7:30am Friday 15th December 2006
By Bruce Talbot
HE did not play a stroke or bowl a ball in anger.
You would not find him in the practice nets or administering treatment to an injured player.
And he was never behind the bowling machine or the video recorder.
But Michael Caulfield played a crucial role in Sussex's double-winning season and the newest recruit to the backroom team at Hove firmly believes there is more success to come.
Caulfield is Sussex's sports psychologist and the role he played in this year's triumphs should not be under-estimated.
Mark Robinson, like predecessor Peter Moores, is a coach always looking for something that will give his squad the edge.
And he reckons employing a mental skills coach, as Caulfield prefers to call himself, was one of the best decisions he made in 2006.
He became an integral part of the support staff, someone the players could turn too for help on the mental side of the game.
Matt Prior, Mike Yardy and Carl Hopkinson all went public during the summer to outline the contribution Caulfield played to help them. Michael Vaughan believes cricket is played '95 per cent in the head' and few who have benefitted from Caulfield's input would disagree. If they did not have the technical skills they would be nowhere near the champions' dressing room.
"The easiest part of professional sport is actually playing. How a player deals with the demands of being an elite athlete will often determine performance."
It's a question that must have answered a thousand times but I cannot resists. 'what exactly do you do?' "I help improve performance," he said. "There is this perception that mental skills training and sports psychology is a modern thing but it has been around as long as sport itself. Some great coaches are also great psychologists - and I include Peter Moores and Mark Robinson in that.
"I offer ideas to players in areas such as concentration, self-talk, routines and dealing with the inevitable disappointments that can have an adverse effect on confidence.
"At Sussex the players have the necessary mental skills as the coaching, both on and off the field, is of the highest level. I try to compliment these.
"I integrate rather than impose myself on the squad and I do an awful lot of listening but I have never come across a more willing group of professional sportsmen."
Caulfield successfully re-trained for six years at Brunel University after 15 years as the high-profile chief executive of the Jockeys' Association.
Not surprisingly, his client list includes top jockeys Tony McCoy, Frankie Dettori and Graeme Lee, all at the top of their profession but whose mindset can be as fragile as stars in other sports when things go wrong.
"I got that job when I was 26 and I saw everything in horse racing from the inside - including five fatalities," said Caulfield.
"But I love other sports and it was a desire to get involved in things like golf, football and cricket which made me decide to re-train."
Caufield plays down the importance of his role in Sussex's success, but Robinson is happy to sing his praises.
He became such an integral part of the dressing room that the players gave him some light-hearted stick when he did not turn up for the final day of the match against Warwickshire in July because he was running in a half-marathon and Sussex lost after yet another Edgbaston collapse. He had become something of a lucky mascot.
Robinson explained: "Mike is such a calming influence in the dressing room, especially in tense situations and there quite a few of those in the early part of the season.
"Mind you, he gets more nervous than me. When he wasn't there on the last day at Edgbaston but the lads gave him a right slating."
It all came good in the end of course. Sussex won their second Championship in four years and their first Lord's final since 1986 as well.
Caulfield said: "Without doubt it is the most enjoyable sporting success I have ever been involved with. They are a special club with a very special bunch of players and it was an absolute honour to be involved with them.
"What has happened is no fluke and, believe me, the success will continue. So many good things are in place for it not too."
Caulfield also works with former England footballers Tony Adams and Richard Wright and Middlesex captain Ben Hutton amongst others and he has just been employed by Premiership club Middlesbrough after Robinson recommended him to Boro boss Gareth Southgate.
But he will be back at Hove next summer, playing his part as Sussex try to emulate their remarkable achievements in 2006.
Robinson said: "We regard Mike as a proper member of our team and a big part of what we achieved. He has been one of our best signings."
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