The Grenada Cricket Association (GCA) held a one-day retreat on Saturday, 21 January 2023, at the Radisson Grenada Beach Resort.
The purpose of the retreat was mainly to assess the challenges facing cricket in Grenada, and to outline a programme of activities for 2023.
Dwain Gill, President of the GCA, said: “The last 2 years have been extremely difficult for all sporting associations with Covid and the industrial action in our schools. We will be resetting and restarting in 2023. Given the challenges, we believe that this will be a rebuilding year, so we want to put a realistic short-term plan in place to get cricket going again.”
The retreat, which was attended by Vice-President of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Dr Kishore Shallow, was deemed to be successful according to Gill: “Based on the interaction with the parish affiliates and the GCA elected members, I think we had a successful meeting. We identified several challenges, including funding, access to proper cricket facilities, attracting committed administrators, among others – but more importantly, we were able to assess possible solutions.”
The one-day retreat is believed to be the first of its kind for the GCA and was attended by representatives from 6 of the 7 parish councils constituting the governing body for cricket in Grenada.
The following is a summary of the retreat outcomes:
Domestic Tournaments
The GCA will restart or continue all tournaments in 2023, including but not limited to the following:
- GCA Under-19 Cup (Feb–Mar)
- Best vs Best Under-19 Series (Mar)
- Best vs Best Women’s Series (Mar)
- Dream 11 Spice Isle T10 3.0 (Apr–May)
- GCA Super 50 Cup for Senior Men (Jun)
- GCA Under-15 Cup (Jul)
- GCA Best vs Best Under-15 Series (Aug)
- 4 of the parish councils will commence tournaments in the first quarter of the year
Development
The GCA will engage the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Sports, and the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) to ensure that there is competitive hardball primary school cricket in Grenada. The Association will also encourage and assist parish councils in starting and implementing grassroots programmes in various parishes.
The GCA will also implement the following developmental programmes and activities in 2023:
- Women’s Development Coaching Programme (1st quarter of 2023)
- Five for Fun Cricket in Primary Schools (1st quarter of 2023)
- GCA Under-15 Coaching Clinics (Oct–Nov)
Training
Under training, the GCA will:
- Implement a CWI Level 1 Coaching Course from 10–12 March 2023
- Engage the Grenada Umpires Association and the Windwards Islands Umpires Association as it relates to training of prospective umpires
- Implement at least one training programme this year in the areas of scoring and Duckworth–Lewis–Stern management
Sub-regional Tournaments
The GCA will prepare teams to participate in the following tournaments:
- Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB) Women’s Senior Tournament scheduled for St Lucia in Apr 2023
- The WINLOTT INC WICB Under-19 Tournament scheduled for St Lucia in Apr 2023
- The WICB Senior Men’s Tournament scheduled for Sept–Oct 2023 at a venue to be confirmed
- The WINLOTT INC WICB Under-15 Tournament scheduled for Dec 2023 at a venue to be confirmed
Governance
In the area of Governance, the GCA will:
- Set up a committee to review the Association’s constitution with a view to implementing changes in line with modern nonprofit sporting organisations
- Devise a Strategic Plan
- Ensure all parish councils are registered by the end of Nov 2023
- Assist the parish of St John in identifying a leadership group to implement GCA programmes
- Collaborate with the Grenada Football Association (GFA) on initiatives that will be beneficial to both Associations
- Continue working with the WICB and CWI to champion the cause of cricket
GCA
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