- Sunday, May 19, 2024
Launched in May 2014, the Cricket Coach Education Program has been a unique initiative tailored from an American coach’s perspective on how educators at schools and colleges understand the game and teach scholars.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE current week marks the 10th anniversary of the American Cricket Federation (ACF) coach certification programme, overseen by the esteemed Jatin Patel, a renowned multi-sport coach, Cricket Hall of Famer and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Launched in May 2014, the Cricket Coach Education Program has been a unique initiative tailored from an American coach’s perspective on how educators at schools and colleges understand the game and teach scholars.
It is expected that the guidelines about educating Americans for cricket, teaching the game to young boys and girls from that country and certifying coaches based on coaching techniques employed by American sport coaches, would become easier.
In 2015, the Level 2 coaching certification programme was introduced. Prior to the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, ACF partnered with Omtex Sports, India, to initiate T20-centered global coaching virtual programmes. Additionally, ACF has been actively engaged in various statewide scholastic education initiatives in the US.
Read: T20 World Cup 2024 co-hosts West Indies receive terror threat
ACF Till now has organised 86 weekend coaching clinics — some featuring cricket Legends, aimed at training coaches across numerous states. These clinics have catered to a diverse audience, including schoolteachers, educators, and prospective physical education (PE) instructors from nine universities over the past decade, besides PE teachers at the elementary school level.
The Level 1 scholastic program consists of coaching the basics and introducing cricket as a part of the PE curriculum in schools.
Read: T20 World Cup to boost cricket’s US presence for Olympic debut
ACF Level 2 certified coaches are trained to offer training to Level 1 coaches, and there are a number of instructors available to do so round the year, depending on demand.
As of May 2024, there are more than 500 ACF level 2 certified coaches in the USA, and that does not include out-of-country coaches, school, and college educators.
In just 10 years, the ACF cricket-coaching programme has established itself as the country’s only cricket coaching programme that is based on how educators in the USA best understand the game of cricket and how they prefer to teach their youth scholars in schools and colleges.
As the ACF coaching programme leads education projects or programmes in the USA, it also continues to expand its coach’s network in the country — helping leagues and club communities develop youth cricket programmes, by sponsoring coaching camps for free to hosting training clinics.
The ACF – “for the coaches and by the coaches” will continue to develop initiatives and programmes that simplify teaching cricket to an American audience and youth still skeptical about the sport.
