Every now and again, a different kind of cricketing talent lands at a scholarship assessment at Millfield. This happened in January 2013 when a tallish U13 fast bowler walked into the cricket bubble.

I asked the player lots of questions to gather as much information on him as a person to support the performance history that I had on the scholarship forms. On this occasion, the fast bowler gave me no info whatsoever, he was painfully shy and socially awkward.

What he did though was bowl absolute rockets! He made the ball bounce and it was soon evident that the batters facing him on that day weren't up to the challenge. The "silent one" had talent and eight months later, we started working together.

During that time, I got to hear about the fast bowlers back history.

He grew up in Central Africa as part of a small nomadic tribe. During his first four years of life, he had very limited social interactions with any children and did the respectful thing by listening quietly to the adults. What a contrast to the early years of his present peers in his year group at Millfield and a significant influence on the quiet persona that we first met at Millfield.

Coaching conversations were minimal at first, long periods of silence, lots of unanswered questions and some sessions went by without any tangible progress.

Then I introduced a new coach to the broader cricket programme.

Dan Helesfay was asked to head up our fast bowling programme and to act as lead coach to the "quiet one". Bit by bit, Dan's enthusiasm and friendly personality encouraged the "quiet one" to start to have fun, to make jokes and to even break out into the occasional bit of banter. The "quiet one" had found his voice.

U14 Season

Confidence soon followed and wickets started to tumble as soon as the U14 team started playing in April. We also noted that the fast bowler had an incredible throwing arm. His excellent lower body stability that we saw in his bowling was transferred directly into his boundary throw.

His arm was a sight to behold.

We also saw an emerging ball striker who was capable of changing a short version game in the space of two overs with a magnificent swing of the bat.

I introduced the young man to Jack, one of our excellent coaches. The now "less quiet one" began to shape his striking skills. It became apparent that we needed to create more opportunity for him to bat in Millfield School Matches in his U15 Season.

The "less quiet one" finished the season by being awarded the ICC Europe U15 MVP for his performances with Jersey Cricket (a year under age).

U15 Season

Jack's batting coaching worked wonders over the winter. The "less quiet one" became a valid number five or six option in our planning for the season.

The bowling element improved, yet the initial pace that had shone so brightly was not so evident. He developed the ability to bowl excellent yorkers and to swing the ball late into the right hander.

His understanding of length developed and he hit "better areas".

I had concerns about his lack of pace development. The bowler had not increased his speed in eight months.

I asked Dan to reflect and find out what was happening. A few weeks later Dan informed me that he thought the boy was growing at an exponential rate. Dan's indicator was the fact that seemingly simple tasks were becoming difficult for him to do. He was getting hit in the wrist trying to catch an underarm throw!

This growth spurt was confirmed by our Athletic Development department. They did some research into his parents heights and discovered that Dad was 7 foot 1 inch tall and Mum was 6 foot 1 inch tall!

Wow.

Putting these metrics into a formula alongside his measured height at the time and it was evident that he was around 85% of his predicted adult height and growing fast.

Dan then put in a careful workload management scheme alongside some coordination drills which I thought were bonkers when I first saw them.

But they worked, over time.

The name of the game was patience. We couldn't expect the "less quiet one" to bowl significantly faster at this stage of his growth. He still bowled quickish, just smaller rockets.

The workload management allowed his batting to thrive.

Two hundreds later, a National U15 title under his belt, a County call up with Somerset U15s and Jersey U19 selection followed and capped another fantastic, if slightly different looking season.

Our fast bowler was now a medium quickish all rounder! A little bit by design with a lot of nature and a touch of patience.

The winter

The "Quiet one" started poorly this winter. Again, we noted that he was growing at a bonkers rate and this was playing havoc with all his physical movements.

We needed to be extra patient. He was now 94% of his predicted adult height.

Our Athletic Development department kept measuring height and weight. We knew where he was at every point of the winter and we could plan our sessions accordingly and shift our language as well as manage both our and his expectations.

What he was able to do was really up his strength and conditioning programme. The weight, reps and sets of each movement started to go through the roof. As his height development slowed, his body mass increased, then his ball speed started to rise.

Rapidly!

I can not wait to see what the season has in store for the "quiet one".

The morale of the "story so far" is multi faceted:

1. Talent comes in many shapes and sizes, especially when first viewed at 13 years of age.
2. Effective development of a cricketer is a complex mix of many elements of support: Technical, tactical, individualised, specific, science, strength of conditioning, lifestyle and very patient management.
3. Utilising the skill, knowledge and passion of the following people: Four school coaches, One Jersey coach, two Somerset coaches, three Athletic Development coaches, two football coaches (his second sport), group tutors, Director of Sport, Head of Year, Houseparents and parents. It's my job to link this lot up with the "quiet one" being placed at the centre of the decision making process.
4. To build the cricketer you have to support the development of the person. Bowling coach Dan and Houseparent Trevor have been crucial in this element of the process. An almost silent 13 year old boy is now a communicative and very amusing 16 year old young man. Thankyou guys.
5. Be patient! Teenagers are an incredible mix of so many complex elements. From boney surfaces and musculature which choose to grow at different rates and times to a cocktail of chemicals that run through the body. It's impossible to have a linear rate of performance development with all this going on. So support and patience are vital.

The boy is only 16, he has a long way to go but is on a good track.

He is developing excellently as a person and is someone who we all have enjoyed working with so far.

I believe this story is transferable as there will elements of this young cricketers' journey which will resonate with club, school, county, district or state players and coaches.

Patience is a virtue, especially when working with teenaged cricket talent.