Cricket Association head confident despite reluctance

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President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) Leon Rodney, despite reluctance from some coaches, is confident that the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) Level 2 coaching course slated to start here next Wednesday will achieve maximum participation.
Rodney, while speaking on Observer Radio’s Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, said that some coaches are seemingly hesitant ahead of the planned course, but the enrollment numbers have been steadily climbing.
“As you know, it starts on Wednesday and I still want to encourage all the Level 1 coaches to sign up. At this present moment I think it’s safe for me to say that we should have 18 people and it’s a course that’s designed for that amount. We are up to about 11 right now and we have sent out a late invitation to our friends in the Windward Islands and that is simply because we only have three people coming, one from Anguilla, one from St. Kitts and one from Montserrat and eight of us locally,” he said. 
The course will be conducted by ECB instructors, which according to Rodney, is a plus as certificates issued to successful participants will be recognised across the globe.
It however took massive preparation to get the country’s Level 1 coaches ready for the next step, Rodney said.
“When we were doing the first aid we were up and down reminding everybody about doing the first aid, reminding everybody about doing the child protection programme because if you don’t have those we cannot allow you to do the Level 2,” he said.
“I am glad that the board found a way to get it done and I want to thank the West Indies Cricket Board [Cricket West Indies] for sanctioning it and I want to thank the ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] because as soon as we wrote to them they were very quick to respond and glad to come out and deal with it,” the cricket boss added.
Local participants will pay $500 to take the course, which according to Rodney, is a reduction from the original estimated cost of $2,500.00 per coach.
In November of last year, Rodney cried foul after none of the country’s coaches were accepted into a Level 3 coaching course being put on by Cricket West Indies here at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Interested coaches can contact the ABCA secretariat at 462-9089.

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