Johannesburg – In a move to improve their performance ahead of the upcoming Champions League, the Dolphins have entered into a collaboration with a high-performance facility to handle their player conditioning, franchise chief executive Jesse Chellan said on Wednesday.
“It forms part of our plan to be world class. We aim to be the fittest, strongest and most enduring team, and to offer our players the best opportunity to recover from any injuries, Chellan said.
“To do that we need to make use of the best facilities and expertise, and we are very fortunate to that on our doorstep at Prime Human Performance Institute.”
The HPI, based at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, would offer the cricketers cutting-edge technology and a full range of expertise on site.
Chellan expected his squad to deliver top-level performances during the latter stages of the season even when travel and workloads had became more onerous.
“Part of our philosophy is to make sure that it remains fun, but key to that is having a group of players who are in good enough shape to be able to handle the demands of a high frequency of matches and travel.”
Having earned a berth in the Champions League in India in September by winning the domestic T20 league, the Dolphins players had already started their training and conditioning programme.
The effects had been immediate and positive said Dolphins and Proteas batsmen David Miller.
“Everyone knows and talks about just how good the HPC in Pretoria is, but for me ... this goes one step further by having everything you could ever need – a gym, the high-altitude chamber, doctors rooms, physiotherapists and biokineticists, ice baths, the works – all under one roof,” Miller said. – Sapa