The International Cricket Council in collaboration with the Nigeria Cricket Federation successfully conducted the Level 1 training courses for coaches and Umpires. The training which took place from 6th to 10th May 2019 in Lagos had participants from other West Africa countries in attendance.
A total of 50 participants took part in the training exercise with both coaching and umpiring section evenly split by 25 participants each
PARTICIPANTS FROM COUNTRIES INCLUDE:
COACHING
- Nigeria……………..10
- Ghana……………….4
- The Gambia……….6
- Sierra Leone………2
- Cameroon………….2
- Mali……………………1
UMPIRING
- Nigeria……………….13
- Ghana…………………4
- The Gambia…………4
- Sierra Leone………..2
- Cameroon……………1
- Mali……………………..1
Facilitators are;
COACHING
- Antonne Fereira
- Chris Cardoso
- Joelene Dippenaar
UMPIRING
- Brad White
- Stephen Harris
Coaching Section:
Day 1, 2 and 3 were theory sessions where the facilitators took the participants through some rudiments and techniques of coaching and the participants had the opportunity to develop a coaching program and make presentation to the entire class. Day 4 was practical session where the participants were put through some coaching drills. Day 5 ended with examinations both practical and theory.
Umpiring Section:
Umpires section was mainly based on the Laws of the game, interpretation and application. Day 1 of the bothered on the preamble which talked about the Spirit of the Cricket for without the correct understanding, the laws of the game becomes almost irrelevant.
Day 2 and 3 dwelt on the Laws of Cricket carefully discussing and analyzing every single law and explaining with visuals and game scenarios. Day 4 resumed with theory examination to test the participants on how much they have learnt in 3 days. After the examination, the participants were grouped in 2 pairs and asked to do presentations on some of the laws as prescribed by the facilitators.
Day 5 ended with a practical session on the pitch where participants were taught on pre-match duties, positioning on the field, game management, body language, dealing with difficult and unforeseen circumstances, communication and movement by umpires, etc.
Special guest appearance was the visit of the Vice President of the Federation, Mr Uyi Akpata. In his address, he thanked the facilitators on behalf of the Nigeria Cricket Federation for coming all the way to Nigeria to have the program delivered while admonishing all participants to take advantage of the exercise. He further explained that the idea behind the whole program was to bring coaches and umpires in the western part of Africa to be at par with international standards to enable the region raise the next generation of cricketers.
One of the most exciting moments of the seminar was the moment Mr Suleiman Abdullahi who came all the way from Maiduguri under the sponsorship on the Nigeria Cricket Federation, explaining his passion for the game even though the state have been under siege of the Insurgents for over 10 years.
The exercise ended with the presentation of gifts to the facilitators on behalf of the Nigeria Cricket Federation. The presentation was made by the technical director on the Board Mr Enesi Dahiru.
