INDIANAPOLIS, OCT 23 : The Cricket Coaching Programme launched by the American Cricket Federation this spring is gaining tremendous success. As many as 43 coaches who have existing ICC-recognized coaching certifications have signed up online to have the ACF grant them parallel certification, informs ACF Chief Executive Officer Jaime Harrison.
ACF Coaching Director Jatin Patel visited Minnesota with West Indies’ legend Alvin Kallicharran to launch a youth cricket initiative in the first week of May this year. During that visit, more than a dozen coaches were given initial training, with some ultimately receiving an ACF certification.
In June, the New Jersey Softball Cricket League hosted two ACF Coaching Certification camps, where twenty-eight more coaches received their ACF certifications.
In July, Patel visited the Orange County Cricket Association to meet more ACF coaches (largely those who had been granted recognition based on their ICC-Level 1 certifications) and these were given additional training from the ACF curriculum.
University of Indianapolis recently completed its cricket education course, which is designed with an online study component, complete with the take-home quizzes, which is then followed by two skills-based coaching sessions which include game preparation in addition to rules training. The last two sessions were held at Key Stadium (the home of Greyhound football & soccer), with a focus on technical skills and on-field coaching, which enabled the students to qualify for ACF Level-1 certification.
Later, twenty-eight undergraduate students with Sports Management or Exercise Science majors played an abbreviated game on a full-sized cricket ground so as to understand game terminology and basic rules, with an eye toward becoming possible future cricket coaches.
The University of Indianapolis thus became the fourth University (IU – IUPUI, BSU & Franklin College) with a cricket coaching certification program during the 2014-15 school year, with another group from IUPUI scheduled to finish before the fall semester ends in December.
More clinics are planned for the winter; the Chicago area is hosting an ACF certification program on November 15.
Besides Chicago, additional planning is ongoing with Midwest Cricket Tournament; Columbus, Ohio-based Buckeye Cricket Club; Jacksonville, Florida; & Orange County Cricket Association for future events.
Overall, ACF certification is going well, with the number of ACF coaches reaching 100 in less than six months. A rapid expansion to reach the 500 mark within the next year is planned, with more than 100 coaches from non-cricket backgrounds (such as future and existing PE teachers) being targeted, said Mr Jamie in ACF website.
The USA presently has over 250 cricket coaches holding various qualifications, but most do not regularly coach in a meaningful way. Another initiative focuses on increasing their activity level in the future, because a lack of coaching opportunities is a major cause for reduced interest in coaching certification. As most of cricket clubs do not have dedicated coaches, managers or trainers working with their teams, even at national tournaments, ACF sees this as an area that needs to be addressed in the near future, and is exploring avenues to do that.