THE development of Berbice cricket especially at the junior level, recently took a massive stride when twenty-eight aspiring cricket coaches successfully completed a Pre-Level One Coaching Seminar at the Albion Community Centre last Sunday. The three-day Seminar was held from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th and was conducted by senior cricket coaches Michael Hyles Franco, Winston Smith and Julian Moore and was organised under the Guyoil/Castrol /Berbice Cricket Board countywide coaching programme.
The coaches attending the historic coaching seminar were: Michael Newland, Veerapen Permaul, Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, Loyydel Lewis, Kandasammy Surujnarine, Mahadeo Mallay, Shawn Pereira, Shailendra Shameer, Delroy Teixeira and Yogindra Harrinarine.
Also in attendance were: Michael Chinsammy, Royston Crandon, Sharaz Ramcharran, Gregory Crandon, Carlton Sinclair, Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Linden Austin, Suresh Dhanai, Muthuswammi Permaul, Javed Saywack, Pierre Tello, Paul Dipnarine, Akram Rahaman, Ameer Rahaman, Gordon Sam, Keon Joseph, Sunil Jhappan and Totaram Latchminarine.
Muthuswammi Permaul, Cricket Manager of the Albion Cricket Club was voted the Best participant of the seminar by the coaches.
Chairman of the BCB’s Special Events Committee, Hilbert Foster, hailed the seminar as a vital part of the cricket development programme of the BCB and one that was organised with the main aim of producing more learned coaches into the Berbice cricketing system.
More cricket clubs in the Ancient County would now have access to better coaching and as such Berbice should be able to produce better all-round players at the Under-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 levels.
Foster however expressed his frustration that several established clubs like Skeldon, Edinburgh and Bermine did not send any representatives to the seminar and he blasted some cricket administrators whom he said did not have the interest of cricket at heart.
BCB president Keith Foster expressed his delight at the success of the programme and the induction of the new coaches into the Berbice system.
He said the BCB is determined to make Berbice cricket the best at all levels and to develop the game from the grassroots level, while urging the coaches to go back to their clubs and to teach their club members all that they have learnt.
The president also informed his attentive audience that they are now in a position to contribute to the development of Berbice cricket and urged them to grasp the opportunity with pride and passion.
Hyles Franco praised the attitude and performances of the participants and noted that they were all determined to be successful, while he too expressed his gratitude to the sponsors for their sponsorship of the programme and the roles they were playing in the development of new cricketing talents in Berbice.
All of the participants praised the BCB for organising the training programme and called on the Board to organise more programmes, with Newland and Permaul urging their peers to use their newfound knowledge to develop more talents like Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin and Devendra Bishoo.