I attribute the featured page photo credits to Wanderers Cricket Club, Barbados. The photo shows the Under-14 and Under-17 teams during their successful England tour in 2017. Of 15 matches from which two were washed out, they won 11, lost one, and tied one.
Cric’s Crucial Innings
Exceptional coaching by Barbadian cricket professional at Line & Length Cric-Mechanics Academy
Bridgetown, Barbados. Last updated March 8, 2023.
Corey Edwards, the creator of Line & Length Cric-Mechanics Academy, a personal-development initiative and thriving cricket coaching and training enterprise, leads by example. Never give up, never be too proud to grow, never be too old to learn, and never believe you’re a loser.
Females from all walks of life in Barbados can “power up” for comprehensive training and practice sessions of cricket with their male peers if they desire. Through strategically regulated clinics that are fueled by the passion of Corey Edwards, Line & Length Cric-Mechanics Academy offers a metered system of coaching that is geared to help them master the techniques involved in becoming experts.
Edwards’ high professional standards, motivational qualities, and strong discipline of mind and body have much to do with carrying on the tradition of competitive sports in a family which includes his son Kyle, and his father, Hector Edwards. Edwards is Barbados’ renowned Olympian cycling finalist who represented his country and himself in Munich, West Germany in 1972, as well as in Montreal, Canada in 1976.
Edwards Sr. placed 2nd in Heat One of the Men’s Sprint in 1972 but did not finish, and returned the following season, 1976, undaunted, to place 18th in the track time trial with a commendable reading of 1:10.084 over a distance of 51.367km/h. This positioned him 17 places behind the first-ranked time of 1:05.927 over a distance of 54.606km/h, distinguishing Barbados as the second-ranked among only four Caribbean nations from 31 territories overall.
Line & Length Cric-Mechanics Academy (LLCMA) is an innovation that fosters and enhances attitudes that distinguish the focused, determined temperament of wanting to learn and excel for oneself from the lackadaisical temperament of just wanting to settle for mediocrity.
Making Hay
When this writer was privileged to attend St. Leonard’s Girls’ Secondary School, a “stone’s throw” from the boundaries of Kensington Oval, the likes and accomplishments of West Indies female cricketers were unheard of. Coaching entities such as Cric-Mechanics did not exist for Stafanie Taylor, Merissa Aguilleira, or Hayley Matthews, to name a few players.
The year 2019 ushered in one female among the student cricketers of Cric-Mechanics, and there was space for more. Says the cricketer and ECB Levels 1 & 2 qualified coach about his work, “We have also identified that there is talent per square inch in Barbados as regards cricket.”
Edwards has been successfully coaching and mentoring students of Harrison College coeducational secondary school in his personal mission to help motivate and shape minds.
One beneficiary of this is Hayley Matthews who is a member of the spirited, upbeat, and competent West Indies Women cricketers’ team that shows no signs of relinquishing its legacy soon.
Student Hayley Matthews and Principal Juanita Wade (2015 Assembly of Champions, photo source: Harrison College Sixth Form page/Facebook)
Had the Cric-Mechanics initiative been prevalent before, many self-motivated girls, including me, would probably have “missed the boat”. Unlike the current era, we were not taught cricket because the rules of conduct and etiquette that were enforced by the respective headteachers of the St. Leonard’s Boys’ and Girls’ Secondary Schools prevented us.
Both principals were more concerned about students not crossing the boundaries of familiarity and propriety of the compound which we shared than they were about making hay while the sun was shining on any dint of cricketing potential.
The Look!
Adherence to those rules of conduct and etiquette, for fear of punishment should we disregard them, ought to have been the catalyst to bring about changes in how females were being socialized. Instead, it was an inhibitor.
Successive principals meant well, but who knows what latent talent for playing cricket went unharnessed among us girls? We had brains and brawn too, didn’t we?
I cannot deny that we were fully adept in the mechanics of crossing the boundaries of familiarity and propriety whichever way we fielded the balls of wrath thrown at us from one look by our principal, Ms. Alleyne; but we never considered transferring our catching and running skills to cricket. She did not encourage us.
So highly trained in running, and so disciplined were we, that not a single girl dared manipulate the principle of propriety to return Ms. Alleyne’s look. We simply caught it; and consequently, our respect for boundaries gave us more than enough incentives to run as far and as fast as we could.
Did we ever drop a catch? Certainly not; we never failed to exert all-out effort and energy. There was only one option when that look was thrown: run.
Goal-oriented as we were, we might have become prized students of any coaching entity and keen participants in training sessions had we have been given access to the sport. With our above-average abilities and basic skills, we would have qualified easily for any West Indies women’s team.
Mindset: The Three Rs of Cricket
Cricket is an exacting sport that is driven by sacrifice, time-consuming planning, and preparation, similar to teaching, and every game is sustained by the mental attributes and psychological makeup of the cricketers. There is no room for halfheartedness in a match; only focus.
Just as concentration is expected from students in virtual and physical classes of Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic, coaches expect players to be immersed in either scoring Runs or Restricting Runs whether on the field or in the pavilion. In a nutshell, the mindset: awaiting one’s turn to play should not be viewed as a recreational activity.
In this evolution of societal behaviours, parents and teachers, including principals, should avail themselves of the opportunities which LLCMA provides to chart a new course for small children and youth from ages five to 19.
Says Edwards, “Cric-Mechanics believes in molding young men and young ladies for the future, not just cricketers for now; cricket is a business, so the athletes must approach it as such. Cric-Mechanics will be holding a series of clinics yearly at Easter, Summer, and Christmas to make the cricketing public aware of the Cric-Mechanics standard.”
Man of the Hour and Player of the Match
Besides his work at Line & Length Cric-Mechanics Academy and Harrison College, Edwards holds the well-deserved post of coach of the Wanderers Junior Cricket Program.
On the memorable date of March 27, 2016, at Queen’s Park, Bridgetown in ideal conditions that favoured the bowlers, he inspired the CounterPoint Wanderers Juniors to win the BCS Under-13 Competition. They defeated their rivals, Franklyn Stephenson Academy, by taking nine wickets to claim victory.
And in the Barbados versus Jamaica round of the WICB regional four-day first-class championship, in 2010, Barbados won by 10 wickets, mainly because of his dangerous performance.
The blazing pace bowler was adjudged Player of the Match for setting fire to six of Jamaica’s wickets for 41 runs from 15.3 overs. His shrewd mechanics, rapid eye-hand coordination, and excellent balance produced seven catches; six balls caught and bowled by himself, and another off O’dean Brown, bowled by Ryan Hinds.
“Edwards, in the middle of a magical day, produced a stunning one-handed catch to remove Brown; tiptoeing around the deep mid-wicket rope, and sticking out the right hand to give Ryan Hinds a wicket,” reported Stabroek News.
Summer Camp 2017
Parents must step up their game and encourage online and offline activities that will continue in the vein of their children’s education, regardless of routine school breaks or unforeseen changes to their curriculum. Productive and committed, Edwards has made his mark as a driving force in cricket education in Barbados with his concept of the Cric-Mechanics brand.
Whether the Cricksters — as they are called — will return to their present schools or enter new ones, the personalized training that has become an absolute reality for them during their vacation predisposes the students of Cric-Mechanics to bring a disposition for perseverance into the classroom. They would have either gained it or seen it displayed on the playing field by winners who would have “been there, done that”, lost some, won others; and kept pressing on.
The officially launched Cric-Mechanics Summer program has paired with Wanderers Cricket Club in a solid partnership for the opening of the camp and coaching clinic. It runs from July 10 to August 18, 2017.
This year, as previously, Wanderers is the venue for the program, as Edwards continues to provide more structured cricket coaching to gifted young men and women.
Update!
Line & Length Cric-Mechanics Academy — Team, Brand and Company
Bridgetown, Barbados February 11, 2019.
Congratulations are in order to the Cric-Mechanics brand from Leagualscript Writing & Publishing on the inclusion of their players in the annual BCS Under-13 Competition, for the first time.
The team, by the same name (Cric-Mechanics) is among 16 teams which are vying for the championship trophy that is held by Fusionz Boutique Passage Road Juniors.
The competition is in its fourth season of executive administration and primary sponsorship by Barbados Cricket Supplies.
Christmas Camp for BCS Players
LLCMA has been supporting the BCS U-13 teams by dedicating its Christmas camp and clinic to the preparation of participants in the current competition (2019). The sessions were held at Harrison College B Grounds and ran from Monday, December 17 to Friday, December 21, 2018.
This year, they continued their pretournament training sessions. The camp began on December 16 and is gearing up for its final dates on January 2 and 3, 2020.
© 2018 Leagual Script, © 2022 Leagualscript
Cricket Blog@Leagualscript Writing & Publishing 