CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

The long-awaited regional cricket academy, to be launched today in Grenada, will offer a highly comprehensive and wide-ranging programme geared towards producing top-quality cricketers with skills in several areas of development.

The academy, a joint initiative between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and St. George's University, is designed to ensure that the region's young talent will be exposed to 'excellent facilities' according to WICB chief executive officer Gregory Shillingford.

'We have felt that a cricket academy is one area out of many areas in development. But moreso it addresses the finishing function for our young cricketers, providing them with academic, physical and technical skills to allow them to be more competitive,' Shillingford told NATIONSPORT in a wide-ranging interview yesterday.

'It also provides them with skills for their future careers, even in cricket or after cricket.'

The newly-appointed head of the WICB's office staff in St. John's, Antigua, said the academy would be able to offer facilities in sports medicine, motion analysis and bio-mechanics, while there would be tuition in areas such as physiology, sports injuries, psychology, business and public speaking.

It is also the intention to get involved with some of the various faculties at St. George's University, owned and run by Americans, which is located on Grenada's south coast.

'It has an atmosphere for learning and for excellence,' Shillingford said.

'There are various faculties - Faculty of Medicine, Social Sciences, and so on, capable of providing an excellent opportunity for support for everything that we wanted to do.'

Emphasis will also be placed on developing young players as coaches.

'We feel that every young player who attends the academy must come out of there with a coaching certificate and also knowledge of cricket facilities,' Shillingford said.

'Young players should have knowledge about outfields, what affects them, the performance of outfields, pitches, what factors influence the behaviour of pitches.'

The academy is to be launched today with a ceremony which will be attended by distinguished guests including cricket administrators, current and former players such as former West Indies captain Sir Garfield Sobers, government officials, and journalists.

Speakers will include WICB president Pat Rousseau, St. George's University Vice-chancellor, Dr. Peter Bourne, and Grenada Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell.

The proceedings will begin with a tour of the net facilities at 5 p.m. and will be followed by the ceremony an hour later.

The ceremony will be carried live on regional radio stations by way of the Caribbean Media Corporation.

© The Barbados Nation