The working relationship between Fingal County Council and Leinster Cricket Union is expanding all the time. Reinhardt Strydom (Fingal Cricket Development Officer) with the help of Kenny Carroll (South Dublin County Council Cricket Development Officer) recently presented a coaching course for teachers and parents from the Fingal area. The course was delivered at North County Cricket Club on Wednesday, March 28th. The course was attended by 19 teachers and parents who were represented by schools and clubs from different areas of Fingal.
The course ran for four hours explaining the basic laws of cricket, how the game works and to show different small sided games that can be played in the schoolyard. The session started with a demonstration on how the game of cricket works along with the basic rules with a layout of a cricket field. Following that, batting was demonstrated with the 'grip and stance' shown along with the execution of the forward drive. The bowling element concentrated initially on the the basic action before progressing to run ups and follow throughs. To finish, the teachers were shown hand/eye co-ordination skills and games and also four different cricket games to play with their students. These games included ‘Pairs’ cricket, ‘Continuous’ cricket, ‘Diamond’ cricket and the ‘Lords’ game.
Teachers and parents arriving with little or no knowledge of cricket learned a lot over the four hours. They left understanding the game better, had fun, learned to bat and bowl and were all looking forward to trying out these games with their relevant classes. This will hugely help the growth of cricket in Fingal and special thanks have to go to all the schools and teachers who attended. A very successful course with many positive outcomes resulted from the day’s activities.
"The council are committed to developing sport in Fingal and cricket is a major part of that plan. This programme gives teachers the basic skills of the game and enables them to pass on what they have learned to their students through fun and active games" - Niall Mc Guirk Senior Sports Development Officer, Fingal County Council
“Thanks a lot for the course today. It was very informative and look I forward to introducing more cricket into Oliver Plunketts school.” - Jonathan McKenna,Oliver Plunketts NS, Malahide
“It was really good. Enjoyed it.” - Simon McConkey, Rush & Lusk Educate Together NS
The next course is Wednesday 25th of April at 12.00 to 14.30 in Corduff Sports Centre, Dublin 15.