SLC coaching syllabus awarded Intn'l recognition

Richard DWIGHT

To gain recognition and appreciation by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for contributions made for the betterment of cricket, could by no means be easy. And it therefore redounds to the credit of the Coaching Department of Sri Lanka Cricket (CDSLC) - who got ahead of the other countries around the world by making the right kind of impression of being the first country to be recognised by the ICC for their level (I) coaching syllabus that was officially classified as a 'level A - ICC Coach Education Endorsed' coaching course in the month of August 2009.

The award historic as it is, was the first of its kind since the coming into be of this exercise by the ICC a year ago. The uniqueness of this achievement lies in the fact that 'Sri Lanka Cricket' happens to be the first country in the world to receive this status from the ICC.

The SLC Coaching Department in January 2009 revised the 'Sri Lankan (Level I) coaching syllabus' and, the compiled 'course material' thereof was evaluated by a high panel of ICC assessors headed by Rodney Marsh (ICC High Performance Manager) over the last seven months, before this classification was granted under this scheme.

The salient feature is, that with the endorsement of the ICC logo on the Sri Lankan level I 'Accreditation Certificate' in the future, the certificate which will be internationally recognized will be of much value to the coach who is granted one if accredited by the CDSLC.

It was gathered from the head of coaching, Jerome Jayaratne, that this significant achievement was realised solely by the unflagging zest and zeal of a very committed staff in the department who had the hunger and thrust in achieving this never before extraordinary feat at international.

According to Jayaratne amongst those who painstakingly worked for the success of this entire exercise was Malcolm Perera (Manager Coaching) the three member Coach Education Unit' comprising J. C. Gamage, Danesh Dissanayake and Heshan De Mel, fast bowling coach Anusha Samaranayake, spin bowling coach, Piyal Wijetunga and the IT Division, who over the last 8 months have been responsible for compiling syllabus material despite their day-to-day busy work schedule at SLC.

The SLC 'Coach Education Unit' was inaugurated just, 12 months ago. It must be said that cricket commentator, Ranjit Fernando, Chairman Coaching has been very supportive.