Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Wade Seccombe’s first handful of days as Victoria’s new head of male cricket included a fact-finding mission to the LA Lakers’ headquarters.
The five-time Sheffield Shield winning player turned long-time coach vows to be “constantly on the search” to improve the Victorian program.
Seccombe says his experience as a coach, which yielded a further two Shield titles at Queensland, sharpened his appreciation for high performance.
“This was the path I wanted to take, I absolutely loved the coaching side and being around teams and young athletes striving to get better,” he said.
“But I probably got to the point where I think I can have a significant if not greater impact off the field in the overall picture of high performance.
“This is something only in the last couple of years that has really piqued my interest, I have sort of been trying to lean myself into this space over the last couple of years.”
Seccombe is in the United States through Victoria’s partnership with the San Fransisco Unicorns.
After seeing inside some of world sport’s best high-performance programs, Seccombe found the Lakers walk-through reaffirmed his view of Australian cricket.
“I have been fortunate visiting several NBA and Major League teams along my journey, looking at different sides of it,” he said.
“What I always take from it is that I think in Australia we do high performance really well, I think we’re absolute leaders in this space.
“We have a small population, in terms of cricket it isn’t overly huge so when we have talent we have to nurture it, we have to bring it through and guide it.
“In some of these larger markets, they don’t need to do that, they can just churn these athletes out and look for the next one.
“I think we do high performance really well, where we don’t want to lose talent so we fight to keep and develop it.”
The Sheffield Shield season was a historic summer for the Vics, but they fell at the final hurdle to a more experienced South Australia.
Seccombe, taking over from David Hussey, says Victorian cricket is in a fruitful state.
But he wants more Test cricketers and more finals wins, believing stronger pathways and Premier Cricket are central to both.
“We’re across the board, there’s a lot of factors in the priorities. I think it’s been left in a very healthy state and Vic cricket is going very well,” he said.
“I am fortunate to walk into this space on the success they have had for the last several years and direction we’re currently going.
“There’s not one particular challenge or area of focus, it’s across the board, but you’ve got to keep investing in pathways because pathways is the future.
“A part of that pathways is Premier Cricket and I want to put a lot energy into pathways and Premier Cricket on the journey.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do in that space because I’ve only been in Melbourne a couple of years and I’ve got to create some strong connections in the Premier Cricket world.
“We’re all one, I’ll be working hard there.”
