Twenty-six coaches, including one American, successfully completed the Cricket West Indies Level One Coaching Course on Saturday at Sabina Park in Kingston.

The course had started on Tuesday at the same venue.

The attendees were very appreciative of the things they learnt during the course. All of them indicated they learnt something new that would make them better coaches going forward. Some specifics mentioned included learning to plan lessons as well as understanding how children learn.

Some of the course participants are well known current and former national representatives. They include Gary Graham out of Manchester, Marlon Johnson, and Odean Brown. In addition to the parish of Manchester, the participants also came from Trelawny, St Ann, St Mary, St Thomas, St Catherine, Kingston and St Andrew.

The instructors for the course were Philip Service, territorial development officer for Jamaica; Gibbs Williams and Cleon Smith, national cricket coach and coach for the Jamaica’s senior women’s team, respectively. Smith is also the coach of the Northern Panthers, one of six teams in the Jamaica Elite League. Williams, on the other hand, is a senior lecturer at G C Foster College as well as the coach of the Combined Universities and Colleges in the Elite League. The participants were assessed by Kumar Rampat, the territorial development officer (TDO) for Trinidad & Tobago and Junie Mitchum, TDO of the Leeward Islands.

Fawwaz Baksh of Cricket West Indies, who is responsible for coaching education and clubs in the region, observed the delivery of the course during the five days, and he was pleased. He said that it was the second delivery of the revised coaching course. The first one was done in St Lucia earlier this year.

The course was a mix of theory and practical sessions, as well as a written exam on the final day. It consisted of various topics such as batting, fast bowling, spin bowling, fielding, wicketkeeping, biomechanics, fitness in cricket, mental fitness, lesson plan writing and introduction to how children learn, among other topics.

Convener for the course on behalf of Cricket West Indies, Philip Service, said the organisers were satisfied with the delivery of the content of the course. According to him, “it is now up to the coaches to first of all continue to develop their ability. They must find opportunities for coaching and, on that basis, they will continue to learn and therefore play the role that we really want them to play out there, which is to continue to produce the next generation of technically competent, tactically aware, patriotic players who can make us all proud.”

All the participants had to past through several hurdles in order to be considered for the level one coaching course. They had to complete the foundation course as well as the WICB Child Protection Course. Additionally, they had to have first-aid certification and a valid police record.