FOUR Guyanese coaches participated and successfully completed Phases One and Two of the WICB/ECB Level Three Coaching Course which was held in Barbados recently. Phase One was conducted over the period May 1 to 8, 2016 and Phase Two over the period May 31 to June 4, 2016. The Level Three Course is the highest certifying Coaching Programme to be conducted in the Caribbean under the auspices of the West Indies Cricket Board. The Guyanese coaches who attended the programme were Guyana Jaguars’ head coach Esaun Crandon, assistant coach Rayon Griffith, National Under-15 coach Julian Moore and the Territorial Development Officer Colin Stuart.
Coaches Crandon and Griffith have been the two coaches at the helm over the past two years when Guyana Jaguars won back-to-back PCL Regional 4-Day Tournament titles, while Moore has been the coach of the winning Under-15 teams over the past two years. Stuart has jurisdiction over the National Coaching Programmes.
The two phases of the Coaching Course were conducted by the England Cricket Board (ECB).
The first section of the Course captured relevant information regarding advance concepts on batting, spin bowling and fielding, skill acquisition, coaching philosophy inclusive of an examination of the Myers-Briggs Type indicators (MBTI), tactical analysis and decision making. The second section of phase one examined suspect bowling actions, its identification, recommended procedures and remediation processes.
Phase Two of the Course explored principles surrounding biomechanics, wicket-keeping training and match approaches, essential elements of pace bowling, psychological profiling of players and three (3) assessment activities which targeted Individual Coaching, Group coaching and Player assessment, analysis and remediation.
The successful completion of the two phases which has a substantial weigh on the overall Course, means that Guyana will now be equipped with four WICB/ECB Level Three Coaches.
Anand Sanasie, Secretary of the GCB, commented that this Level Three Programme is another phase in the overall plan of the GCB to set up a robust coaching structure across the country. He posited that in another year’s time the goal is to have 30 Level Two coaches and 100 Level One Coaches across the country.