On Wednesday 27th July the newly named ECBCA LEINSTER ran the first of a series of workshops for coaches. Aimed at anyone involved in club coaching, the workshop received a lot of interest, with many people disappointed that they were not able to make it on the night due to prior commitments. The clear message is that coaches at all levels need to be upskilled and want as much new information as possible.
After a short session indoors explaining the benefits of membership of ECBCA LEINSTER the group moved outside for the first part of the workshop. This was led by Albert van der Merwe who explained his approach to coaching spin bowling. He followed this up with demonstrations of several drills with the help of Eimear Richardson and Pia Diepman answering questions from the coaches as he went along. In this session Stephen Moreton also answered questions on leg spin and the mysteries of flippers, sliders and other variations.
The second session was run by John Mooney who concentrated on fielding drills, demonstrating some of the drills used by the Irish team. In this he was assisted by the Leinster CC ladies who were put through their paces while John explained that these drills could be adapted to suit any age group. He also demonstrated how the Irish team are approaching the skill of throwing which has moved away from the traditional crow hop and extended front arm, and spoke of the power in the throw coming from the legs and core muscles rather than the arm.
Our thanks to Albert and John for excellent and informative sessions and also to Leinster CC who allowed us to use the ground and provided our “students” for the evening. Also thanks to Pat Banahan for arranging for sandwiches and tea to be served to the participants.
The next workshop will be in the off season.
Coaches participating:
Emma Beamish (Merrion), Mark Reardon (Old Belvedere), Mary Curley (Phoenix), Paul Delany (Leinster), Kamal Merchant (YMCA), Naomi Scott Hayward (North Kildare), Sujay Nandakumar (Merrion), Oleg Sivanantham (Adamstown), Aideen Rice (YMCA), Pat Banahan (Leinster), Stephen Moreton (Pembroke), Vinnie Savino (Chairman of ECBCA Leinster).