Volume No. 2 Issue No. 64 - Monday, January 5, 2009
Dominica to establish cricket academy
Dr. Donald Peters CEO of the West Indies cricket Board.
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Dominica will soon have a cricket academy, aimed at developing the sport and providing more opportunities for potential sportsmen and women on the island. This disclosure was made by the Chief Executive Officer of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Dr Donald Peters.
Peters recently visited the island to hold talks with officials at the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth Affairs and the Dominica Cricket Association.
�I am here to meet with the minister of sports and education and the Dominica Cricket Association. The Dominica Cricket Association and the government are planning to put a cricket academy in Dominica and so the WICB is going to launch their own academy in January.
The academy is a system where we expect the high-performance center to be anchored in Barbados and Jamaica and most of the smaller countries will have campuses. Dominica is ahead of most of the smaller countries in that they have addressed the issue and are preparing to do that, we at the WICB would like to encourage them so we are here to enter into some partnership with them on getting it done,� Peters said.
The WICB is also hoping to establish an academy in all of the Caribbean countries, so as to prepare players to qualify for regional teams. Although Dominica is at an advanced stage in the establishment of the academy, Peters said that over the past 10 years, Dominica has not been performing well in cricket. He hopes that the establishment of the academy will bring the players to not only the regional, but international level.
�The reason is Dominica over the last 10 years have not being doing very well like West Indies in cricket. Dominica is a very small country with a small population so we believe that in order to harness the talent, we have to start early and the only way to do that is to start from the schools, starting with young kids,� said Peters.
Officials at the ministry of education have also taken up the mandate to introduce physical education in the schools� curriculum, including the sport of cricket. Peters views the move as one of great importance which will develop the sport significantly. According to him, there are many opportunities that can be derived from playing the sport on a regional or international level.
�I think they are doing the right thing, I spoke to the Permanent Secretary in the ministry about Dominica introducing physical education in the curriculum and cricket would be part of the curriculum. I think that is a very good place to start, we will take some of the best players from the country and put them in the academy and try to give them the maintenance they need to become good cricketers.
That would include stipends, playing, going to training five days a week and weekends � that�s the only way you�re going to improve your cricket, and most importantly to get kids interested in cricket,� said Peters.
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