Cricket West Indies Director of Cricket (DOC) Jimmy Adams along with the administration’s first ever Coach Education Manager, Chris Brabazon Thursday concluded a one-day seminar with local coaches.
The seminar was held at the National Stadium, Providence where 22 coaches with a minimum of a Level One certification turned out for the event.
The large turn-out elicited a shower of praises from both tutors.
“We are really happy first of all with the turn-out,” said Adams.
“We had quite a few guidance coaches who are involved in the coaching pathway and the feedback we got from them is invaluable,” he added.
“A lot of what we are doing is getting information on the ground and they came here willing to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences and when we multiply this by the rest of the Caribbean we are hoping to have really what I would call a strong level of information that we could use to build a strong coaching platform for the entire region,” said the DOC.
Adams indicated that in addition to getting a feedback, one of the other major purposes was to have the coaches across the Caribbean working with one philosophy.
“Also, is leaving with them a message of alignment that we want all our regional coaches functioning off the same page and to make sure we are all aligned in terms of values and where we want our players to be as they go through their development pathways…we’ve ticked the important boxes today and I am quite happy with the response,” he stated.
During the exchange, Adams admitted that CWI was aware of the challenges, saying: “We can’t put our heads in the sand and pretend they don’t exist but some of them may be big picture.
“There are challenges faced by coaches right through the region, some of the issues that came up today we talk about facilities and equipment being two of those challenges and I have no doubt as we go around the Caribbean those and a few others might be common things,” he said
However, he preached a sense of unity and cohesion in order to have the best come out of this forum.
“We have to work together to see how best we can assist in these areas without getting into too much details which we can’t do because we don’t have all the information we would want but the fact of the matter is to get a message right down to the top cricketers at the junior level we have to work with our coaches, we have to meet them at a level they can function because it is no sense asking for an objective to be met when they don’t have the tools to meet them,” he posited.
When the information is fully received, Adams said, “Once we collate all these information we have to try and see whatever action plan heading forward can best deal with it…can we get equipment at better prices, can we source them, how can we work along with the territorial boards to help them.”
Looking at the response from the local coaches, the former West Indies captain reckoned the attitude demonstrated was one which had the ingredients for success.
“I tend to look at raw materials, if you telling me you have coaches who have time, passion, love for the players and willingness to stick it out and keep it moving…you have the ingredients for a coaching pathway and if you didn’t have that this would all be a waste of time,” Adams indicated.
Meanwhile, Brabazon, an Australian who worked for 15 years with Western Australia Cricket Association and who has been labeled by Adams as the most qualified man for the job, also expressed his satisfaction with the seminar.
“I think just the desire and passion and wanting to contribute to world class west indies players [is there], so I guess my role from here is to now take all that information and build practical resources to help them do that…One thing that keeps standing out for me is that passion and you can do anything with that and the second one is the willingness to be open and share what coaches thought. We haven’t had many barriers of coaches holding back and that has been really fantastic from my point of view,” he said.
