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Former Jamaican and West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding
spent an eventful weekend in Hartford meeting and sharing
his thoughts with many cricket fans, most of whom were seeing
him for the first time. Holding was in Hartford for his induction
into the Cricket Hall of Fame. The annual induction ceremony
was held Saturday, October 2, at the Hartford/Windsor Marriott
Hotel, Windsor, Connecticut before an appreciative audience.
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Now a respectable international television and radio commentator
of the sport, earlier in the day, Holding stopped by Hartford’s
famous Keney Park, where a game was in progress between a
New York Under-19 team and a select team. The youngsters were
preparing for a United States of America Cricket Association
(USACA) tournament, which would be held in California the
following weekend.
On
his arrival, Curtis Clarke, USACA’s director for the
New England region, who was responsible for the game, halted
the match briefly to give the youngsters a chance to meet
Holding who has gone down in cricketing history as the finest,
fastest and most ferocious fast bowler of all time.
Following
a brief introduction, the outspoken Holding, who was known
for his smooth run-up, took time out to give the youngsters
some pointers which he believes could help them to achieve
success in the game. He stressed fitness as one of the key
ingredients, stating that it was responsible for the success
of the famous West Indian team, of which he was a member that
dominated the game for two decades. “We had a great
team with great players,” he said, “a team that
will always be remembered, but the main reason why we were
so successful is because we were fitter than most of the teams
we played against.”
Holding
told the youngsters that as a fast bowler the areas of your
body that you have to strengthen and develop are your shoulders,
back and leg. He did not advocate that they turn to using
weights to achieve this, suggesting that they could hurt themselves
as their drive to get ahead may cause them to resort to this
type of training without supervision. You do not have go out
and buy any of the sophisticated equipment now on the market
either he said, you can simply improvise by using old bicycle
inner-tubes while going through a series of exercises.
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