The first ever ECB Level II course to
be held in Italy was hosted by Maremma C.C. in Grosseto (2 hours north
of Rome) between the 1st and 4th of April. Nine Federazione Cricket
Italiana (FCrI) coaches from across Italy assembled for the course
which requires the coaches to extend their previous group coaching of
basic skills to be able to effectively run a cricket net.
In order to achieve this, the coaches firstly revise and then are
introduced to large quantities of new technical information and spend
many hours practicing their personal demonstrations. Sports science
components and video analysis of players’ techniques along with
operating safely and effectively in a net all combine to make the
course challenging and extremely tiring for the candidates.
With such a wide range of topics to cover, course tutor Richard
O’Sullivan was fortunate to be assisted by Doug Ferguson whose
experience of both the coaching and Italy itself proved invaluable.
Joe Scuderi the Italian National Captain, was provided by the FCrI to
further assist and all the coaches could certainly aspire to the
standard of his demonstrations.
By the end of the course the tutors agreed that all the candidates
demonstrated they were vastly improved coaches and all showed
competence in certain areas. Indeed a number of the coaches
undoubtedly demonstrated the potential to strive for the Level III
course in the future. This would hopefully lead to the ECC/FCrI long
term aim on an indigenous Italian speaking Staff Coach who can run an
FCrI coach education program. The commitment the coaches showed during
the Level II course will not only benefit the many players they coach
but takes Italian cricket one step closer to this dream.
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