Richard Johnson makes a swift return with help from the pca Richard Johnson, the former Derbyshire and Warwickshire wicketkeeper, has made a quick return to county cricket with the help of the Professional Cricketers’ Association. Johnson retired from playing midway through last season after he suffered performance anxiety issues but he has now rejoined Warwickshire, his native county, as assistant strength and conditioning coach. The 26 year-old retrained as a fitness coach after receiving advice from Charlie Mulraine, one of the PCA’ six-strong team of Personal Development Managers and a former Warwickshire player himself. ” At the time of retiring from county cricket I knew exactly what I had in mind for my next career. I had known for a while that fitness and strength and conditioning was what I wanted to do next. It had been a great passion of mine for many years,” Johnson said. ” Charlie was absolutely amazing as my PDM. For a long time we were having many chats and cups of coffee over planning and preparation towards my future career. ” He allowed me to fully understand the kind of pathway I need to take in order to get to where I want to get to. He was my go to for every bit of advice I needed and always had a positive but realistic answer to everything. He also gave me some great contacts along the way in order to take my first few steps on my journey. ” The PCA have supported me all the way through. Even when I was still playing they gave me lots of help in order to get my personal training qualifications. Since then they have put me in touch with universities, strength and conditioning coaches and other contacts to help me along the way.” Johnson will succeed Tom Webster, who has joined Lancashire, as assistant to Chris Armstrong, Warwickshire’s head of strength and conditioning, and will return to Edgbaston for the start of the new season after spending the winter in Melbourne where he has gained valuable experience of his new role at the Australian Institute of Sport as well as playing for the Macleod club. ” One of the reasons for taking time out in Melbourne was to get plenty of experience before returning home and studying at university,” Johnson said. ” During my time I have worked as a personal trainer in a local gym, worked alongside a strength and conditioning coach at the Australian Institute of Sport with young AFL draft players and a semi professional football club. ” Returning home I will commence my UK strength and conditioning qualifications and begin studying at Wolverhampton University, while being fortunate enough to work full time as Warwickshire’s assistant strength and conditioning coach. ” The Warwickshire job came out of the blue. I got a text from Chris Armstrong asking me if I would be interested and then later down the line Dougie Brown gave me a call. ” It’s a dream come true being the club I grew up playing for from the age of 11. Tom Webster was in the job before me and I know all the lads speak very highly of him. He got offered the full time job at Lancashire so that’s how the opportunity came about for me. ” It is an amazing opportunity for me and was an absolute no-brainer when I was on the phone to Dougie. I can’t thank Dougie and everyone involved at the club enough for this opportunity. It means the world to me. ” I am pleased to be back at Edgbaston. I didn’t see it happening so quickly. County cricket is what I know so being back around so soon should help me I think. ” I am up to date with it all and know what is expected so I believe I will really be able to help, especially with the Academy lads and younger professionals. It wasn’t too long ago I was in their shoes.” During his playing career Johnson made 77 appearances in all senior competitions and became the first player to win County Championship Division One and Division Two winners’ medals in the same season in 2012. The Personal Development and Welfare Programme (PDWP) is a personalised support service which recognises that cricket is likely to be the main focus in a player’s life. Trained Personal Development Managers provide players with guidance on how to maximise their cricketing focus whilst also fulfilling their other important commitments such as education, career, family and friendships. The aim of the PDMs is to work closely with cricketers, coaches and support staff as part of an integrated team so as to minimise potential concerns, conflicts and distractions, all of which can be detrimental to a player’s performance, and at worst, may end a career prematurely. {{ak_sharing}}
