WICB: Development Plan Taking Shape

Monday July 1st will be the one year since the West Indies Cricket Board's Development Plan composed by Dr. Michael Seepersaud, the newly appointed Chief Cricket Development Officer, was conceptualised.

Notwithstanding resource constraints in terms of money and manpower, significant steps have been made in building the infrastructure for the sustained development of cricket talent in the West Indies.

There are four main areas of the WICB's Development Plan that deserves focus. There are Coaching, Kiddy Cricket, Human Resource Development, and Women's Cricket.

Under the heading of coaching, major up-skilling work has been done with advanced coaches in all territories using Australian and West Indian expertise. The Level 1 manual has been completed and the WICB Level I Coaching Accreditation programme has been launched. The Level II programme will also be launched soon.

In addition to the regular coaching areas, the new curriculum includes bio mechanical principles of coaching cricket, presentation skills, injury prevention and management, game sense, healthy lifestyle, and a number of other new areas considered relevant to our needs.

The continuing education of coaches continues as eight coaches have been placed at the Shell Cricket Academy of the St. George's University in Grenada to understudy the Australian coaches who have been contracted for this year.

In our Kiddy Cricket programme, a companion cross-curricular Teacher's Manual has been completed and is currently being piloted in Grenada and St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

This manual covers core curriculum subjects for the Under-10 age group. It offers these subjects from a cricket perspective. This manual, to be officially launched in September, will go a long way in reintroducing cricket back into the school system.

In terms of human resource development, there is the clear understanding that our players are our greatest assets and that the Shell Cricket Academy of the St. George's University in Grenada continues to be the vehicle to fine-tune the skills of our best young cricketers.

Students at the Shell Cricket Academy are tutored in a wide range of disciplines and areas including technical, educational, mental, fitness, tactics and strategy. This work at the Academy will be supported with other programmes organised by the WICB's Development Unit.

We are also heartened with the opening of the Sir Frank Worrell Centre at Couva in central Trinidad. This centre will provide complimentary as well as unique skills training.

Literacy and numeracy instruments have also been designed and implemented as a means of measuring the competence levels of individuals.

These instruments are used as a basis for designing appropriate remedial programmes, where it is deemed necessary.

Additionally, the WICB's Development Unit is currently working on a Certificate in Personal Development that is being designed on a modular basis and will eventually be available by "distance learning".

One of the most exciting areas of development of the game for us will come in the area of Women's Cricket. Our President, Rev. Wes Hall, is very supportive of the development of the women's game in the region and also of females playing a greater role in the management of West Indies cricket.

Every effort has been made to integrate women into the development process. In this regard, the WICB will support both youth and senior competitions for women to be organised by the West Indies Women's Cricket Federation this year.

The WIWCF will also continue to benefit from all coaching programmes, including placement at the Shell Cricket Academy. In addition, the WICB's Cricket Committee now has its first female member in Ann Brown-John, a qualified coach and former member of the West Indies women's cricket team.

So as we look to prospects for the future expansion of West Indies cricket, we are pleased with the progress in establishing the development infrastructure and are encouraged with the emergence of exciting cricket talent. This all augurs well for the sustained development of West Indies cricket.

In furtherance of the overall goal of returning West Indies to its winning ways, the WICB's Development Unit over the next year will undertake a number of additional activities. They include the implementation of a Talent Identification and Development programme, the implementation of a Mentoring programme, and the implementation of Personal Development programmes for our players.