PRESIDENT of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Roger Harper yesterday told Chronicle Sport how pleased he was with the enthusiasm shown by both the Under-15 and U-19 players of member clubs who attended the first day of his Association’s one week camp at the Everest Cricket Club ground. “It was a good day all in all. We had a good turnout this morning (yesterday) from the Under-15 while with the Under-19 we were expecting 22 players but had only 17 to work with.
“Having said that, we expect all of them to be back here tomorrow (today) and on time, while we are hoping the others who are named but did not show up, do so too” stated the former Guyana and West Indies all-rounder.
Harper, who, along with his older brother Mark, former national first class off-spinner Gavin Nedd and Quason Nedd, found it difficult to hide the smile when he spoke of the players’ enthusiasm on the first day.
“The youngsters were very enthusiastic and I think they would have realised that there is a lot they need to learn about the very basics of the game. The whole idea is to try and improve the skill level of the players.”
He added: “At the same time, we want to give them a good understanding of the basic foundations of the game and I think that if we can get one player to understand the basics of the game and appreciate the importance of doing so as well, then they have a good opportunity to build on a small and successful career.
“Added to that, if they have problems in the future, they would have something to revert to because they understand what should be done in each situation both technically and tactically.”
The man, who was at the helm of the coaching unit when the Chris Gayle-led Stanford Superstars humiliated England by 10 wickets to win a whopping US$20M late last year, said he found no difficulty in relating to the players despite the age difference.
“There was no difficulty in relating to them at all, as some of them are aware of an open setting such as this one. What we did notice, however, was their unwillingness to ask questions and at times, we had to find ways to get them to speak.”
He continued: “Of great importance to us the coaches was their willingness to listen and learn and with that, we have more camps planned for the future where we will be concentrating more on technical and tactical parts of the game.”
As head of the GCA, Harper stated he would like to have more clinics of this nature in the future, but the resources would not permit such to happen, but he is not giving up on making it a reality.
“They need to know more on topics such as etiquettes and social graces, as this can have an impact on their lives in the future and this would be one of my aims for the next clinic, but at the moment while we have limited resources, I am not ruling out the possibility of achieving same.”
The clinic will continue today at the same venue with the Under-15 going through their drills from 09:00 h to 12:00 h, while the Under-19 will be under the guidance of the coaches from 13:00 h to 16:00 h.