Miles' Guide to the Cricket Instructors Course

A letter from Miles imparting wisdom and knowledge and impetus regarding the future of cricket and coaching in Lima.

Gentlemen,

In the wake of the recent coaching course at Lima Cricket Club, I thought I would share with you, the Committee, my thoughts and experiences. Whether you like it or not!

The first 2 days were dedicated to an Introduction to Cricket Instructors Course - basically, how to teach other people how to introduce cricket to kids. This is obviously of great importance to us as we have virtually no kids learning how to play cricket at the moment.

What struck me, and is something I know you have tried, is to establish the game within Lima's British schools. This appears to be the only feasible way to establish the game in a meaningful way in Peru, and has cricket in Argentina as a model ... as well as the development of rugby in Lima, as far as I am aware.

Another idea is to bring school kids to Lima Cricket Club for 'away days' of cricket training and matches - a way of making cricket seem 'more important' than other sports (which of course, it is!). On a similar theme, it would be great to establish regular cricket coaching at the Club, on a Saturday morning for example.

On the subject of coaches, a way to attract young cricket enthusiasts might be to offer it on 'voluntourism' websites eg Craigslist.com, Idealist.org etc, whereby we offer a very local experience, and possibly some sort of accommodation and/or pay in return for their coaching. I am sure we could think of a few sweeteners, such as jungle trips, using contacts.

One of the key elements of current ICC policy is to promote the women's game, so it would be to our benefit to bear this in mind when setting up any processes. It would also double our potential base.


The final 4 days were spent doing the West Indies Cricket Board Level 1 Coaching Course, which is designed to be used to coach kids, ostensibly. Having said that, most of us could benefit from the techniques imparted - for example, the leg and off spinning element was a real eye-opener; and I had no idea what the guidelines for gripping the bat were.

Each element of the course was accompanied by a CD-Rom which you are all welcome to have copies of.

On a general note, it would be great to have a website for Peru Cricket. Costa Rica have one (which I can't find on Google) and the webmaster has promised to send the template for us to use. We should also set up a Facebook group ... as well as using any other social network website that we think might be worth it.

That is all I can think of for the time being. I am keen to hear your feedback.

Miles