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International Coach Education Conference Proceedings

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The Coaching Strategic Plan –

November 1999 Draft

Ron Rooney
Australian Cricket Board

Executive Summary

To increase the awareness and relevance of national coaching programs to all sectors of the cricket community Australian cricket recently undertook a number of strategic planning sessions that developed the vision, aims and objectives, strategies and agreed action and timelines detailed in the report.

Preparation for these meetings

The agenda was defined after consultation between all state directors of coaching and the national coaching manager.

Agenda

1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to be?
   • vision or mission statement
3. How are we going to get there?
   • program strategies
4. So what next? What needs to be done and by whom?
5. How will we measure?
   • performance indicators

Agreed purpose of the meeting

To provide a focus members were asked to reach agreement about what was it that hoped to achieve by the end of the forum.

The major two themes that continually emerged were:

• the need to address the poor perception of coaching's worth, and
• the need to reach agreement on a strategic coaching plan to meet cricket's future needs in the coaching area.

Session 1 – where are we now?

After a process of grouping and reporting back it was identified that the current environment as conducive for the following to occur:

• enhancement of communication between sectors of cricket, ie coaching and development, state directors of coaching and high performance coaches
• development of vision or mission statements for the coaching area
• performance indicators in coaching programs to be implemented
• improvement in the perception of coaching as a profession
• further enhancement of the ACB leadership or management role in the coaching area with the appointment of a national director of coaching and resource officer
• development of national resources to support national programs
• opportunity for state directors of coaching to be involved in higher levels of coaching, ie Australian Youth Tours.

Although a number of concerns were listed the group through a similar process also identified achievements that emphasised the worth of the coaching area. These were:

• the establishment of strong state and territory coaching structures
• the production of quality cricketers and coaches at all levels of cricket, and
• frameworks in existence that support the national coaching programs such as:
  • national coaching accreditation scheme
  • national coaching programs
  • the player/coaching pathway
  • Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy.

Session 2 – Where do we want to be?

It was agreed that a vision or mission statement needed to be developed to provide direction for future coaching programs.

After lengthy group and forum sessions that followed vision was formulated and agreed upon:

'Australian cricket to have in place a national infrastructure that can foster the development of players and coaches at all levels of the game so that Australia remains at the forefront of world cricket.'

In formulating this vision the group also agreed that its common objective was:

'to strengthen and expand the national coaching infrastructure which identifies, monitors, develops and recognises players and coaches at all levels of the game.'

To achieve this objective eight key areas were identified, these were:

• management
• coach development
• talent ID
• player development
• research
• resources
• club cricket
• women's cricket.

For each of the identified key areas aims and objectives were also formulated. As listed below they are:

• Management
  • establishment of an appropriate national coaching management structure.
• Coach development
  • to enhance the professional recognition of coaches in the eyes of the public, media and cricket administration
  • to support, develop and promote an extensive coach education program to enable all coaches to achieve a minimum Level 1 accreditation under the guidelines of the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme
  • to increase the number of qualified coaches.
• Talent ID
  • to consolidate and enhance an effective pathway which identifies and maximises player talent.
• Player development
  • to design and deliver programs that maximises talent of all players.
• Research

To build on an increase research and development into a wide range of issues including:

• injury prevention
• performance enhancement
• fitness demands
• nutritional guidelines.

• Resources
  • to develop national resources to satisfy coaching program needs.
• Club cricket
  • reinforce the significant role played by club and grade cricket in helping to maximise the success of state and Australian teams on the field.
• Women's cricket
  • to reinforce and promote the significant role that all clubs, state associations and the national body have to play to enhance the profile and quality of women's cricket
  • to highlight that women's cricket has a significant role in the pathway not only for elite women's cricket players but also as an important career pathway for elite coaches.

Session 3 – How are we going to get there?

With further use of the process of grouping and reporting back the following strategies were agreed upon for the eight key areas:

Examples:

1. Management
   • ACB – confirm national committee (NCC) with strategic planning input from state directors of coaching
   • ACB – national coaching manager (Level III) position to be continued
   • national director of coaching and resource officer positions to be created to enhance existing management structure
   • state/territories – to have separate coaching manager appointments
   • state director of coaching – to initiate and 'set tone' in each state, being able to work independently, develop policy and be accountable, recognisable and measurable in coaching programs
   • state director of coaching – national consultants existing relationship to be maintained.
2. Talent ID
   • national structure and enhancement of state network
   • review national U19 talent ID and Australian youth selection
   • confirm national U17 and U19 championships status/worth.
3. Women's cricket
   • include women's cricket (players, officials and coaches) in all programs – management, coach development, talent development, talent ID, player development, research, resources and club cricket
   • all states/territories to have input into and provide resources for elite girls and women to play cricket to their full potential
   • provide financial and human resource support for women's national league, junior state championships and international team coaching structures.

Session 4 – So what next? What needs to be done and by whom?

Examples:

Management
1. Further development and reinforcement of strategic plan	Ongoing	State directors of coaching National coaching manager Coaching committee
2. Presentation of strategic plan to coaching committee	November '99	to be confirmed (State director of coaching)
3. State directors of coaching meeting with coaching committee representative	November '99	State directors of coaching National coaching manager
4. Conduct of regular teleconference	Bi-monthly	State directors of coaching National coaching manager
Talent ID
14. Maintenance and conduct of U17/ U19s	Ongoing	State director of coaching Coaching committee
15. Review national youth ID and selection process	April '98	Coaching committee
Women's cricket
29. Inclusion of women's cricket in all programs	Ongoing	All stakeholders
30. States to assist with resources and input into programs	Ongoing	State coaching managers
31. Financial support for WNCL, junior championships and national team	June 2000	ACB and state associations

Session 5 – How will we measure?

Examples:

Performance indicators

Possible performance indicators include:

• Management

• continuance of NCC
• conduct of state directors of coaching strategic planning session
• continuance of state directors of coaching appointments
• conduct of bi-monthly state directors of coaching teleconferences
• continuance of national coaching management appointment
• employment of national director of coaching.

• Talent ID

• national representation and performance at senior, U19 and U17 level
• representation and performance at Sheffield Shield on second XI cricket
• number of successful A grade players emerging from underage squads
• number of squad players who continue to play cricket and perform post squad involvement
• number of country representatives in squad and grade cricket
• continuance of national U17/U19 championships
• standards of Level 1, 2 and 3 courses
• number of accredited coaches
• number of active accredited coaches
• consensus achieved on Australian style of play guidelines.

• Women's cricket

• establishment of women's cricket duties on staff duty statements (national and state)
• inclusion of women's cricket issues in state and national strategic plans
• establishment of women's cricket specific coaching grants
• audit – inclusion of girls in elite programs
• audit – state and national women's cricket involvement in national and state coaching forums
• acceptance and acknowledgement that cricket is for all and is all encompassing to include the area of women's cricket
• audit of resource allocation (in proportion to level of participation).

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