Twenty-five cricket coaches follow educating program

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports correspondent

Twenty-five cricket coaches from the Central Region participated at the Level one of the coach educating program organised by the Sri Lanka Cricket conducted at St. Anthony's College, Kandy, this week.

This four day coaching program was held under the guidance of Manager Coaching Unit of Sri Lanka Cricket Jerome Jayaratne and the coaching was done former Sri Lanka fast bowler Jayantha Gamage, Heshan de Mel and Pradeep Samarasekera of the Coach Education Unit of Sri Lankan Cricket and was co-ordinated by the Central Province Cricket coach Sunil Fernando.

Among the participants was a lady cricket coach - Former Sri Lanka Women's national cricketer Prabha Uduwella. Also participating was Sri Lanka Youth cricketer and present CCC under 23 captain Sachith Pathirana and sports journalist from the Lakbima Newspaper and former Kingswood College cricket captain Mangala Dharmaprema.

Heshan de Mel said that the participants will be rested both practical and viva voce and if they reach the required standards, they will be awarded the Interactional Cricket Council endorsed certificate issued by the Sri Lanka Cricket which will make them eligible to follow the Level two of the coach educator program which for the first time will be conducted by the local coaching staff. It must be recalled that the level one coach educator program syllabus submitted to the ICC by Sri Lanka Cricket received recognition and in fact Sri Lanka Cricket was the first country to receive this endorsement beating top cricket playing nations such as England, Australia, South Africa and this was a feather in the cap of the present Chairman of the SLC D. Somachandra de Silva who initiated the preparation of this level one syllabus.

The one conducted was 8th in the series of programs by the SLC and it covered areas such as batting, bowling, fielding, Group and Individual coaching. It also went into other areas such as laws of cricket, umpiring, leadership and the most important role of the cricket coach and the motivation of cricketers, injuries and the immediate attention required.

J. C. Gamage said that the response by the participants was very good and they displayed an eagerness to learn and were quick to grasp them. This was not all, the participants were requested to arrange their own questions which they had to answer, thus giving them an opportunity to overcome any mind boggling questions and this was discussed by the participants.

This coach educating program also envisaged on coaching philosophy, coaching style, coaching communication, active listening, code of behaviour and also on spirit of cricket.

It also touched on dynamic stretching and warm up. Mangala Dharmaprema said that this coach educating program was extremely useful to all cricketers and there were things which the cricket coaches may not be aware of were imparted in this program.

This syllabus has the ICC endorsement and will be recognised by any country. The certificate issued will be more than useful.

Heshan de Mel said that 750 applications have been received by the Coach Educating Unit of Sri Lanka Cricket and already 190 of the applicants have undergone the level one of this course and the others will be put through their paces in the future. This program will be also conducted in North and East in the future.