Thirteen coaches complete West Indies Level I course

BY DEAN GREENAWAY 

BVI Cricket Association president Theodore Skeete was worried he would not meet the quota of eight coaches to complete the West Indies Cricket Board Level I coaching course.

At the end of the 20 hour course at the BVI High School that was conducted by Windies Cricket Development Officers St. Kitts’ Inglore Liburd and Jamaica’s Phillip Service, Skeete was talking about the course’s success and praising the 13 coaches from Tortola and Virgin Gorda .

“The amount of work that was put into this effort is unbelievable. These two gentlemen worked tirelessly and what had been most rewarding was to see how punctual and regular the participants were,” Skeete beamed. “They attended all the sessions and indeed they demonstrated keen interest. And, as president of the BVI Cricket Association, if this is manifested in future involvement in BVI cricket–if they demonstrate that interest by becoming active and proactive—I’m certain that I can safely say that cricket will be the winner in this territory.”

Service said the coaches showed a passion and a commitment and he’s confident that they will make a contribution in various ways to their various clubs and to the continued development of cricket in the BVI. “I think that the president and the leadership has shown the sort of passion and commitment to do things,” Service observed. “What is required from here is the need to develop a team around the leadership to continue working in the interest of cricket.”

Liburd said he was surprised by the turnout as he was looking for a minimum of eight participants but 13 showed. He added that the interaction and participation among the coaches was very good. Now he would like to see the coaches go back to help their clubs and coach the youngsters in their communities. “I would like to see each club have a development program and then you have players filtering in when the older ones are finished,” he said. “These guys should take the initiative and try to start coaching and to also try and impart some of the knowledge in the clubs they play for at the moment.”

Liburd said the BVI is ahead of several islands that have Under 19 teams, as the team plays in the regular league. He said it’s a great experience for the youngsters. “In most of the other islands the Under 19s play with club teams. St. Kitts is the only one that has an academy team playing in the league and they are successful,” he said.