is today threatened by encroachment, neglect and vandalism.” And then there is:
• “Water downstream of the x, is largely the water which has been treated and released from the x sewage treatment plant..” – Which is one very good reason I have chosen not to eat fish here, despite the very low cost!. Also, consider this other pearl of tourism extravagance:
• “Only 57% of x sewage is treated..” Which I am presuming means that 43% of the x river is, well you know!
• “Once, about 170 water bodies dotted x and its environs. Today, most have been filled in for construction or filled with garbage“. And if you still are not enthused to visit:
• “In terms of air pollution, x ranks among the 5 most polluted cities in India” – now that’s a clincher!

After a week without the players we were all looking forward to their return to India. Only Dhiman Ghosh had stayed in Ahmedabad with us – although a number of the playing group kept in touch via Skype and phone messages. With infrequent flights from Dhaka to Ahmedabad the players had to spend Tuesday night in Delhi. By the time they arrived in Ahmedabad, they were exhausted from the early morning starts and travel.

When the players got to Ahmedabad, they learned that we had to move hotel – Bangladesh has been allotted to the Hotel Cama. It is a comfortable hotel on the banks of the Sabarmati River. From my window I look over the river and have views of the city behind. They are putting in levy banks at the moment as the river rises each year during the monsoon season. Along the worksite area is always a hive of activity with families living around the river bank; donkeys; goats and all manner of man labour.

On the Thursday I flew to Chennai for a conference. I had been asked to present at the Nutrition Society of India and the Indian Society for Parental and Enteral Nutrition’s combined National Conference. I spoke on hydration and sports performance. The audience was made up of doctors, nutritionists, educators and students – about 500 in total. It was well received and I have had quite a bit of traffic through my web site since the presentation. The trip back to Ahmedabad was a nightmare with cancelled flights and plenty of sitting around. In all, from the time I left the hotel in Ahmedabad and returned that evening, 16 hours had elapsed. I was glad to finally get back ‘home’!

On Friday the 21^st the team had a skills session at the ground in the morning. In the afternoon, I had all of the players come to a local gym for a strength training session and a pool recovery session. Saturday morning was a final session prior to our first game in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) World Series.

Our initial game was against a ICL World XI side. It wasn’t so much that the World side won the game – we lost it! The World side were all out for 167 – a very achievable target for the ICL Bangladesh side. It certainly started promisingly with Bangladesh amassing 50 runs by the end of the 5^th over. Unfortunately, the runs dried up from that point with the final tally being 155 runs – a loss of 12 runs. The only positive we could take from that game, was that the defeat could have been much greater had it not been for the composure and skill of the players.

Monday saw a light session for the players and of course, recovery. All of the team was pretty flat and disappointed with the very ordinary display the previous night. The talk was of a much improved performance against ICL India. We did not have to wait long – the game was held the following night.

Not surprisingly, the commentators here were tipping a significant ICL India win over ICL Bangladesh. We won the toss – and due to the late accumulation of dew – elected to bowl first. The Bangladesh team had two new inclusions – Farhad Reza and Golam Mahbud Chowdury (Shishir). These additions proved to be decisive in the fact that Reza bowled four overs for a total of 35 and Shishir took 3 catches. Bangladesh looked very strong in the first 15 overs (India 107 runs). However, 35 runs in just 2 overs gave the Indian team a real chance of winning the game. At the end of 20 overs, India was 164.

Bangladesh started the defence slowly but gradually increased the run rate. Outstanding for Bangladesh was Shahriar Nafees who ultimately steered the team to a nail biting finish by scoring 70 runs not out. Bangladesh won the match with just 3 balls to spare. It was a great win and set the team up for a showdown in game three against ICL Pakistani – our nemesis from the ICL Series (under the guise of Lahore). Unfortunately, that game never eventuated..

It was at this point that terrorists attacked several hotels and tourist spots in Mumbai. Ahmedabad is about 400km north of Mumbai. Unfortunately though, terrorism has no borders, and Ahmedabad was itself the target of terrorist attacks just 4 months ago. The Indian Cricket League determined that the game Bangladesh vs. Pakistan should be cancelled. Later in the day, the team was advised that the remainder of the ICL World Series was to be cancelled. That’s it – over. Security around the hotel was increased. No one was allowed to leave the hotel during the day, especially if you were a westerner. If the Bangladesh team was a dart board for terrorism, I would pretty much think that I would make a great bullseye!

I was told to keep my door shut at all times and that my departure from India would be brought forward – as soon as possible. I spent the rest of the day packing and itemising the equipment that will be left behind for the next ICL tournament in March 2009. At around 8pm I had to go to the ground with the Manager of the team to check the equipment in. There were quite a few fans hanging around, bewildered that the game had been cancelled. As I stood waiting for the store room to be opened, a small group of these cricket fans approached me. They did not have very good English and communication was difficult. As I walked away to place the bags in storage, I heard one of the disappointed fans say “I just want to watch the cricket!” Unfortunately, he will have to wait until next year.

I have done a lot of work in setting up my proposed business back in Melbourne. I have had plenty of think time to set up my plans going forward. I am really looking forward to getting back and moving it into reality. I am a bit surprised that I have rarely thought about AFL and Essendon Football Club in particular. For now, that (AFL) is a chapter of my life that is closed and a new and exciting chapter is underway.

I am sure that I will have one last blog to put some closure on this trip to India. After that, I hope that you continue to drop in from time to time to check out what is happening. Bye for now.

Thanks to all those who have rung and sent emails/text messages. I am in Ahmedabad which is some way from Mumbai. Of course, terrorism has no borders and Ahmedabad has been the site of previous terrorism as recently as 4months ago.

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) have cancelled our match against Pakistan that was to be held tonight. They will advise us of the future of the ICL World Series in the next few hours. If indeed the series is cancelled, I may well be on a flight earlier than expected.

As you would be aware, Kahbul (the capital of Pakistan) also suffered a terrorist attack this morning. The Pakistan team is staying at a different hotel to the Bangladesh team – but security has been increased at all ICL hotels as of this morning.

We have been told not to leave the hotel under any circumstances. Security has been increased in and around the hotel. I have also been instructed to keep my room door shut at all times. Whilst I am confident that we are all safe, no one here is taking any chances.

I look forward to returning to Melbourne within the next few days.

JQ

About half way through the second innings Leroy Lobo (physiotherapist) and myself were approached by the floor manager for the ICL telecast, and one of the key presenters of the ICL tournament. They requested for us to do an interview. We both did one at a previous game and that seemed to go OK, so we agreed to do it. It was all fairly painless with questions on how we have found the ICL, the standard of cricket and our tips for who will win the series (we are both experts now!). The funny thing is that the players whom had gone back to Bangladesh for a week R&R saw us on the telecast – it allegedly has a subcontinent viewing audience in excess of 200 million! That’s 3 minutes of fame down!

The telecast by Zee TV has been first class throughout the whole tournament. Every night a game is televised live from various parts of India. The anchor for the program is Australia’s own, Dean Jones. Other commentators well known in Australia include Tony Greig (ICL Board member) and former Indian test cricketer (and now CEO of the ICL) Kapil Dev. The telecast rolls along with the game itself, cheer squads, music, replays, half time entertainment called Cricket Boom Boom, presentations and a full wrap up of the game. It certainly comes across as a very slick product and the people involved at the games are very professional and personable. As we have moved around India and played our 8 series games, we have got to know a lot of the “behind the scenes” people. I guess it is like most sporting industries, but they are all very passionate about what they do – and it shows.

Speaking of passionate…. I have had some problems with my mobile phone here. It is quite a complicated system in India, with a national telecommunications company (Airtel). The problem stems from the fact that every state in India has different conditions for the same company. As such, if you purchased your phone or air time in one state, it does not necessarily transfer to another (or something like that!). Anyway, my phone was barred in Ahmedabad. It appeared that paperwork that should have been submitted in Chandigarh had not been processed. As such, just when all of the players had left for Bangladesh, I was without a phone for contact! I went to the Airtel store which was about 1km from our hotel.

I could write for a fair while on my repeated visits to the Airtel office here in Ahmedabad. Suffice to say that this debacle took place over a period of three days. Each time I would have to wait: “Just wait 5 minutes”, I am told. This means 20 minutes at least in India. On most occasions in Airtel it was 35 minutes. By the third day I was near my end point! And then, perhaps it was genuine, perhaps a great set up, but a young salesman happens by. He sees my phone and comes over to introduce himself. He waxes on about what a great phone it is and how he has never seen one. “If we had these here, I could sell hundreds” he enthused. He looked at my phone as if it could get him to the moon and back. Then he thanked me and stepped back to his desk to confront the never-ending line of people wanting to buy a phone, change a plan, pay a bill, lodge a complaint and whatever else he did. It just impressed me that with this frustrating environment in which he works every day, he is still passionate. He loves what he does.

I have only ever really known coaching as a job. In fact it has never been a job. It is a part of my life, it is who I am. I had never really thought about it from a telephone salesman’s point-of-view, but this young guy was showing me that being passionate and loving your job applies to every occupation. OK so it was three days. They were trying. They were not succeeding but they were trying. So I decided on a different tack. I thanked them for all of their effort. I said I could see how hard they were working. I told them I would be so grateful because the ICL players could contact me if they needed to. And guess what? Within 2 hours, my phone was back on line. Also, a day later the Airtel representative rang me to check the phone was ok. So two lessons from this frustrating phase of my trip in India: i) you can make your job more interesting if you are interested and passionate about it and ii) you get further by paying compliments than venting frustration.

Our trip to Udaipur (in the state of Rajasthan) was delayed by a day. We had a few issues locking down a driver and accommodation. So on the Friday, we did all the touristy things in Ahmedabad. This included a visit to the Jain Hatheesingh Temple. It was made from marble in 1848 and is a beautiful temple in the middle of the city. We also paid a visit to Sabarmati Ashram, which was Mahatma Ghandi’s headquarters during India’s struggle for independence. Gandhi set out from here on his famous Salt March on 12 March 1930. It was a very interesting museum. I know that I have lot more to learn about Mahatma Gandhi. We spent the evening at the local markets shopping for bits and pieces to bring back home.

Shopping at the markets with Julia Russell

Saturday was a 5 hour trip to Udaipur. I read in one of the guide books that this city is called the “Venice of the east”. And that it is. It has a old world European feel to it. At the centre of the city is Lake Pichola which is surrounded by white buildings, a magnificent city palace and hills all around. In the centre of it all, is the Lake Palace (used in the Bond film, Octopussy). As luck would have it, we found ourselves some of the best accommodation you could imagine overlooking the lake, the Lake palace and the old city. Talk will not do it justice and I can only hope that some of the photos that I took can show partially how beautiful the city of Udaipur really is.

The view from our hotel balcony in Udaipur

We stayed in Udaipur for two nights. Plenty of shopping in dinghy markets, eating Indian food, visiting Palaces. I even had a tour of the city on the back of a motor bike! Leroy had bought a painting and we needed to choose a frame. So, as could only happen in India, Leroy got on the back of one bike, and I on the other. It was a great experience and a terrific way to see the city at night. I am sure that Leroy’s frame will look good too! The place where Leroy bought his painting (and I bought some smaller items) was just opposite our hotel – SmartArts. The father is the master artist and his two sons – Nilesh and Manish (Mickey) – are following in his footsteps. If ever you go to Udaipur, be sure to find them. They are terrific people and very talented artists. Not only do they give you a great price for quality art, you might even get a late night motor bike tour thrown in!

Leroy, Nilesh,Manish and I - stop off on the bike tour!

Whilst we were away the finals of the ICL continues back in Ahmedabad. Hyderabad Heroes won a cliffhanger in the second game, thus forcing a third, and deciding final. This was held on Sunday night with the Lahore Badshahs winning by 8 wickets. It was a very impressive win by the team and sets a number of benchmarks for the competition going into the next series here in India in March 2009.

Lake Palace, Udaipur

On Monday we headed back to our hotel in Ahmedabad. In a strange way, it is a bit like coming home. The hotel has become quite familiar – all the staff know us by name! We have another couple of days before the players get here – and then it is final preparations for the ICL World Series.

Well, glorious uncertainty or not, our final series game was quite clear. The Lahore Badshahs were far too good on the night, beating the Dhaka Warriors by 5 wickets. Even the slim chance the following night that Lahore would be beaten by Chennai, thus allowing Dhaka to go into the finals on percentage, proved very optimistic. Lahore beat Chennai by an even greater margin (6 wickets) than when they played Dhaka.

For the Warriors, the season has come to a close. 4 wins and 4 losses. Not that it is anything to get too excited about, but I am told that this is the best result for a team from Bangladesh. Ever.

When the game ended the players were very disappointed that the Indian Cricket League (ICL) series had come to an end, and they had fallen just short of a berth in the finals. With the slim chance that participation was still possible, all of the players had to go through a recovery session as per normal the following day. In addition to the recovery I also had three players (those that didn’t play) doing some extra training.

The “extras sessions” have been pretty challenging for the players. For this session, I devised a circuit as space was at a premium at the training/competition ground. The session started with sprints over 40m and then moved to timed agility; shuttle runs; stair sprints and a sustained 90 second effort. After a rest of 4 minutes this repeated, a total of four times.

Farhad Reza leads an

People may ask (and did before I left Australia!), ‘what would you know about cricket?’ The truth is I could sum that up pretty quickly! However, I am not here to teach these players how to play cricket. I am here to improve their fitness -elements such as speed, agility, strength, nutrition and recovery. In fact, the game of 20/20 cricket is a game of explosive running, sudden change of direction, repeat efforts and power. Add to this the fact that you may play 3+ games within a week and other factors such as load monitoring, recovery, hydration and nutrition all become considerable requirements.

At the time of the recovery session, we had to take the position that we may still be playing a final. As such, after the session preparations were in hand for a skill session in the nets for the following day. The remainder of the day was free for all players and staff. I found myself travelling about 30 minutes from the hotel to a local strip of shopping malls.

When the car stopped outside the massive shopping area I was a bit surprised really. It looked like any shopping mall – Highpoint or Chadstone. Other than the congested road with the odd camel or donkey going by, I could have been just about anywhere in Australia. Inside the mall, it was a cavern of space complete with shiny tiled floors and music from the “unending elevator tunes” series. And of course there were shops. I found one that I liked – a bookshop. Books are incredibly cheap here – think about 20% of the cost of the same book in Australia. There is also a different market of books, so it makes for an interesting time browsing through a shop.

But as for the rest of the shops – well. Not for me. It is as if they have got the concept of the shopping mall quiet well. But the application of that concept is a bit left of centre really. Not that I wanted anything anyway. And besides it was a nice change to wander around a shopping centre as opposed to an outdoor market or roadside vendor.

Sunday arrived and the Warriors had a light skills session in preparation for a possible finals appearance. It was all hinging on the Lahore Badshahs being well beaten by Chennai in what was the final series game of this ICL season. As I said earlier in this blog, Lahore ended up defeating Chennai by an even greater margin than when the beat the Dhaka Warriors. Their win was by 6 wickets and as such, they advanced into the finals – along with Chennai Superstars, Hyderabad Heroes and Kolkata Tigers.

Monjural Islam recovers

As for the Dhaka Warriors, that is the end of the season. The next series gets underway in March 2009. We are confident that given all that we have learned in this, our first experience of playing 20/20 in the ICL competition, we will be able to improve and make the finals in the next series.

Our attention now turns to the ICL World Series. The Dhaka Warriors become Bangladesh. The Lahore Badshahs pretty much become Pakistan. Then a team is made up from the best Indian players in the ICL to form India and another from the ‘best of the rest’ to form a World team. This competition starts in about 2 weeks and culminates with a final game at the end of November.

The players from Bangladesh have been given leave to go home for the best part of a week. Staff can go home too – unless of course you come from outside the subcontinent which includes the entire medical and fitness staff. We are here in Ahmedabad pretty much until the players return. I created training programs for the players to do whilst away and took the whole group through a final weights session before they left the hotel.

So it is quiet here in the hotel now. Nothing has to be done. I can sleep in and go at my own pace. I have been doing programs for when the whole series is over. Writing up reports. Doing some personal work for my ‘upcoming business venture’ in Melbourne. And I have read a couple of those inexpensive books from the mall and watched the odd movie on HBO. The only English movie I have seen in the cinemas here is the new James Bond Movie, “Quantum of Solace”. We all went to that and enjoyed the bit of escapism.

The players from other teams whom will not be in the finals have all gone now and the hotel is a lot quieter overall. You notice it mainly at meal times. A few new faces are appearing as the competition moves towards the World Series. One of those was a face very familiar to me – Julia Russell. Julia is linking up with the World Team and has just finished work with the Australian Cricket Team as a massage therapist. Of course, she has been in India for the test series of Australia vs. India.

I have known Julia for more than 15 years, having coached her for athletics when I lived in Tasmania. In fact, Julia is a very good friend of my wife, Natlee. She has not changed a bit and is still the relaxed, friendly, welcoming, smiling girl that she has always been. Fancy having to come all the way to India to reunite with Julia!

Julia also came with ideas that we should make the most of being here in Ahmedabad. I had been pretty much resigned to spending a quiet week here. However, Julia had done a bit of homework and didn’t need to take too much time to convince us that we should arrange a driver to take us north to the state of Rajasthan. We are going to visit the city of Udaipur which is famous for a beautiful Lake Palace. If you are a James Bond fan, you may remember that this palace was used in the film, “Octopussy”. In all, there will be 6 of us going – Julia and her boyfriend, Jared; Mitchell Sturt (massage) ; Leroy Lobo (physiotherapist); Dhiman Ghosh (the only Dhaka Warrior to stay here) and myself. We are going to head off on Friday morning.

Tonight is to be the first of the finals of the ICL series (it is a best of three format). It is between the Lahore Badshahs and the Hyderabad Heroes. We are going to this game too. I don’t really care who wins – I suppose if Lahore get over the line we can always look back and say that we were knocked out of contention by the team that eventually won the competition.

And that pretty much sums up the past few days. If you have been reading these blogs over the past month or so, you would know that I started a different section under “Lessons from India”. I have had not so much a lesson, as a very important reminder in the past week. If you are interested, go to “Lessons from India” and look for the tab to take you to “Living in a Bubble”. No matter where you live or what you do, it is a reminder I believe we all should heed.

I remember reading about the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. The people that were trapped in the floors above the point of impact gradually came to realise that their chances of getting out of the building alive were remote. They began to call family and friends. These calls were taped. Of the hundreds of phone calls that were made in those hours before the towers finally collapsed, not one was a message of hate. All of the calls were to say how much they loved another person. All were calls to say goodbye and to share final thoughts and feelings. Amidst one of the world’s greatest tragedies there was honesty and love.

Sometimes we get so caught up in what is going on around us, that we forget what is truly important. We are concerned about the plane delay. The price of petrol. Getting a pay rise. Getting a promotion. Buying a new outfit.

As I write this, I am in India. You may think that the most confronting thing here is the poverty. The desperation of so many people. The wretched lives of many of the people with no foreseeable future. Just living day to day. But, today, I have had a far greater reminder of what is truly important.

I am staying on the second floor of a hotel here in Ahmedabad. It is quite a comfortable hotel – probably four stars I guess. The staff is very helpful and efficient. The hotel is very clean and it has a couple of restaurants and a swimming pool. It is always busy, with a variety of different people staying here – businessmen, sportspeople, families, young couples and so on. When I was allocated my room here I was very pleased to be on the 2^nd floor. We had stayed here before and not being a massive fan of heights, I couldn’t believe the feeling when I looked over the railing from the 7^th and 8^th floors. It is one of those dizzying heights that has you leaning backward as you peer forward – catching a glimpse of the drop downwards just to satisfy your own curiosity. No, the 2^nd floor is high enough for me.

Over the past couple of days, I have noticed a family staying in one of the suites on the 7^th floor. It is a regular family with two young children – a boy about 12 and a girl around 8. I have been away from home now for more than 6 weeks and it reminds me of the times I have been in this type of environment with my wife Natlee and two children Callum (9) and Caitlin (7).

The two children always appear happy. They amuse themselves up on the 7^th floor by playing games, watching TV and entertaining each other. I saw them playing video games just this morning as I walked past their room. They had the door wide open. They were laughing, as usual.

Today I had a gym session for the players. When the session was over I made my way back to my room on the 2^nd floor. I was lying on my bed with the TV on and thinking about what I needed to do for the rest of the day and that lunch was probably next on the agenda. I heard a call from the corridor “John. John. Come quickly. John!” I was on my feet pretty fast and was out of my room to find some of the team at the end of the corridor. “What is it?” I asked.

“The boy from the top floor. He fell out of the window!” one of the players replied. We all peered out of the window in disbelief.

Apparently the two children had been playing with a Frisbee on the top floor. I had seen them doing that the day before. But today, the 12 year old must not have been able to stop when chasing the Frisbee and lost control. He hit the window. It gave way. And he plunged out of the building, landing on the steps to the meeting section of the hotel. The drop would have to be more than 80m.

He didn’t die straight away. I was told that he hung on for 2 hours before passing away in the local hospital with his distraught parents by his side. It is a tragedy of the highest order. I have not been able to stop thinking about that boy. That happy child. His family. The loss.

In David Beckham’s book “My Side”, he talks about living in a bubble. In fact, he called it ‘Bubble Beckham’. I think I live in a bubble too. We all do. Our own self important little bubbles filled with our desires for personal comfort and the individual world’s in which we all exist. And then you are confronted by something like the death of this young 12 year old boy.

I don’t know what his name was. I probably never will. But I will always remember this laughing, happy child that died so tragically. He will forever remind me of what is truly important in this life. And, like the poor souls that were lost in the Twin Towers, it is a reminder to love the people that you have with you now. Tell them now how you feel about them. Show them through your actions how important they are. Hug them. Kiss them. Love them. It is unfortunate that sometimes the most important things in life are the very things that we take the most for granted.

RIP young boy.

We flew out of Chandigarh bound for Ahmedabad via Mumbai – about a 3 hour flight to the south. I had myself prepared for this long and drawn out flight, when not long into the journey I realised that I had one of the best seats on the plane. You see, I was seated on the left hand side of the plane and had “lucked” a window seat. From my prestigious seat, I had a true birds eye view of the Himalayas. This majestic mountain range soared in to the sky, above the clouds and seemingly, level with us. In the sun, the peaks of this spectacular mountain range shimmered white, and stretched on for miles into the distance. I literally sat in my seat, glued to this magnificent view. It was an unexpected highlight for me.

In a way, I was glad I didn’t know that it was coming. I didn’t build it up out of expectation. I wasn’t disappointed because I didn’t get the seat I would have wanted. I didn’t have pre-conceived ideas. I wasn’t hyped with anticipation. It just happened. And sometimes, life is like that. I wonder, how many times do we miss opportunities because we are looking for something else? Even if that “something else” isn’t that good!

As a coach, I have told my athletes of the need to establish goals. This gives them – and myself as the coach – a direction. A purpose. A target. The only caution I give them is to not be so hung up on the end result that they miss out on enjoying the journey. As I fly past the Himalayas I know that if I was ever to climb a mountain even half that size, I would want to enjoy the journey not see it as something I had to endure in order to reach the summit (or my goal).
At the end of the day, when I look back on all of the many things I have been fortunate to do in my life, it is not the spectacular things that people might expect that I remember with the most fondness. It is not the Olympic Games. It is not the AFL Grand Finals. It is not the successes and the high life. It is the people I have met and the experiences that I have had along the way. I suppose what I am saying is that is not “things” that you remember. It is the experience. It is the people.

For me, being here in India and jetting about all over the country in pursuit of cricket, is another great opportunity. For it is here that I am having the experience of a life time. And I am meeting some amazing people and seeing things that I never would have imagined. Don’t worry, I have some very real ambitions going forward for Natlee, Callum, Caitlin and myself. But I also know the importance of living in the moment and not getting so caught up “in self” that I don’t even see the greatness (of the opportunity, of the person, of the experience) that is right in front of me.

When we landed in Mumbai, we had a 4 hour wait for our connecting flight. This was later extended to 5 hours – ‘we apologise for our late departure, which was caused by the late arrival of another aircraft, blah, blah, blah’ – it appears that all airlines read from the same “give the customer a lame excuse book.” The Dhaka Warriors spent the time shopping and whiling the hours in the airport lounge. Whilst in the lounge, the players were very pleased to see an old friend – John Gloster, originally from Australia. He had been their physiotherapist in Bangladesh several years ago, and has since been appointed as the head physiotherapist for the Indian Cricket Team. I was not surprised to see John greeted with genuine warmth and pleasure by each of the players. It has become apparent to me that once you are a member of the Bangladesh team (or in my case the Dhaka Warriors) you are forever linked.

When we finally did get away from Mumbai it was well after 8.30pm. We checked into our hotel in Ahmedabad at 11.30pm. It had been a 13 hour day of travelling for what was basically a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane. The players were exhausted. Lucky that the following day was a rest day!
The day consisted of optional sessions for all of the players. I went to the gym a few times but overall, it was a day to relax and catch up on work that needed to be done. I have brought with me one of the biggest lonely planet guides that you have ever seen. I have wondered a few times if it was actually worth it. On Wednesday however, the book came through! I looked up locations for dinner in Ahmedabad and one recommendation was for a place called Agashiye. The restaurant was in a restored mansion that was once owned by a wealthy textile merchant. It later became a restaurant and hotel, with perhaps its most famous guest being Mahatma Gandhi in the 1920’s. The restaurant/hotel covers an area of 40,000 square feet and is a two storey maze of corridors and stairways along with a huge terrace. It was on this terrace that we had our dinner. The menu changes every day and is totally vegetarian. We were given information sheets on etiquette of how to eat with your hands – this included only eating with your right hand, washing your hands before and after the meal and not using your napkin to wipe your hands on during the meal – only for drying after washing. The experience started with a waiter offering to wash our hands with a small jug and bowl. The food was fantastic and included many different small meals and breads. We finished up with coffee and ice cream. Overall, it was a great Indian experience and I am sure that I will be back here before we leave Ahmedabad.

We had training scheduled for 10am on Thursday morning. It was the standard training except for one notable exception: the players must have decided that I should get involved with the skills side of things! My first role was to lob the ball in for a slips drill; next was to do some out fielding (which nearly resulted in a shattered ankle – although that’s a bit of an exaggeration as it is ok 24 hours later!. Anyway, the key lesson there was that you should stop the ball with your hands not your feet! The last drill I was scheduled for has become my latest definition of insanity. Tapash Baishye wanted me to slip a keepers glove onto my left hand and stand about 10m behind a single stump. He was going to come in off his normal run up and bowl at his normal speed and attempt to hit the stump. My job was to catch the ball in a mitt placed on my non dominant hand. Add to this picture the fact that I have no cricket skills at all and the ball is going to be travelling at speeds in excess of 130km/h. I cannot believe that the glove actually got on my hand and I was positioned behind the lone stump before the voice of logic screamed (as opposed to spoke) to me.

The rest of the day was spent working individually with players and getting programs ready for each of them for when they return to Bangladesh.

Friday. Today is our final game of the series against Lahore Badshahs. If we win this game we will progress to the finals. Lose this game – and it may be all over. I would love to tell the players the story about the Spanish explorer Cortes. He invaded Spain in the early 1500’s. His men were concerned about the consequences of not winning the battle. Rather than give them a direct answer, he commanded them to burn their boats. In other words: there is no other option but to win. I would love to tell the Dhaka Warriors to “burn your boats boys!”, but it may be a little deep and in all likelihood get lost in translation.

Rather, I will stick to the quote of this tour so far, as told to me by Shariar Nafees: “Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty”. As the underdogs going into this, our final series game, I hope it is!

PS. A couple of the players told me to go to a web site that has been set up called the Dhaka Warriors Fan Club. It seems that the boys have quite a following already with over 6,500 members to that site alone. If you are interested in having a look go to: www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka_Warriors

The day seems to fly by and before long we are arriving at Panchkula for our game against the Chandigarh Lions. It is a very important game. Win this, and our finals chances are very much alive – the Lions are ahead of us on the points table with a game in hand. Lose and it’s pretty much over. Not that this is mentioned of course. Everyone knows what is at stake.

The ground here is in fantastic order and the organisers have set things up for the crowd – right down to a jumping castle for the young kids. The screen here is much bigger than at any other of the grounds that we have played at. I am rapt to meet the caterer and see that he has met our food requirements.

The food has been prepared as requested and is available to the players just outside of our room. As I move around the dressing area I can sense the excitment amongst the players.

The Warriors fielded first. The Lions got off to a great start and rushed out to 23 runs off the first two overs. Fortunately, Dhaka was able to dismiss an opposition player in each of the next three overs. By the 10th over, Chandigarh were 4 for 69. By the end of their innings, they had scored 137 runs.

During the break, one could sense that the players knew that they had a great chance of winning this game.

The Dhaka innings started very conservatively with just 2 runs in the first over. By the 10th, the Warriors were 1 for 59 (which was 10 runs behind Chandigarh at the same point in their innings). From that time though, the Warriors just moved ahead exceeding 138 runs by the 18th over. In the end it was a strong win that has kept the Dhaka Warriors in finals contention with two games to go.

Man of the match was Shahriar Nafees from the Warriors. His overall performance was outstanding – he took the first catch of the night and scored a total of 73 runs (not out). It was also Nafees’s wedding anniversary on the night, so this was at least a nice way to celebrate – even though his wife (Eshita) was a long way from the ground watching on TV in Bangladesh! Nafees is the vice captain of the side and is a very professional and considered man. He has a great relationship with all of the players and is often the voice of reason post games and training. He is very keen to improve and has been working hard over the past month or so to get the Warriors as far as possible in this tournament.

Saturday was the 1st November and, as has become the mode of operation following a game, my first duty for the day is an extra session for those players who did not play the previous night. The session consisted of a gym circuit for Monjural Islam and Golam Mabud (Shishir) and some extra running/technique work for Farhad Reza. When the rest of the team arrive for recovery, we all head off to a local park. At the park the whole team participated in a match review session and then broke into two teams for a game of soccer. After the game, we spent about 10 minutes stretching and offered an optional pool session. The rest of the day was free for the players and they decided to take in a Bollywood film. They asked me to go, but three hours of singing and dancing in Hindi is a bit much for me to even think about, let alone sit through. I end up doing some work in my room and doing a bit of shopping for a computer cable later in the day. The evening is a lazy one of sitting back and watching some in-house movies.

Sunday has a training session scheduled at Chandigarh’s premier cricket facility. Last year a one day game was played here between Australia and India – the scoreboard still has the signage in place from the game. Another nice touch around the ground is a number of trees that have been planted by various test cricketers from around the world. There is an Australian section with trees planted by Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and others. The session that is done here is restricted to the nets. With a game against Ahmedabad Rockets the following day, it is important to keep the session fairly light.

Game day goes through what is now a familiar routine – team meeting; team activation session; lunch; team to the ground; team warm up and then into the game.

The games start at 7.30pm and are pretty much totally designed for television. The game for the Warriors tonight is crucial – and puts us within touching of playing in the finals. A loss – and it’s all just about over.

Dhaka bat first and get off to a great start. By the 5th over the team is averaging 10 runs an over. This run rate slows a bit over the next 5 or so overs and when we lost our 4th wicket, our run rate had fallen to 8.4 runs per over. The next 6 overs saw a lift and the team finished the twenty overs with a handy 181 runs (9.05 runs per over).

Ahmedabad were very competitive through the first half of their innings but could not maintain the pressure in the final overs. They fell short of the Warriors total by 15 runs and delivered to Dhaka our 4th win. Whilst it must be remembered that the opposition still have a game to play, the team returns to the hotel in second place on the ladder. Our final game of this series will be against the Lahore Badshahs (Pakistan). It is very possible that this game will decide who out of Dhaka or Lahore takes the 4th and final place, in the finals series. This will all depend on the outcome of several games over the next 3 days.

As I complete typing this blog I can hear the coach and staff laughing in the room across the hall. I want to get this posted so you can keep up with what’s going on for me here in India. I also have to pack my bag – something I am getting pretty used to now. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we leave for Ahmedabad for our game on Friday. It is to be a long day of travel with a 4 hour stopover in Mumbai. Even the thought of it makes me tired!