Former national caps join SLC’s Level 2 Coaching Course as educators
Rangana Herath observing the conduct of the participants
The Coach Education Unit of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has trained and upgraded former national players as qualified to conduct Level 2 Coaching Courses in the country, which will happen for the very first time here.
Accordingly former national caps Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Kapugedara and Saman Jayantha will spearhead the programme, which is set to take place at provincial level. The team of educators of this ‘Train to Train’ concept, also includes four more coaches — two each from the provincial and district setup and from the clubs.
Former ace spinner, Herath, who took over the mantel from Muttiah Muralidaran to lead Sri Lanka’s spin attack, have been drawn into the SLC coaching structure as a member of the Under-19 coaching unit. He will be in charge of Spin Bowling during this programme while Kulasekara, who created a deadly pace attack combination along with Chaminda Vaas when Sri Lanka was at its peak in world cricket, will cover the Fast Bowling aspect. Kapugedara, a top order batsman and a former ODI skipper, will oversee the Fielding area while former opening batsman Jayantha, will cover the area of Batting.
Joining the four former national caps are Sujeeva Gunaratne and Amila Pinnaduwa, who have been named by SLC from the provincial and district setup, while Shanuka Dissanayake and Nuwan Shiroman will represent programme from the clubs as educators.
The initial stage of the programme was conducted at the SSC ground from April 20 to 24, as the course in 2012 with a syllabus that has been reviewed by the ICC. The Coach Education Unit has been conducting this programme annually since then.
Current and future participants of the course are taught the fundamentals of how to coach and construct practice sessions as per the demands of the game. Revolutionary coaching methods and techniques are also taught in this course to enhance the skills of the coaches.
A maximum of 20 participants are allowed to sit per course with participants ranging from the Western, North Western, Eastern, Southern, North Central and Northern provinces. This course is currently being conducted and managed by Heshan de Mel, the Head of Coach Education Unit and Tharaka Samaratunga, the High Performance Coach Educator.