Expects intense development to take place
St John’s, Antigua –West Indies Cricket Board Sandals Foundation Under 15 High Performance Head Coach Dwain Gill who is overseeing the Antigua leg says the one week intense training camp creates room for concentrated development work to be done with the players.
"We are condensing the programme to reemphasize and reinforce the basics. The one-week period is ideal for a camp of this nature," Gill said, adding that based on his observation of the past few years, most of the participants entering the program have proven to be somewhat advanced already having grasped the basics," said Gill, who is also Territorial Development Officer in Grenada and Coach of the Windward Islands Under 15 team. He also served as Head Coach for other Grenada national teams and played youth club cricket for Barbados at the Under 16 level.
Outside of the basics, Gill and his team of coaches will focus specifically on the limitations of the players as identified at the recently concluded WICB Regional Under 15Competition in Jamaica which Trinidad and Tobago won.
Extensive focus will be placed on game sense and center wicket training, along with the conventional drills in the batting, fielding, running between the wicket and other areas.
Other specific target areas such as innings building and playing under pressure will also be tackled.
"We are going to be doing a lot of work with the wicket keepers as well. And there will also be a lot of nets and the critical personal development sessions at various times throughout the day," Gill added.
The Head Coach anticipates nothing short of a outstanding week with the players going home with enhanced skills and understanding of the sport that is fast regaining its uppermost stature in the region.
"We wish to have them a bit more disciplined in their approach to cricket. A lot of them have natural raw talent and we will build on that to the fullest. We expect them, after this camp, to go back to their countries and communities as better cricketers and help those who might not have had the opportunity to participate here," Gill said.
In 2012, Gill had served as Head Coach for the St. Lucia leg of the WICB Sandals Foundation High Performance Camp.
The WICB has partnered with the Sandals Foundation and the Governments of Antigua and Barbuda and St. Lucia in a multi-stakeholder partnership model to execute the program, which is in its third year. Previously Sandals Foundation had been executing the programme for 13 years in St Lucia and expanded to Antigua in 2010.
The Sandals Foundation provides kits, meals and refreshments while the WICB provides air transportation and coaching personnel and the local governments provide venue, accommodation and ground transportation in the multi-stakeholder partnership model.
Both the Antigua and St Lucia legs of the camp commenced on August 21 and will conclude on August 27th