The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Level Two coaching programme which, for the first time, was done in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI), has been completed with 27 persons attaining their certificates and CWI Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams is ecstatic about the ground-breaking development.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport in an exclusive interview, Adams said, “In terms of the Level Two itself, it has been a while under construct…I’m happy to get the pilot off the ground. Thanks to all the folks here in Guyana for hosting it and hopefully it wouldn’t be too long before we are delivering regular courses throughout the Caribbean.”
With this being the first time a partnership between the two Caribbean entities to deliver a coaching programme at this level has taken place, Adams expressed his happiness with the alliance. “…We are able to get this far due to the collaboration with the University of the West Indies who we want to continue to build a relationship with, not just the Level Two, but one day, a Level Three…” he said.
The Director of Cricket went on to indicate that the programme is one which has been influenced by scientific studies of sportsmen and women and said that there could be other areas of collaboration. “As is [the case] with most elite cricket entities in the world, there is a lot of science that underpins these games and most of these territories partner with tertiary institutions who can add that science component to what we are trying to do and I think in that regard, UWI is important to have on board and be a working partner,” he asserted.
On Monday, the four-day course culminated with the likes of Akshaya Persaud, Anthony D’Andrade, Travis Dowlin, Steven Jacobs, Vishal Singh, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Antony Adams, Jermaine Neblett, Ryan Hercules, Kenroy Joseph, Andre Percival, Floyd Benjamin, Nicholas Fraser, Zaheer Mohamed, Travis Harcourt, Tremayne Smartt, Bevan Butts, Ravindranauth Seeram, Garvin Nedd, Latchman Yadram, Jeremiah Harris, Quasen Nedd, Clive Grimmond, Subrina Munroe and Anil Persaud all participating in the sessions, held at the National Stadium, Providence.
With the programme attracting a mixture of current and past players, coaches and administrators, the former West Indies captain explained that, in his view, it “is very important to try and develop areas of participation for players once they have finished playing for two reasons. One, in terms of a holistic approach to life after cricket and also, we think as coaches they have a lot to offer, having seen it and done it, basically bought the T-shirt so to speak.”
Adams, who played 181 international matches for the West Indies, accepted the importance of having experienced personnel in the fold. “We are very keen as we deliver more of these courses to actually develop more coaches who come out of an elite background because we feel it is a bonus to have far more elite coaches who are elite-trained, working in our pathway,” he indicated.
The programme was facilitated by Guyana’s Territorial Development Officer Colin Stuart, along with UWI lecturers Keshava Ramphal and Ryerson Bhagoo while there were also presentations from Adams and Dr Oba Gultson.
