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On 14 March, 32 cricket coaches arrived from all
parts of Italy to the “C. Casteller” a Middle School at Paese near
Treviso in the north east of Italy for a two-day conference on Cricket
Coaching, the fifth in the history of the Italian Cricket Coaches
Association (Gruppo Italiano di Tecnici di Cricket). The conference
provided an opportunity to review and update coaching techniques and an
important occasion to discuss the different experiences of the coaches
throughout Italy. The problems and approaches covered a wide range of
areas, also because the conference is open to all Association members,
from Federal Instructors (the basic Italian coaching qualification) to
holders of ECB II and ECB III.
The conference included indoor sessions on fielding
drills, “learning to play and playing to learn” and warm-ups, as well
as updates on batting and bowling coaching, and an intense afternoon in
the classroom discussing programming for the season, the importance of
the spirit of cricket and fair play, and coaching and development. A
special highlight of the course was a gym session on “Speed and Agility”
run by Franco Smith, a professional rugby coach and head coach of the
nearby Benetton Rugby Club, one of Italy’s foremost rugby clubs. Other
coaches involved in running sessions were the Italian national coach
Joe Scuderi as well as Valerio Zuppiroli, Riccardo Maggio, Alphonso
Jayarajah, Kelum Perera and Ripan Biswas. The conference was organised
by the head of the Italian Cricket Coaches Association, Patrick Leech,
with the help of the director of women’s cricket in Italy, Rosy Giunta.
A special thanks goes to the headmaster and staff of the “C. Casteller”
school for their very warm hospitality and an excellent conference
dinner! |
