So Simon, one year into your job as National Coach in Denmark ”How’s Life?”

Pretty much the same as it was a year ago really. We, and I mean my family and I have settled quite nicely into Danish life. My children are happy and know what their futures hold, both Tina and I are very busy with our respective jobs, mine in cricket, Tina’s in the physiotherapy world of Denmark. Denmark has certainly been a lot colder than the sunnier shores of Perth where we thought we were heading this time last year.

How goes it with the Cricket?

Well as you know I have a dual role within Danish cricket, both elite and development. At the moment, we the DCF Development Team have been very focused on the new DCF “Integration Project”. I have been travelling around the Country recruiting new players from schools, and after school youth clubs, in both Jutland and Fyn. I make up the rest of my time working with the DCF youth national teams, and of course working with our top elite players in our academy and national teams. I am about to start working with some of our new (soon to be qualified) level II coaches around the Country, this being more of a mentoring role than anything else.

What about the National Team? Do you have any expectations over the coming months? If so what are they?

Again this has been an ongoing process really. We have been training both regionally and nationally for the past year, and I have been very happy with the progress that we are making in all areas of the game. Obviously we have been working very hard technically and tactically, but also all the players within the national team squad have been given specific fitness programmes to carry out over the winter months, and we will soon be calling the players in to check how they are progressing. We are also about to start a psychology programme for the players, and this will include life style training as well. On the field we will of course also be monitoring our performances as well, we have the European Championships coming up in Jersey in July, and we are awaiting confirmation from ICC as to the when and whereabouts of the World Cricket League (WCL) Division 3. This summer will certainly act as a performance indicator for the squad, I am quietly confident also that we are in fact on the right track, as we have a good blend of youth and experience, and we also have some emerging players on the home front that are developing nicely as well. Of course our main focus must be on the improvement and consistency of the team at WCL global levels, and I believe that we are on course for this as well.

What about the Danish Youth teams? What are your expectations for them?

As you know from my answer above, we have been investing a lot of time effort and resources into the future development of our players, indeed from “Grass roots to Elite levels”. As a part of the Elite cricket development plan (NEDP), we have completely restructured the youth set up here in Denmark. Danish Cricket has now created a system that provides players a pathway to International cricket, via our newly established Academy or through the more traditional age group squads. We are always going to be late developers here in Denmark; we do not have the numbers at present to create the type of opposition internally that develops talent. Projects such as our Development of Excellence programme and Academy are going to be the back bone of future Danish national teams over the next few years. I believe that we have a great amount of talent here in Denmark, if we remain focused, and stick to the principles set out in the NEDP there is no reason why Denmark does not continue to improve its ranking in the WCL over the coming years.

So finally, what would your message to the members of Danish cricket be as we head into future?

Be patient, have belief and keep it simple. We have been working so hard on these principles at national level across the board. We have really good plans at both development and elite levels, we have some fantastically committed coaches and managers within our structure, and even more importantly, some incredibly talented players. We also have a strong and growing club structure beneath this level, again with some highly committed people at the helm. Nothing in life comes to you on a plate, you have to work hard to achieve your goals, then even harder to maintain them. My favourite saying to every player, coach, club, school or person I work with is the same, and it can be applied to all levels of life, and the game itself.