The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), Sunday last hosted two seminars at the Albion Sports Complex as the board expanded its developmental programme.
According to a press release, the first seminar was primarily a refresher course for cricket coaches attached to the BCB outreach campaign while the second focused on youth captains in the county.
BCB Secretary Angela Haniff hailed the two sessions as surpassing the objectives of the board and praised the work of the three, Level-Three coaches who conducted the seminars, Esuan Crandon, Julian Moore and Winston Smith.
Coaches attached to the BCB coaching programme attended the seminar but owing to the extensive and inclusive session, the scheduled three-hour programme went on for in excess of six hours, the release stated.
“A lot of time was spent in the class with the facilitators with the aim of having coaches fully understand their role, especially their management of players,” the release stated.
The next session on the all weather court was an extensive one as the coaches involved fcoussed on the art of batting such as batting stance, bat grip, foot movement and the playing of the different shots including the pulls, drives and defence.
Crandon, the most successful regional first-class cricket coach and former Berbice captain urged the coaches to be committed to their work and to develop a working relationship with their charges. He spoke of the importance of players respecting their coaches and said that the BCB was on the right path to development by investing at the grassroot level.
BCB President, Hilbert Foster, committed the board to organising similar programmes in the future in an effort to make sure that all the coaches are working from the same book. Among the coaches present were Nicky Latchman, Junior Blair, Gregory Crandon, Balram Samaroo, Shamal Angel, Leslie Solomon, Tremayne Smartt and Ryan Algu.
Accodring to the release over 70 current and potential captains at the youth level attended the captaincy seminar which was conducted by five-time winning regional youth coach, Julian Moore.
The three-hour seminar involved a lot of group work with the players focusing on improving their captaincy skills and knowledge of the game. Among the numerous topics covered were the role of a leader, player management, personal discipline, leading by example, field placement, communication and public speaking.
Coach Moore stated that he was very impressed with the involvement of the captains and said their contribution in the groups surpassed his expectations.
Foster, in a passionate remark to the attentive youths, urged them to grasp as much information as possible.
“The main objective of the investment was to make sure that the county has the best leadership on the cricket field,” Foster stated adding “Leadership is the most important part of an entity and the board is determined to have the best of the best to follow in the footsteps of Rohan Kanhai and Alvin Kallicharran, former West Indies captains.”
He also urged the players to develop the habit of reading in an effort to learn as much as possible about the game. National and Berbice players Isai Thorne, Gourav Ramesh, Matthew Pottaya, Sohail Mohamed, Tomai Caesar, Zeynul Ramsammy, Jonathan Rampersaud, Romesh Bharrat, Leon Cecil and Damion Cecil were all in attendance.
