Cricket West Indies (CWI) conducted its first coaching education programming on Thursday at the National Stadium, Providence, and Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams, noted the passion in Guyanese coaches, which, according to him, is the raw material needed to develop world-class players.
CWI is working to improve coaching at all levels, and the first stop was Guyana. The feedback from the programme has enthused Adams about the potential impact of the programme.
“If you are telling me you have coaches who have the time, the passion, the love for the players, and the willingness to stick it out and keep improving then what I am going to tell you is that you have the raw material, you have the raw ingredients for success in terms of a coaching pathway. If you didn’t have that, this would almost be a waste of time.”
He added, “But these coaches coming here today and the responses we got from them is almost positive that the raw material is here; they want to be involved, they are working in the system despite the lack they are experiencing they are still doing it. That is telling me we have the potential to develop a climate where we can really develop world-class players and we to try and help that; give support where and whenever we can.”
New Coach Education Manager, Chris Brabazon, will conduct sessions with the other regional franchises to understand the challenges and gather feedback to build into the overall programme. He believes having all coaches working with one programme is crucial to the overall development of West Indies cricket.
“What we will see is a really clear document and resources that fall out of it so that coaches at all levels know what they need to do with the players that are in front of them and that goes from Kiddy Cricket all the way to world-class.”
Young coach, Darien Best, spoke of some issues coaches face in Guyana, noting that equipment and grounds in a manner conducive for cricket are two main problems. Approximately 21 Guyanese coaches, including two active academy players, attended the session.
