(CMC) – Antiguan coaches got an opportunity to develop their skills this week through an initiative that Cricket West Indies (CWI) says it wants to roll out across the region.

A day-long seminar at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, jointly hosted by CWI and the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA), saw CWI High Performance Unit staff, including coach development manager Chris Brabazon, high performance manager Graeme West, and high performance coach Steve Liburd, guide 22 participants through a range of topics including coaching philosophy, applied skill acquisition across fielding and batting as well as how to plan and deliver effective, contemporary training sessions.

“It was great to have so many local coaches committed to ongoing development of their coaching skills. We know that good coaching plays a massive role in the recruitment and retention of players and this group of Antiguan coaches is well placed to have a massive positive impact in the community,” said Brabazon.

“CWI is looking forward to rolling out more of these types of workshops across the region where we can reconnect with previously accredited coaches, share some key development priorities from the upper echelons of our West Indies Cricket Pathway and then have our local coaches head back out into their communities and address these areas with our junior players.”

CWI said the main aim of the seminar was to re-engage previously accredited coaches and provide them with an opportunity to share their knowledge on various aspects of cricket coaching, reconnect with each other and identify opportunities to work together to move Antiguan cricket forward..

Among the coaches involved were former Test cricketers Winston Benjamin, Kenny Benjamin and Sylvester Joseph, as well as former regional first-class players and national representatives.

The Antiguan workshop follows a series of Coach Development events held in St Kitts over the Easter weekend which included CWI Level 1, Level 2 Coaching Courses and observations of CWI High Performance Programme (Level 3) participants.

Over the past three years, CWI has delivered over 600 new coaching certificates across eight Caribbean countries, while 16 CWI Coach Developers have also been trained to deliver Level 1 Courses locally.