Five girls in Headley cricket academy

KINGSTON: The George Headley Centre of Excellence, a mini-academy set up at the GC Foster College by the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) in collaboration with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), will open its doors today to 29 teenaged cricketers, including five girls.

Registration and a short afternoon cricket session will take place today while the formal launching ceremony for the three-week course is set for Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday, Phillip Service, the WICB’s development officer with special responsibility for Jamaica, who will be the administrative director of the mini-academy, said while there were still some concerns about money, all was set for the start of the course. “Basically everything is ready and the students are anxious and ready to start,” he said. “We still at this time have not acquired all the money we need but we are talking to a number of business people and we are very hopeful,” he said. The WICB has provided $500,000 of the $1.5 million budgeted for the mini-academy this year. A shortage of money has already forced a scaling down by half of the originally planned six-week course.

Planned as an annual part of the cricket calendar, the mini-academy, which will have former West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Jeffrey Dujon as its technical director, will be developed as a feeder for the Shell Cricket Academy in St George’s Grenada. It is hoped that over-time, young cricketers from other Caribbean territories will take up scholarships at the George Headley Centre of Excellence. The curriculum will cover “cricket, complementary skills (movement, balance and vision), life skills (communication, hygiene, nutriction, conflict-resolution etc), fitness and conditioning, as well as mental skills tailored to satisfy the individual needs of our young cricketers.” Male candidates are selected based on their eligibility for the regional under-19 tournament the following year. Service and Dujon will be assisted by former Test fastbowler and world record holder for most Test wickets, Courtney Walsh and WICB coach and another former West Indies pacer Kenny Benjamin. Local coaches, including Andre Coley and Gibbs Williams — the latter is the cricket coach at GC Foster — will be integral to the day-to-day programme.

The five girls down to register for the prgramme today are: Kadith Kidd, Shadeen Nation, Stephanie Taylor, Keneisha Fearon and Tracey Ann Reid.
Boys: Doran McLeod, Ranardo Francis, Cordell Simpson, Dennis Bulli, Tarique Whyte, Albert Gopie, Marlon Johnson, Nicoy Samuels, Triston Reid, Tavare Green, Jaipaul Powell, Shawn Whitehorn, Roy Williams, Roderick Williams, Damion Ebanks, Oneil Wright, Steve Logan, Andre Clarke, Ricardo Williams, Darnell McCallum, Jeffrey Scott, Yanique Elliott, Ricardo Howe, Lorenzo Reid.