Two of the coordinators for a just-concluded cricket coaching course have told St. Lucia Times that the initiative has paved the way for stronger grassroots development and greater participation in the sport. Over 40 physical education teachers and active players from the Saint Lucia Cricket High Performance Centre (SLCHPC) participated in the hands-on training sessions at Mindoo Phillip Park, under the auspices of the Saint Lucia National Cricket Association and Cricket West Indies (CWI).
Brendan Ramlal, a CWI project officer and coach developer, explained to St. Lucia Times that this week’s exercise will result in thousands of children from every corner of Saint Lucia having access to better coaching in the fundamentals of cricket. The knowledge acquisition, he said, was invaluable.
“From a Cricket West Indies perspective, this is a key part of our strategic plan for bringing cricket back to the grassroots, bringing cricket back to schools,” Ramlal stated.
“Our PE teachers, they are gold to us. They have the natural cohort of having kids at school and from what we would have experienced through the session that we had with the PE teachers here locally, the wealth of knowledge, the skill acquisition in terms of understanding the fundamentals of cricket, the basics of introducing cricket, using a player centred coaching style, implicit fun, enjoyment, engagement, those skills and activities that we would have completed with them, taking it back to their schools, bringing cricket to all of the kids so that we can identify male and female talent at an early age.”
With the launch of a national inter-district Under-13 cricket tournament in 2025, and the ongoing Republic Bank Five For Fun programme firmly entrenched, the learnings from the CWI course will go right into practice. Ramlal said the PE teachers and players were all excited and eager to pass their knowledge on to kids at their schools.
Craig Emmanuel, chairman of the board of directors of the SLCHPC, noted that the active players also need to get involved in their former primary and secondary schools and their communities. The SLNCA last year hosted a high-performance coaching clinic. Emmanuel said that although the foundation course and high-performance clinic cater for players at very different stages of their lives, it’s important to create a development pathway to get players ready to compete at the highest level possible.
“Well, presently, the Saint Lucia Cricket High-Performance Centre, through National Lotteries and obviously the Ministry of Youth Development and Sport, the intention is to actually bolster cricket in Saint Lucia through the HPC,” said Emmanuel to St. Lucia Times.
“One of our biggest mandates is indeed producing more young men and women within the maroon outfit. A very big part of achieving that mandate is providing quality coaching resources and opportunities. And by virtue of tagging onto this CWI venture, along with the National Cricket Association, we think that it’s a very prudent and, hopefully, beneficial venture in the future.”
