Leinster welcomes new coaches

Coaches are critical to the success of any cricket development programme and as a result the Leinster Cricket Union are currently running courses for new coaches to enter the coaching ladder at various levels.

Eight trainee coaches have just completed a two-day ‘Introduction’ course, gaining valuable experience on how to introduce cricket to schoolchildren who may never have played the game before. All schools require coaching assistance during the last school term and these newly-qualified coaches will assist teachers to further develop the game in schools in the Leinster area.

Additionally, the new coaches are now qualified to:

  • Plan a safe and organised cricket session for young people
  • Plan local cricket festivals/tournaments for 7/11 year olds
  • Assist the cricket development programme in their own school
  • Assist club coaches in the promotion of cricket in the local schools and area
  • Umpire and score youth/school games

Those that attended the course run on Oct 30th & 31st included: Gary Hansell, Richard Withey, Wendy Lipson, Jennifer Lowrey (North Kildare), Sam McCloone (Leinster), Barry McCarthy (Pembroke), Jordan Coghlan (Clontarf) and Hugh McDonnell (Leinster).

In addition to the ‘Introduction’ course, another group of coaches have just completed the ‘Level 1’ course that was run over four Saturdays in November. Shane Getkate (Malahide), Kevin Murphy (Malahide), Conor Sheil (North County), Gerard Balfe (Rush), Eoghan Conway (Rush), Edward Connell (Sandyford), Stephen Langton (Sandyford), David Cooke (YMCA), David Streek (YMCA), Ehtesham Ahmed (YMCA), Eoghan Delany (Clontarf), Brian Hammond (Leinster), Natasha Smith (Leinster).

Further introductory courses have been delivered in recent weeks to trainee PE students at DUC and Sports Management & Coaching students at the Institute of Technology at Blanchardstown. Over 100 students were shown the ‘best practice’ methods of introducing cricket to primary school children through techniques and small sided-games. The visits to these third level institutions proved a big success.

Course tutors: Brian O’Rourke, Brian Kelleher, Albert Van Der Merwe, Vinnie Savino, John Wills, Reinhardt Strydom & Siobhan McBennett.

The next courses being run in the New Year are:

  • Introductory Course - Sat February 14th & 21st 2009
  • Level 2 Course – Sat March 7th, 21st, 28th & April 4th 2009

Further details regarding these courses are available from Brían O’Rourke at brorourke@esatclear.ie