Community coaches have been urged to positively impact the lives of people in their communities.
The advice from Minister of Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith was given to prospective coaches at the opening of a two week workshop for community cricket coaches at the Wildey Gymnasium.
Griffith also encouraged the coaches to “stay ahead of the game by inculcating international best practices in their performances as they strive for excellence.”
The minister said whether they ended up coaching locally,, regionally or internationally, they needed to be empathetic and in tune with their charges, whilst striving for excellence at all times.
“Don’t shout at your charges because you don’t know if someone just left home and came to this programme without eating or what difficulties they experienced prior to coming here,” Griffith said.
In this regard, he urged them to grasp the information provided, noting that the programme could be upskilled in the future to make it even more relevant.
Griffith encouraged the coaches to scout out talent in the respective neighbourhoods across the island, telling them that “if they see someone with talent as a cricketer to approach them and not wait for those individuals to come to them.”
He further suggested that they use primary and secondary schools as starting points for talent identification in their communities.
“We need to have more coaching programmes across the country if we are going to impact the lives of our young men in a positive way, as well as our females.
“It must be unisex in terms of identifying talent for coaching, but do what you have to do at the community level to better Barbados,” Griffith said.
The Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) in partnership with the Ministry of Sports and Community Empowerment and the National Sports Council, are underwriting the cost of the workshop.
The programme runs from May 18 to 29, and once successful, the almost 30 coaches will attain Caribbean Coaching Certification accreditation alongside the National Sports Council specialised training certification.
During the two week programme, prospective coaches are also being exposed to bowling, catching, fielding, batting and evaluation techniques.
First aid training is being facilitated by the Barbados Red Cross, while child safeguarding training is being undertaken by Maressa Raghobar, a sport and exercise psychologist in training and member of the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.
Similar community coaching programmes by the Ministry of Sports and Community Empowerment are earmarked for netball, football, basketball and volleyball in the near future.
(PT)
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