Nathan Whittingham

Age 21
Sport Played Cricket
Years Played 15 years

Tell us about yourself

I am currently playing in the 1st Grade competition for the Sydney Cricket Association for Sutherland and also played this season in the Poidevin-Gray Shield U/21s competition. Training consists of two sessions per week with the club and additional personal sessions (1 to 2 per week). During the season the competition is played on Saturdays and some Sundays from September to april. The Grade competition we will be playing our 15th game of the season this Saturday, and in the U/21s competition we played 7 games this season. I also am a qualified coach.

Proudest Sporting Achievements

Becoming First Grade player number 233, for Sutherland Distrct Cricket Club and joining a list of players to represent the club at that level including Glenn McGrath, Phil Jaques, Stuart Clark, Steve Rixon and John Dyson. Contributing greatly to the team in come from behind victories in the Semi Final and Grand Final to win the 4th grade premiership in 2007. Coaching young kids and seeing them improve and reach their goals in the game.

What are you hoping to achieve

I am hoping to be a consistant performer at first grade level and then once i have acheived this in the next year or two I will be looking to progress my game further to play for NSW.

How does LineBreak help

LineBreak benefits me greatly for the following reasons: - over the recent years as i have progressed to higher levels I have found that with increased amounts of time spent training and longer time spent playing, compression garments have be come essential to help me to achieve optimal performance and recovery.. - I am commencing an injury prevention program which has been developed for me by the High performance manager of the NRL. It will be starting in the next few weeks to be done over the winter months to help me stay injury free and this will hopefully benefit me greatly by keeping me on the field and getting me free of nagging back, neck, wrist and knee injuries which I have dealt with over the past few seasons.

My Blog

23/06/10
As it stands the season is a mere 12 weeks from kick off. I had my first hit out last week and it felt good to hit a couple in the middle. After missing half of last season I am pumped at the prospect of playing again. Even though I missed half of it, in some ways it was probably the best season I have had, and I’m certainly a better player than I have ever been before. We don’t actually start preseason training as a club until the end of July, but im hoping over the next 4 weeks before that starts to make big inroads fitness wise to be a step ahead.

In other news, I’m planning to play in the UK in 2011, so I have started to send out a few emails to different clubs to try and organise something, however most are reluctant to formalise anything until August/September so it will be a few months before I know much more.

More current news however is that I have been in contact with my Junior club over the past month and at this stage they are keen to name me as head coach of their club. They are trying to differentiate themselves from the other junior teams in the area, and I have in previous seasons helped them out in some areas, such as organising clinics. It will hopefully be a great experience, and I will be helping out inexperienced coaches, and also providing one-on-one training for kids aged between 8-16.

A lot of people have asked me about the Nuun products when I have had them at cricket, Oztag and even at the gym. And the other day I was flicking through an old golf magazine and there was an interview with Aaron Baddley and he stated that his favourite beverage was Nuun drinks.

11/03/10
I will be playing in the last round game for the season on Saturday in 2nd grade.
With Steve Smith being selected to for the Test Tour of New Zealand yesterday, this will hopefully mean that I might stay in 2nd grade for the finals, as he will not be coming back into 1st grade for the finals, so another spinner won’t be pushed down to 2nd grade, pushing me out etc.
With him also being selected, it would be good for me if he stays in the test side so that will give me a good crack at playing 1st grade again next season.
I’m currently in the process of applying to play cricket in England in the 2011 season which starts in April 2011. I have applied to Wimbledon Cricket Club in the Surrey Premier League, so it would be a great experience if they offered me a spot. (I told them about my sponsorship with Linebreak in my CV,and even provided them with a link!!)
So my season could be finishing on Saturday or it could be finishing in a month if I am playing in the finals.
I would like to thank you for your continued support over the past 8 months or so. Barring injury this has been my best season I have ever had.
Ill be training hard in the offseason making sure I give myself every chance to be in the top squad next year.
Ps I tried some of the nuun products a few weeks ago, pretty good stuff.

26/11/09
Not good news unfortunately. Just found out yesterday that I will be out for up to 8 weeks with a finger injury sustained last Saturday. I have chipped a bone in my finger in torn the tendon which connects the bones together.
I’m lucky that it is on my left hand so I can continue bowling in the time off, I can't bat or field though as I had to get a splint type thing made, which basically acts as a plaster cast. I have to wear it for at least 6 weeks so that my finger will heal straight.
 So I'm hopefully going to use this time to make a step up my fitness massively, and I will probably try and work on a new ball.

16/11/09
So far this season we have played 4 games. I have taken 16 wickets at an average of 9.25, to be the leading wicket taker in all grades for our club at this point in time. I am also 2nd in the overall wickets in 3rd grade so far this season.
In the last 2 games I have returned figure of 6/50 from 20 over and 5/49 from 18 overs.
This is by far the best start I have ever had to a season. This has won me selection in the strongest 2nd grade team in competition. Which is more satisfying through the fact I have forced my way into the side due to performance.
I can’t help but think it must have something to do with LineBreak!!
I am also helping to run a coaching clinic on Friday afternoon for over 60 local juniors which I am really looking forward to.

28/8/09
Just thought I would give you an update on how the pre season is going so far.
We have had 4 club sessions so far and I have been working hard with the spin bowling coach to try and be able to turn the ball more this season.
From now until the season kicks off for round 1 on 26 September, we are basically training Saturday and Sunday as a club. So basically from tomorrow the next phase in our pre season starts. Its pretty full on from now until round 1.



17/7/09
Our preseason officially kicks off August 1 with fitness testing, not something to get excited about! But I am in better shape in terms of fitness than I have ever been to start a season so shouldn’t have to many problems with it.
I have already started training myself, and have a session tomorrow morning with a team mate. This early in the season we mainly work on technique, getting the feel of bat on ball and in the hands.