The Northern hemisphere season is coming to a close and I return to Millfield School this week to start the individual 12 month programmes with our County, Regional and International players.

In the main, the players will be kept out of the nets for the first 5 weeks, despite the fact that some will be kicking and screaming about it!

Through my experience with elite young players through to Test-match legends, I have seen the benefit of having a "transition" period between the end of the season and the start of off-season development programmes.

It's vital that the body and - more importantly - the mind have the opportunity to recover and refresh. This allows the player to come back into the training environment with hunger, determination, a positive outlook and a healthy body.

The term transition does not mean 'do nothing' of course.

Players are encouraged to play other sports, to review and reflect upon the previous season within their individual planning sessions and to have time doing things that they don't get to do in the cricket season.

The other opportunities that this period provides us are:

Physical deficit training

This period is a wonderful time to deal with some of the niggles or physical development areas that impinged on performance during the previous season.

I have 2 lads who are on significant stretching programmes with yoga influence during their transition period. The aim to be to increase their flexibility through their hamstrings and into the back muscle chains.

The other target from a coaching perspective is to build their awareness and competence in the movements so they can incorporate them into self reliant pre-hab programmes away from our S&C coach.

Develop a new skill

One of the International players at School hit a growth spurt last year which is now beginning to plateau. He has expressed an interest in developing some new skills as a fast bowler to support his batting strength. This is perfect time to start that process without the prying eyes of his team mates who are off doing their own things away from the cricket nets.

Another lad really wants to turn himself into a top class slip fielder and 2 spare lessons per week will be spent building up his understanding, technique and his leg strength so that he can start the programme in October by surprising his team mates at the 1st fielding session.

One of the off-spin bowlers wants to develop his doosra. It is something that he tried last year yet did not feel confident to bowl it in matches. So his 1st sessions will be focused on this with the view to having confidence to bowl it in our simulated sessions or indoor matches in November.

The benefit of being really specific with new skill development is that it does not need to take up all day, that the player can still rest up ahead of the main programme commencing and that its away from prying eyes.

This often revitalises a player and is part of the crucial transition period that allows players to hit the ground running when we start in full during October.

If you're in the Northern hemisphere then try this approach as soon as the season ends. If your from the other half of the cricketing world, then bookmark this article and review in 6 months or so.

Happy transition!