The annual ICC Europe Development and Performance Conference got underway last night at the MCC Indoor School at Lord’s Cricket Ground. This year’s opening session was led by Peter Moores, former Head Coach of England and Sussex CCC (and newly announced Head Coach for Lancashire CCC), who delivered a thought-provoking presentation on Elite Player Development.
Twenty-eight coaches from 19 Associate and Affiliate Member countries will meet over the next two days to take in what promises to be an excellent programme featuring a number of highly experienced coaches and cricketing experts.
ICC Europe’s annual gathering of European coaches, which was combined with the ECB Coaches Association Conference at Warwick University last year, dates back to 1999. Over the years the event has evolved from an informal meeting to a conference style format and now attracts a large delegation with coaches from the three ICC Europe High Performance Programmes: Ireland, Scotland, and Netherlands attending alongside coaches from countries further afield such as Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Bulgaria this year.
Richard Holdsworth, ICC Regional Development Manager – Europe, commented: “This year’s programme brings together some of Europe’s best and we feel extremely privileged that they have given up their valuable time to support the event.
“The depth and diversity of this year’s programme is exceptional and I am delighted that we have been able to put together such a strong programme for our Member countries. In order to give every talented European player the best chance of success, we need to ensure they have the best possible coaches working along side them: I am confident that those who have made the journey will really benefit from the presentations they will see and participate in over the course of the next few days.”
Despite the high turnout, coordinating the event has not been without some small obstacles: “With the unpredictably snowy weather in the UK recently, bringing everyone together has brought some unexpected challenges, but it’s great to see that everyone has now arrived, eager and enthusiastic about the programme ahead” said John Stock, ICC Regional Development Officer and Coordinator of this year’s event.
He added, “The conference provides an excellent opportunity for coaches to meet, discuss, and share ideas in an interactive environment. There will be much to absorb and learn during the sessions, all of which will only reinforce preparations for the upcoming European season.”
The conference will be delivered in a workshop format comprising of 16 theoretical and practical seminars covering different areas of the game.
Sessions on bowling and batting will be led by Mark Davis (Sussex CCC Club Coach), Stuart Barnes (Gloucestershire CCC Assistant Coach), and Adrian Birrell (Former Ireland Coach and current Scotland Consultant Coach). Adrian will also lead a session on mental preparation for national teams later in the programme.
Paul Shaw (ECB Regional Coach Education manager and ECB Women’s Academy Head Coach) and Cookie Patel (ECB Regional Coach Education Manager and Fielding Analyst for Northants CCC for Limited Overs Cricket) will lead sessions on wicket keeping and fielding.
Other sessions focusing on development of the game will be led by David Young (ECB Regional Performance Manager) and Toby Radford (Middlesex CCC First Team Coach) who will talk about Talent Identification and the Emerging Player’s Programme, and Academy Structures respectively.
The conference also provides a platform for ICC Europe suppliers to showcase their new products for the upcoming cricket season. This year Flicx UK and Fusion Sports will be attending the event, with Flicx UK making the most of the opportunity by launching their European Crazyball Programme - a new exciting initiative involving the popular Crazy Catch rebounder frames in a game that promotes fitness, skill development, high performance and competition.
Peter Moores was present at the Crazyball launch and offered his thoughts on the Crazy Catch phenomenon: “Richard Halsall introduced the Crazy Catch frames into our fielding drills nine months ago. It has been an innovative and valuable tool to assist in the development of close catching in front and behind the wicket.”
The conference continues until Thursday 12 February.
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