THE Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) last Sunday launched its Elite Coaching Programme (ECP), the first of its kind in the Ancient County, at the Albion Community Centre cricket ground, with 45 cricketers. The historic programme, another project in the BCB’s Developmental plans for cricket in the Ancient County, was hailed as a visionary move by the Board as it sought to keep its senior players in top shape during the current rainy season.
Chairman of the Special Events Committee, Hilbert Foster, told the large gathering of players, coaches and executive members that the main aims of the Elite Coaching programme are to get the county’s best players in shape and to remain focused during the rainy season.
Identify and correct technical faults, develop team spirit and unity, work on plans for the upcoming Inter-county season and the education of players on the history and laws of the game are also on the agenda for the cricketers n the ECP.
Foster, who is also the Secretary/CEO of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sport Club (RHTYSC), informed the players that attendance at the sessions would be compulsory and the BCB would have a zero tolerance on discipline, poor work ethics and warned then that there would be no room for players who think they are superstars.
He disclosed that the sessions would be held every Sunday at the Albion Community Centre and would feature classroom lectures for one hour, and four hours of sessions with the coaches.
National Under-15 coach Adrian Amsterdam has been appointed the head coach of the programme and he would be assisted by former national senior coach Albert Smith, Julian Moore and Winston Smith, while professionals and resource persons would also be present at each session to speak to the players on topics of importance.
President and treasurer of the BCB Keith Foster and Anil Beharry, both spoke on the importance of discipline and urged the players to always strive for excellence.
The elder Foster stated that the BCB was determined that all players representing the county should be well rounded individuals both on and off the field and be proper ambassadors for the County and Guyana and urged the players to always strive for excellence and dedicate themselves totally to the coaching programme.
Former president of the BCB, Malcolm Peters, and former Asst Secretary Vemen Walter both spoke at the ceremony and hailed the vision of the Board in launching the programme.
Walters, who is now the Human Resources Manager of the East Berbice Sugar Estates, disclosed that the BCB always had such plans but for several reasons over the decades it never came off and expressed his satisfaction with the numerous programmes launched by the BCB. He pledged his co-operation in the development of the game in Berbice.
Long-serving cricket administrator Carl Moore delivered the feature address and urged the cricketers to lift their standards as too many of our young cricketers were happy with sub-standard performances.
He noted that most young batsmen were satisfied with scoring half-centuries and also stated that every cricketer in Guyana needed help with proper coaching as they all have numerous technical problems.
Moore urged the cricketers to aim for the stars and to make everyone associated with Berbice Cricket proud of them.
The Senior Guyana Cricket Manager urged his attentive audience to have set goals, to work towards them then benefit from when they played for Guyana and the West Indies 
Senior Berbice umpire and President of the Guyana Cricket Umpires Council,  Dhieranidranauth Somwaru, delivered the first lecture of the programme and spoke to the cricketers on the topic: Laws of Cricket that you should know.
After the formal launching programme the players and four coaches were involved in an intense three-hour training session at the same venue.
A total of 35 senior players, including national cricketers Sewnarine Chattergoon, Assad Fudadin, Homchand Pooran, Royston Crandon, Devendra Bishoo, Brandon Bess and Veerasammy Permaul, were present along with 10 Under-19 players who were selected as promising players for the future.