Report on Queensland Cricket visit to Papua New Guinea

Alotau Level One Participants © ICC

Brendan Wild, Queensland Cricket's Far North Queensland Regional Cricket Manager, recently returned from a six-day visit to Papua New Guinea where he conducted three Level One Coach Education courses.

The courses were held in Lae, Alotau and Port Moresby, with 51 participants in all.

The following is an extract from Brendan's visit report.

If cricket is to grow in the emerging cricket nations of the East Asia-Pacific, we have a responsibility to generate interest in the younger generations. It is a question of how.

The rational of this trip was a culmination of Papua New Guinea (PNG) Cricket Board and the ICC wanting to further educate coaches in PNG. Without accredited coaches and more importantly active coaches, the future of the game in any country, village, town or region in the world will not prosper. It is important for developing cricketing nations to take heed of this and work at a sustainable junior development program that will assure the future of the game in their country.

Volunteer coaches, especially at a junior level, will increase the number of participants in the game of cricket and will ensure that the skill level of the junior base of players increases. The bigger the junior base the more participants we have in the senior competitions, the more players we have to choose from for representative and or national teams.

The first course was scheduled in Lae for two days, but was restructured to one day of coaching with the second day consisting of class cricket lessons as a way to thank Coronation International School for their support. The students that we exposed to the game had a ball. With some follow up by the teachers or other participants of the course, this could be the start of cricket within the Lae school system. Thank you to the Coronation International School for the use of their facilities.

The level one coach accreditation course that was run in Alotau was well supported. Of the 31 attendees at the course more than 75% had already attended a basic or introductory coaching course run earlier in the year by Jamie Brazier and Api Leka. This kind of commitment stands the Milne Bay Province in good stead for the future development of the game. The course was run over two days and was of a high standard.

Of the participants who attended this course over 50% traveled in from surrounding villages, some more than three hours away. These participants now have the ability to use their new skills within their clubs, schools and villages - which should in turn increase the number of participants in the game and also improve the general standard of cricket within Milne Bay Province. Future development within this region will see Milne Bay Province emerge as a cricketing stronghold within PNG.

All of the participants that attended both days of the course in Port Moresby passed, with the quality once again high. It was great to see accredited coaches who had previously attended these courses remerge to run most of the practical demonstrations. Thank you to Chris Amini, Toka Gaudi and Paul Joseph for generously giving their time and for the effort they put into the course. It is of great benefit to have players and coaches of this nature attend these courses as they can then act as mentors for the current crop of coaches coming through. Their attendance also inspires the current attendees to remain active after they have completed the course by providing a coaching network to go to if they have any questions or need assistance. Thanks to Derrick Lindh from Ela Murray International School for the use of the school's facilities.

In Port Moresby the visit received some great media coverage from the national Pigeon English paper and EMTV through their sports show Sports Scene. The opportunity to talk about the development of the country and explain the roles that the International Cricket Council and Queensland Cricket play in the future of PNG cricket through radio station FmCentral was also beneficial.

Many thanks must go to Chris Hagen and Friends of Cricket PNG for their generous support.

Thanks also must go to Jamie Brazier for his efforts and time spent in organizing the logistics of the trip, without him on the ground or someone in his position on the ground in PNG it makes the job of the visiting coach rather difficult. The trip went smoothly and ran to a tight schedule and Jamie deserves full credit for the effort he has so unselfishly put into cricket in PNG.