Healy, Haddin lead wicketkeeping camp in Brisbane

Ian Healy and Brad Haddin headed a group of former and current wicketkeepers conducting a week-long wicketkeeping camp at the Bupa National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Brisbane.

Eight young wicketkeepers - six men and two women - attended the camp, which also featured mentors such as Australia's current Test wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, South Australia wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman and former South Australia coach Mark Sorell.

Haddin, who retired from international cricket last year, had the chance to get a taste of coaching, having just completed his Level III coaching certificate at the NCC.

"I'm just trying to help the guys understand the basics of wicketkeeping, and showing them drills that will help them get better but also explaining why you do this and that," Haddin told cricket.com.au.

Haddin praised the youngsters at the camp for their attentiveness and emphasised the importance of smart training, as opposed to simply logging the hours. "What I like to see is they're always training to get better," he said. "I think sometimes [you can fall] into the trap of training for long periods of time rather than concentrating on training to get better.

"All the training we do here is so that when we're put under pressure in a game we don't second-guess our techniques, and in those big moments we go back to basics and we're confident we can get through."

Jake Doran, a promising young wicketkeeper from Tasmania and one of the participants in the camp, said the opportunity to pick the brains of accomplished wicketkeepers like Haddin and Nevill had been invaluable.

"It has been good to have that experience there to get their knowledge and pick their brains," Doran said. "The main thing they've reiterated to us is the importance of the basics - be really, really good at your basics and then, anything else that happens outside of that, your natural instincts will take over."