Coaching and Development Conference Report

The 3rd ICC Europe Coaching and Development Conference took place at the MCC Indoor School at Lord's Cricket Ground in London last week.

The 27 participant coaches from 14 Associate and Affiliate member countries witnessed a host of presentations and demonstrations from highly experienced coaches and cricketing experts.

The three-day schedule was made up of 16 different activity sessions which offered a mixture of seminars, theory and practical sessions covering different areas of the game.

Sessions on batting and bowling were held by John Abrahams (ECB National Academy assistant coach), Steven Seligmann (ECB Regional Performance Manager), Stuart Barnes (Gloucestershire CCC academy director) and Owen Dawkins (Gloucestershire CCC batting/spin coach).

This year also saw the introduction of two relatively new concepts to the conference.

Dr Sherylle Calder, one of the world's leading authorities in visual skills coaching, who has worked with world-class athletes and teams including the England rugby union team, led a visual skills workshop. For a recent article on Sherylle from The Times newspaper, click here.

Another first for the conference was the introduction of a unique training system called Foot Sport Dynamics. Nino Severino, creator of the system, put the coaches through their paces and showed off some fancy footwork.

The conference was a great success and allowed the coaches to meet, discuss common practices, share fresh ideas and learn new skills that they can take back to their countries.

The event closed on Friday evening with a meal in the Lord's Tavern Bar & Brasserie where the participants thanked ICC Regional Development Officer Philip Hudson for his hard work in putting the conference together.

Photos from the event taken by Clare Skinner of the MCC Communications Office can be found here