Asks Colin Stuart
In devising player support systems there must be the general objective of meeting the demands of the game through the promotion of the players’ needs. As such, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and its Territorial Boards in setting development programmes need to ensure that the requisites (survival needs) of the players are met. These needs are those that allow the player to attain his optimal potential. These survival needs address the players negotiating circumstances from a personal and environmental level and also place emphasis on interaction between the players and their environment.
Meeting the players’ requisites requires a structural programme which greatly enhances the players’ ability to acquire and maintain a high quality of cricket. Structural programmes are detailed and appropriate systems that facilitate a high level of performance.
Thus, in order for programmes to be structural, supportive systems must be consistent with the players’ needs and be enduring. To this end “understanding the player” becomes critical.
It must be remembered that it is the players who are the service delivery instruments. These instruments or players have survival needs that must be met in order for them to achieve maximum efficiency, the ultimate goal of the organisation’s purpose. Thus, by understanding the player, the West Indies Cricket Board and its Territorial Boards would be better able to enhance or restore the players’ ability to meet their requisites.
Understanding the player is a critical issue that can easily be overlooked. Overlook-ing the player may prove to be detrimental to the players and the organisations goals, since supportive mechanisms implemented by the cricket organisations in question may be inconsistent with the requisites of the player.
Further, inconsistent mechanisms may present a rippling effect, where interpersonal relationships are affected. That is the relationship between the cricket organisations and the players. It must be noted that the organisations in question are responsible for the “growth of the game” through the empowerment of the players and that the players have a responsibility to carry out assigned duties towards attaining success. These assignments are generally better conducted when there are adequate and pertinent player support mechanisms.
The challenges that players face help to guide programme details and as such, it becomes essential for programme details prepared by the WICB and its Territorial Boards to be consistent with the players’ requisites.
It must be understood that players come from different backgrounds with varying perceptions of life and that they possess different coping mechanisms. It is this differential background within which players have been socialized that will help to shape their philosophies in life. These philosophies are directly related to the players’ coping mechanisms. It determines whether a player is prepared to overcome a presented barrier towards attaining their goal or whether they will develop some other form of coping mechanism.
It must be noted, that players are faced with numerous challenges, however, these challenges and the degree of these challenges vary from player to player. Challenges may include but is not limited to socio-economic, structural and geographical displacements, personal and interpersonal relationships.
Socio economic factors would include the players’ ability to acquire quality cricket gear, nutrition and nutritional supplements, and other costs pertaining to cricket training.
All of these areas and more are financial needs that the player may or may not be able undertake. Should the players be unable to meet these needs the question of economics moves from a personal issue to a socio-economic one, where relatives, friends and sponsoring agencies collaborate to fill the breach. Thus, it is found that socio-economic factors are obvious challenges faced by the “emerging” West Indian player, and only when a player has attained some level of economic independence does this challenge subside.
Structural and geographic displacement places additional burden on the emerging West Indian player. A talented player may train in a location that does not provide the most effective training environment (structural deficiency) and as such the player has an additional burden to create that desired atmosphere or to shift either permanently or on a daily basis to a more suitable training environment. These challenges present both psychological and economic concerns and must be effectively negotiated by the emerging West Indian player.
The challenges of socio-economic and structural and geographic displacements may create challenges of an intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship nature. These are challenges that the player has on a personal level and those that occur between them and others and/or cricket organisations.
“Understanding the player” helps cricket organisations dovetail development programmes and activities consistent with the requisites of the players.
These strategies have positive consequences, demonstrating the organisations’ interest and appreciation for the player in a manifest manner, that is, in a way that is clearly recognisable. What this does is indicate the degree of responsible action that is undertaken by authoritative figures and in so doing, latently (consisting of a hidden signal, not easily recognisable) indicate the need for the players to assume responsible behaviour for those in authority, future players and the culture of the game as a whole. What this speaks of is a state of functionalism.
It is worthwhile to note, that Robert Merton (a functionalist) postulated the importance of manifest and latent functions in the study of society, inclusive of social systems. He posited that “functional analysis inhibits the tendency to dismiss a seemingly irrational social event, with the casual observation that it is merely superstition, foolishness or craziness.”
Thus, it is found that some individuals within cricket organisations may very well perceive the “understanding of the player” in setting supportive systems as irrelevant.
However, Merton further stated that “the introduction of the concept of latent function in social research, leads to conclusions which show that social life is not as simple as it first seems………”
As a consequence, it must be recognised that latent functions (which are the hidden or unrecognisable actions) which initially may seem simple or irrelevant can provide prerequisites to effective functioning of cricket organisation.
Should the cricket organisations demonstrate the responsibility to meet the requisites of the players, then the players are likely to develop a similar sense of commitment resulting in a “culture of responsibility.” This culture of responsibility is a vital characteristic to the preservation of a culture or a significant component of the said culture, such as West Indies Cricket.
Attaining such “culture of responsibility” can be an effective means towards the long term resolution of many of the contentious issues that prevail around West Indies Cricket in recent times. However, acquiring such a culture of responsibility will require a structural approach to cricket development.
In the next article I will examine the level of structuralism that the WICB has established in attempting to meet the players’ requisites or survival needs.
