Scott Irvine
Performance Analysis & Coach Development Consultant
Cricket Ireland

With many enjoying a well earned break from cricket over the winter months, plenty has been going on in the NCU with Coach Education / Development taking off since the end of the season.

Between October-December there has been:

• 2 'Welcome to Coaching' courses (held at both Wallace HS and Bangor GS)
• 1 'Welcome to Cricket' course (held at Downpatrick)
• 2 First Aid courses (held at Stormont and Waringstown)
• 1 Safeguarding course (held at Derriaghy CC)
• 3 Days of 'Power Hitting' workshops (in conjunction with the CICA and held at North County CC)
• Gary Wilson Wicketkeeping Masterclass (in conjunction with the Andrew White Academy and held at UUJ)

It is also worth noting that due to the demand for places on the Level 2 Certificate course taking place in the New Year, the course is now FULLY BOOKED! The interest for the course was generated from the 2 'Active Clubs Launch Nights' back in October and all of the spaces have been filled from individuals that declared interest and later registered for the course over those two evenings.

Cricket Ireland realise that due to the course filling up much quicker than expected, it was not able to be advertised to the general public. We appreciate that whilst this news may be unfortunate to some, it is testament to the value in which Coach Education / Development is currently held within the union and shows how this area continues to go from strength to strength.

We may look at running an 'overflow' course in March / April as we are aware there will still be a number of individuals wanting to take the course. For anyone that wishes to attend the next Certificate course coming up, please get in contact with Scott Irvine at scott.irvine@cricketireland.ie or on 07704 641411 ASAP to register your interest.

In 2016 the NCU Coaches' Association will again be running the very successful 'PlaySmart' workshops which allows coaches to come along and shadow RDS sessions from Under 11 up to Under 17 level (additional workshop information will be sent out in due course).

The NCU CA would like to wish all of their coaches a very enjoyable Christmas and look forward to working with each of you again in the New Year.