Nigerian Cricket Federation sets-up new coaching template

The Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) says it has developed a Nigerian coaching template for its personnel while awaiting its approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

President of the NCF, Uyi Akpata, said this on the sideline of the Annual General Meeting of the federation in Abuja.

Akpata said that one key components of the present board was grassroot development and that could only be successful with effective training of the coaches.

He said the training would not only focus on the techniques of the game but also on other issues that were peculiar to each community, while targeting 250, 000 new entrants annually.

“The ICC recognises that you need good trainers to train the people.

“In this case, if we are trying to reach 250,000 people annually, then it is not just training them on the techniques of the game. But arguably, most of the training would come from softer issues around ethics, habit, behavior, security of the people, and how that translates to their playing cricket,” he said.

“Each coach needs to understand that and because we need to reach large numbers, with our head coach Asanka Gurusinha, we have developed a Nigerian coaching template. The aim is to reach out to a large number of coaches who would be trained under this template, as the coaching template has already been sent to ICC for formal approval,’’ Akpata said.

The cricket administrator also added that the AGM was to share ideas with stakeholders from other states and geo-political zones on the development of the game in the country.