One of West Indies’ most successful women cricketers, Merissa Aguilleira who played 112 ODIs and 95 T20Is in a career spanning over 11 years from 2008-2018, was an integral member of the 2016 T20 World Cup-winning team, an elegant right-handed keeper-batter who also captained the Women in Maroon to the World Cup Final against Australia in 2013 and three T20 World Cup Semi-finals in 2010, 2012 and 2014, has recently shifted focus to coaching. She recently took part in Cricket West Indies’ Coach Development Programmes to help her transition into the world of professional coaching.
The CWI Coach Development Programme is designed into three levels: The CWI Competition Coaching Course (Level 1), CWI Representative Coaching Course (Level 2), and CWI High-Performance Coaching Programme (Level 3) all of which cover different aspects and modules of coaching. Merissa participated in the face-to-face component of the CWI Representative Coaching Programme (Level 2) at the National Cricket Centre in Couva, Trinidad on June 13 and 14, after which she’s expected to be assessed over next 12 months with virtual mentoring, coach observations & 60 hours of high-performance coaching.
Merissa has been actively involved in cricket even after her retirement as the Technical Director (TD) of Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) and also in recent cricket fixtures in the Caribbean, including the Trinidad and Tobago Women’s tour of Barbados in May and the domestic women’s tournaments for CWI: CG United Super 50 (List-A tournament) and T20 Blaze (T20 tournament) held during the month of June in Guyana. Additionally, as the Tournament Director in the CWI Women’s U-19 T20 event, she played quite a significant role in the conduct of the event.
When asked her about the reason she took on this coaching journey, she said, “I always liked the idea of coaching. I remember, I spoke to someone recently when I was trying to get involved in match refereeing. And while I had another discussion with the person, I remember seeing him looking at me, and he was like, ‘you’re supposed to be a coach’. I really started to think deep within myself that this is something I really need to get myself involved in.”
She also added, “I’m passionate about cricket, I have a lot of knowledge about the game. I think it would be very selfish of me not to pass it on to the next generation. I have a vision of where I want to see West Indies cricket go, so it’s really important that we have persons who are passionate about the game and willing to take up that mantle of really caring about women’s cricket and pushing it forward, to the rightful position that it’s supposed to be … it has to be in with our dedication and our commitment.”
CWI Coach Development Manager, Chris Barbazon said the following on the role CWI are playing in supporting Merissa’s transition into coaching, “There is a need for more female coaches at all levels of our West Indies Cricket Pathway across the region. If we can increase the number of female role models in our cricket, we are much better placed to engage and inspire the next generation of girls to take up the game and continue through to the senior ranks”
Source: IANS
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