Better mental preparation urgently needed for youth cricketers

Dec 27, 2008 Sports

U-17 team in T&T showed talent but lacked focus

If West Indies cricket is to again rise to the dizzy heights of the 1980s it is imperative that Administers urgently address the mental preparation of cricketers who participate in regional youth tournaments.
While the initiative taken by the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) to use money they received from the Stanford tournament to host the inaugural regional under-17 Development cricket series in Trinidad this month is highly commendable, the objectives of the tournament would be defeated if more mental preparation is not done for players now beginning their careers as cricketers. This competition bridges the gap between the under-15 and under-19 levels and gives the youngsters an education in the requirements of being sporting ambassadors.
Every member of the Guyana team who participated in the under-17 tournament is blessed with natural talent and had they played to their full potential should have won the six-team competition.
However, the players lacked the focus and commitment and did not seem to fully comprehend the importance of representing Guyana. One cannot blame the young players, who are just 15 and 16 years old, for not showing more patriotism and for losing focus on the job at hand when they arrived in Trinidad.
It was the start of the Christmas season in one of the most commercially orientated Caribbean destinations with ultra modern shopping Malls and it was understandable, and even expected, that the teenagers would get ‘carried away’ with several distractions.
The executives of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) are all highly successful and respected individuals but perhaps they need to do more research on the behavioral pattern of a new generation who are not motivated by the pride of representing their people on the cricket field or are willing to do what they perceive as ‘unnecessary extra work’ on their own to improve their fitness levels.
It is a fact that today’s youth is a different breed from the cricket-hungry youngsters who passionately played all day in the streets and pastures for the love of the game and who all wanted to be Test players.
The computer and Westernized Television programmes have exposed today’s youth to more options than their predecessors of the 1960s and 70s while the Hip Hop videos with the glamorized ‘Gangster look’ with all the money, fast cars, girls and ‘bling’ is unfortunately a big influence on today’s teenagers who view success as how much luxury they posses.
Trinidad and Tobago won the under-17 tournament not because they were the most talented team (Guyana dismissed them for 136 and then lost due to negative batting), but because they were the most organized and best prepared.
Of course these guys grew up in Trinidad so it will be a test to see their attitude when they travel abroad. The TTCB is the most vibrant Cricket Board in the region, yet seven T&T players were sent home from their under-19 team in Barbados this year, forcing the manager to lament how youngsters have changed today.
One cannot fight change, even if it is negative but it is crucial that administrators understand that more work than ever has to be done to mentally prepare our youths to become truly professional cricketers if we hope to change the fortunes of West Indies cricket.
Today cricketers are professional because they are paid to play the game while the ‘old stages’ say the past players were professionals because of the way they operated themselves both on and off the field.
In the past, cricket was the ethos that defined Caribbean people and the game was used to uplift the life and moral of the West Indies. Beating former colonel masters England was mental emancipation for West Indians at a time when race and class status played a significant role in the lives of people in the Caribbean and British Guiana.
Today, West Indians are more liberated and the youth don’t have a clue about the sacrifices made by their ancestors to provide them with the life they now enjoy.
For thousand of talented youths across the region, cricket is now a business, a stepping stone for other personal advancements and very few of them know or understand the history of West Indies cricket.
This is why the task of mental preparation is of vital importance if West Indies cricket is to prosper at the Test level. Longer camps are needed where the youths are exposed to what is required to make them successful and to prepare them for the psychological battles they will face later in their careers.
Education is also very important and it is depressing to hear that a recent survey in Barbados found that West Indies cricketers are intellectually inferior to their opponents.
A lack of education contributes to inferiority complex and robs the players of utilizing modern technology to improve their game.
Our youth players are not as physically strong as they should be and this could also be attributed to their lack of mental preparation at the club level. Most youngsters have little interest in the science of diet and not enough information in this regard and in the use of drugs, is passed on to them.
Punishing youngsters on tour for their perceived lack of dedication, commitment and discipline will do little to help them become better players and could even dampen their desire to make cricket their profession.
What is needed is a systematic programme to be implemented by the GCB through the clubs and schools to develop their off-the-field skills long before they are selected on a national youth team so when they travel to play they are ready…. physically, technically and mentally….to concentrate fully on giving their best.
For West Indies cricket to improve more emphasis has to be placed on the game at school level. Getting a group of students playing against each other with no technical coaching or comprehensive understanding of the laws of the game and calling it a national school’s competition will be of little use to the long-term development of the game here.
There is no shortage of talent in Guyana but our players fail due to the lack of proper preparation and unless administrators admit that there is an urgent need to change the attitudes of our young cricketers, we will remain in the bottom half of the international ranking for a long time, despite all the talent our young cricketers posses.
Many take it for granted that what is being taught is being learnt until, like I did this month in Trinidad, realize how much help our youths need for them to be consistently successful in a sport that could give them a comfortable life. (Sean Devers)

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