Sharjah: Desert Cubs Cricket Academy sharpened the skills of their coaches with the expertise of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). A two-day workshop conducted by Ali Zia – Senior General Manager of Pakistan Cricket Board and National Cricket Academy along with Dr. Gaj Ravichandra – Managing Partner Kompass Middle East and Allan Nielson, former Danish international football player at the Sharjah English School recently has boosted the knowledge of the their coaches.
Zia focused on cricket skill training while Ravichandran and Nielson covered the mental toughness programme and lifestyle management - needed for high level coaches and top class players.
Speaking to Gulf News, Presley Polonnowita, the Head Coach of the Desert Cubs Academy said: “We have 35 coaches, out of which 30 of them are cricket coaches. We wanted them to be more skillful in grooming youngsters in the coming season and hence conducted our first High Performance Programme for them through this workshop. We believe in raising the bar higher for local coaching. This workshop has helped coaches as well as administrators to brush up their knowledge and get ready mentally and skillfully for their upcoming new season.”
Polonnowita, who will be flying out to Bangladesh on September 30 to add to his qualifications by appearing for Level 3 coaching exam being conducted by the Asian Cricket Council on behalf of the International Cricket Council, wants his academy to produce more players for the UAE national team. “Our motto is to produce quality and competitive players for UAE senior and junior teams and we have been successful in doing that since 2009 by regularly supplying players to UAE ranks and also providing valuable players to local clubs and to domestic competitions. It was an honour for Desert Cubs along with Zayed Cricket Academy to be mentioned by UAE National team coach Aaqib Javed as the two academies that follow the correct methods of coaching.”
The programme helped coaches understand the level of athleticism to be pursued among the players along with the techniques. With mental toughness playing a vital role, talks by experts too helped the coaches to understand the value of it. “The coaches gained loads of experience by getting themselves involved in high level theory sessions, outdoor and indoor skill training sessions and funloving team building events. All the participants who completed the programme received a participation certificate from Zia. After presenting the certificates, Zia appreciated the knowledge of all the academy coaches who have already obtained their professional coaching accreditations from ACC, Cricket Australia, ICC and PCB,” added Polonnowita.
