New Delhi, Aug 22
Under Rahul Dravid’s stewardship, the National Cricket Academy has revamped the coaching manual, which now comprises “corporate classes” for aspiring coaches tackling off-field issues, including selection pressure from various quarters.Recently, a batch of distinguished former first-class cricketers attended the BCCI’s Level-2 coaching course and also appeared for the theory and practical examination.While the coaching module has been tweaked to make it more appealing for modern coaches, what came as a pleasant surprise was the introduction of a “corporate problem solving class”, where the incumbents were asked to find methods of trouble shooting while dealing with multiple off-the-field stakeholders.“The course has been devised by former Mumbai seamer Kshemal (Waingankar), who is an MBA and has a corporate background. I have never attended a class like this but it was very unique and helped me broaden my horizon,” a distinguished first-class cricketer, who attended the course, told PTI on the condition of anonymity.“Well, it was about making us understand the difference between ‘bargaining’ and ‘negotiation’. We were told that we don’t need to solve a problem but it needs to be checked what are the trouble-shooting methods that we deploy (approach) in a critical situation,” he said.“The course instructor (Kshemal) picked two coaches – Person A and Person B. Person A was told the he is the ‘coach’ and Person B was told that he is the ‘selector’. He gave both of them a work sheet.“The assignment was—the person (B) who has been made the selector has to include three players in the team. He has pressure from various stakeholders—it could be state association, someone else… Now Person A who is the coach knows that he can only include two guys in the team and one in playing XI.”
