Simon Hughes combines a family holiday with elite sports coaching at a cricket camp on the south coast of Sardinia.
The Cagliari province on the south coast of Sardinia Photo: Alamy
In the evening twilight a few small children were playing football, others were riding about on bikes, leotard-wearing girls practised cartwheels while their brothers played table tennis; their parents sat around chatting and drinking beer. The air was rent with contented sounds of encouragement and cooperation rather than the griping and dissatisfaction you tend to get from modern kids at the end of the day. It could have been a scene from village life circa 1960. In fact it WAS a scene from village life, but a village with a difference. This was Forte Village, a smart, self-contained holiday resort on the south coast of Sardinia. And the year was 2013.
This was a new concept in travel. A family holiday that married five-star accommodation with elite sports coaching. The families, mostly English, with a couple of Australians thrown in, had been brought out by Super Skills Travel, the brainchild of former England rugby players Will Greenwood and Austin Healey. They research suitable locations to practice and teach chosen sports and then recruit former international stars to pass on their knowledge, and their enthusiasm, to the next generation.
The Villa Lidia
So in Sardinia in early April there were ex-England cricket captains Michael Vaughan and Alec Stewart, hyperactive former England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon and video analyst Mark Garaway, each focusing on a particular skill with a handful of excited juniors. An hour and a half of cricket drills in the morning, dividing the players up by ability, was followed by a match in which everyone, even some parents, got involved. After lunch, in one of the Village’s sumptuous restaurant’s, families were left to their own devices to pursue the other activities the resort offers. Hence the relaxed early evening scene.
The holiday that I shared with my three children – Callum 14, Nancy 11 and Billy 9 – was an unmitigated success. Their cricket improved noticeably, and with the Sardinian spring weather being warm and fairly consistent (only one rainy day in six) they spent almost the entire day outside, starting with the cricket and then after lunch, taking part in endless, free-for-all football matches, playing tennis or basketball, swimming, go karting or cycling happily about the complex. One afternoon I didn’t see Billy for four hours. He returned from a sort of impromptu triathlon – football/cycling/tennis – crimson in the face but happy and ready for dinner.
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For the console kid who is never more than arms length away from an Apple device, it was the perfect antidote. They rarely even mentioned their iPods. They ate well, made new friends, and returned home a picture of health, in direct contrast to the liver-damaged, sleep-deprived state I recall being in after similar pre-season overseas training camps I attended as a professional cricketer. And with a good mix of organised and impromptu sports for their offspring, the parents could enjoy some downtime by the pool, on the private beach or in the resort’s spa. They could have a proper holiday too. Vital.
Forte Village is the ideal location for such a sport-infused week. The resort is laid out over a wide area at the foot of a hill by a quiet strip of beach about 45 minutes drive from Cagliari airport. There are zones for different sports – tennis courts, AstroTurf football pitches, a grass rugby pitch at the top of the hill (next to the go-karting track), several swimming pools and exercise areas and a good gym. There is acres of space and numerous paths to go running, without having to duel with dangerous Italian drivers or rabid dogs as is often the case for the jogger holidaying on the continent.
The morning cricket sessions took place in the football zone – on artificial grass – with the group of 25 children divided into four. On the first day, Stewart took the teenagers through the kind of fielding drills practised by the England team before a test match, while Nixon worked on batting technique with the 10-12 age group. Garaway filmed some bowling actions with a special iPhone app allowing slow motion replays and colourful graphics and Vaughan ran a simple “kwik” cricket match for the youngest participants.
There was quite a range of abilities as well as ages, including at least half a dozen girls, but through the week everyone was catered for. For the better players there were specific batting exercises in portable nets, a chance for would-be fast bowlers to groove their run-ups and a major emphasis on fielding. For those without much cricketing experience, there was more attention to the basics. Every child, bar none, had improved markedly by the end of the week. All became completely absorbed by the compelling challenge of cricket and each received an appropriate award (catch of the week, best coach’s assistant and so on) at a fun, informal prize giving on the last night.
Ex-England cricket captain Alec Stewart
Despite the suitability of the location, the success of such a sporting holiday hinges on the attitudes and input of the coaches. On this trip it was faultless. To a man they were enthusiastic, committed and energising. They were like cricketing evangelists, selling a great sport that can accommodate all shapes and abilities and genders with complete conviction. It particularly impressed many parents that their children received specific help from the variety of experts who “hadn’t just rolled up for a photocall and a few autographs” but were fully immersed in the coaching, all week. The parents hadn’t expected this daily level of commitment from the stars, nor a willingness to stay on after a morning session to bat or bowl against the children. They didn’t just slope off for dinner on their own either, but socialised with everyone and were engaging – and often quite indiscreet – company.
As for the resort itself, Forte Village, built more than 25 years ago, is comfortable if a little faded round the edges. The bedrooms are spacious with large, adequate beds, decent bathrooms and a veranda large enough to have dinner on facing the sea. A bit of refurbishment wouldn’t go amiss and there is a lack of mod cons in the rooms (no iPod dock or DVD player and a patchy wifi service that you had to pay extra for) but in a way that is a relief as it makes for a proper escape from our digital lives.
The restaurant in the main hotel building was a little disappointing. It was rather echoey and unatmospheric, despite the presence of a permanent pianist who plinked away in the adjacent bar from early in the morning until last thing at night, as if he didn’t have a home to go to. Its breakfast buffet was short on the mouth-watering fruits and other delicacies you might associate with Sardinia and a little too full of white bread and soggy fruit salad though I didn’t hear any complaints.
Castello Royal Suite terrace pool
Lunch was better at the Pizzaria overlooking the beach where you could eat on a sunny terrace or inside sheltering from the sea breeze behind sturdy glass windows. The pizzas were excellent as was the range of anti pasta – including Octopus, the inevitable calamari and superb aubergine salad. And there was a Argentinian type meat feast – hunks of meat sliced off giant skewers at your table – in the Torre Grill restaurant which also featured grilled, locally caught sea bass.
The alternative lunch venue was a magnificent spot half way up the hill behind the main hotel complex in a cool, tree-shaded clearing with the glistening Mediterranean below. Once or twice they stage a grand barbecue there. It has a festive atmosphere, like being at a summer party, You could imagine an Emperor might have entertained his subjects there with a wild boar on a spit, and music and dancing. Amongst extended families happily devouring lamb shanks and grilled prawns quaffing rose under the trees was the one time it felt like being in real rural Italy.
That is the one real drawback of Forte Village. As with many all-inclusive resorts, it has no real sense of place. Apart from the very friendly Sardinian waiters (who united to take on the English fathers at football every night) you could be anywhere in the Med from Portugal to Turkey. Unless you ventured out along the coast for a serious bike ride you wouldn’t really sample real, undulating, Juniper-forested, thyme-scented Sardinia at all. If that doesn’t bother you, you are looking for reliable sunshine, have sporty kids who are dying to be let off the leash while you relax or you want to hang out with some ex England stars and discover what really happens on tour, then this holiday is for you.
The Gordon Ramsay restaurant Essentials
PACKAGES
Prices for a seven night holiday at the Forte Village Resort (01858 545918; superskillstravel.com) for the Cricket Academy start from £4,699 for a family of four (two adults, two children). Price based on a Royal Pineta room at Forte Village Resort including three days full board and four days half board. The next cricket academy is on July 27 – August 3. For more information on Forte Village please visit fortevillageresort.com
THE INSIDE TRACK
Consider a taking in some of the area’s historical sites: High up in Castello, the Cittadella dei Musei is a modern complex of museums which includes Sardinia’s main archaeological collection, a good art gallery, a display of Far Eastern artefacts and, bizarrely, a room full of anatomical wax specimens from the 19th century (00 39 070 662496)
Also worth a look is the Anfiteatro Romano. Cagliari was Karalis for the Romans, who dug out this formidable arena from the hillside below the citadel in the second century AD. It has lots of appeal for kids, and hosts music, dance and theatre performances in the summer months (00 39 070 652956, anfiteatroromano.it)
A great option for a quick, authentic meal for lunch or dinner is Su Cumbidu (0039 070 660017; Via Napoli 11). Resembling a large, rustic beer cellar with some outdoor seating, it offers up to five fixed-price menus with the accent on local meat dishes and local customers.