Former England Cricket Coach Peter Moores returned to the King's School to talk to their elite young athletes about the secrets of success.
Peter was the first guest speaker for the King's Elite Athletes Programme, 'KEAP', which is led by Sports Coach and ex-marine Richard Lees, in which 27 boys and girls from Years 7, 8 and 9 are provided with specialist technical, psychological, and nutritional coaching.
Peter was Captain of the King's cricket team in 1981, then joining the Lords ground staff and enjoying a distinguished playing career with Sussex and Worcestershire as a wicket keeper batsman. He took over the England Head Coach role before leading Lancashire to their first county championship title in over 80 years. He now coaches Nottinghamshire and is revered as one of the games great innovators: James Anderson cites him as one of the biggest influences on his career.
Although Peter has made a science of his coaching techniques, he talked to the KEAP athletes about the psychology of winning sportsmen and women. Focusing on four key areas, he explained what separates the great from the good, picking our energy, belief, hard-work and resilience as personal attributes to develop "whatever you do in life, whether it's sport, business, politics or the arts."
He said: "You need energy. Don't worry about the past, don't let your negativity drag you down. Learn from the past and always be positive. You have to believe in yourself and not be afraid to perform and not be afraid to make mistakes."
"You have to work hard-work. This applies to everything in life and is essential in sport. You need to be resilient. Everyone gets knocked down. It's how you bounce back that singles you out."
In an inspirational 60 minute talk for pupils and their parents followed by a question and answer session, he elaborated on his guidelines, and how the latest thinking on sports psychology, nutrition and technical training can help realise potential only if you have the same positive outlook.
Richard Lees said: "King's Elite Athlete Programme provides additional support, development and training opportunities. It is tailored to each individual pupil and provides a pathway for pupils as they progress from Year 7 through the senior years."
Richard, who is also a former pupil and one of King's rugby and cricket coaches, added: "Each of the pupils is given a mentor and specialist support within their chosen sport or sports. They have regular strength and conditioning sessions; workshops on mental resilience, goal-setting and sports psychology; specialist advice on nutrition, sleep and maximising performance. Then as they progress through the programme, KEAP athletes will also receive help with workload management and reducing stress and burnout; screening to identify weakness; advice on injury prevention, recovery and conditioning techniques."
He added: "Peter is an inspirational example. One of our most successful and respected former pupils and you could see that our young men and women were spellbound during his presentation."
One parent, Mr Davies, commented: "It was an amazing presentation: informative, detailed, funny and most of all inspiring. I know my son got a tremendous amount out of it."