KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) has set a precedent to by becoming the first association in the region to introduce a Webinar Series interactive coaching programme.
National skipper Ahmad Faiz Mohammad Noor said the fruitful session, held on Thursday, had helped some 34 coaches from schools and clubs gain invaluable insights from members of the panel, which included International Cricket Council (ICC) development manager Aminul Islam, ICC development officer Iqbal Sikander as well as national coaches Bilal Asad (men’s team) and Sampath Perera (women’s team).
The 32-year-old Faiz, who also sits on the panel as MCA coach educator, said the eight-hour long refresher course was aimed at creating a platform for the cricket fraternity to share its insights and knowledge about the sport despite the Covid-19 pandemic and movement control order (MCO).
“MCA is the first association to organise an interactive Webinar Series coaching seminar and it was greatly received.
“The course also helped us to forge closer ties with other coaches in the country as well as overcome financial and geographical barriers to engage with coaches from different states,” Faiz, who is the Bukit Jalil Sports School coach, told Bernama.
Meanwhile, MCA president Mahinda Vallipuram said that following the success of the first series, which focused on batting, it planned to hold courses focusing on bowling and fielding, followed by Level 1 and Level 2 coaching courses.
“We are sure that this is the first such interactive coaching course to be organised in the country and region and we received a lot of positive feedback from the participants.
“Thinking outside the box can help save us some money but, more importantly, we now know that we can reach a bigger audience across the country and, therefore, get more coaches.
“We intend to look at ways of conducting early learning programmes as well as umpiring and scoring courses as well. Hopefully, the situation will return to normal within the next four to six months so that we can get back to the pitch for training and competitions,” he said.
Mahinda said the pandemic had forced MCA to postpone six domestic and four international tournaments to be hosted in Malaysia, adding that it will review them by July in a bid to maintain the nation’s global ranking as both the men and women’s teams are ranked No 31 in the world in T20 International. – Bernama
