England players to develop European coaches

Mark Ramprakash

Surrey and England cricketers Mark Ramprakash and Martin Bicknell will lead sessions at the ICC European Development Program’s inaugural Coaching and Development Conference to be held at the MCC Indoor Cricket School at Lord’s from November 29 to December 3.

The conference is the first of its type to be run in the region and will provide an opportunity for a team of 37 talented coaches and development officers from European Associate, Affiliate and Prospective member countries to meet and discuss different coaching practices and learn new coaching skills.

The main content of the Conference will be the recently launched ICC Introduction to Cricket Course Instructor Training. All regions of the ICC Development Program have agreed to implement a uniform training methodology aimed at developing a high standard of local instructors within countries to run this new ICC course.

The overall aim of the ICC Introduction to Cricket Course is to provide participants with a basic understanding of the game of cricket, a basic education in three key components of the game (playing/coaching, umpiring and scoring) and the skills and resources to conduct a cricket session with children.

Participants who attend the instructor training at Lord’s will be able to conduct this course back in their home countries when accredited.

Throughout the conference attendees will also be involved in active sessions and informative lectures on many different areas of the game.

As well as the two former England players, sessions will be run by highly experienced ECB Staff Coaches and ECB Performance and Development staff including ECB Performance Manager Keith Tomlins and England U/15 Coach David Parsons.

From Europe, Roland Lefebvre (Holland) and Peter Drinnen (Scotland) will be presenting, while former England player and MCC Head Coach Clive Radley, Stuart Barnes (Gloucestershire Assistant Coach & Academy Director) and Richard Cox (Warwickshire Director of Cricket) will also run sessions.

Nineteen countries will be represented by active coaches who have qualified through ECB’s Coach Education Scheme in Europe over the last seven years.