Allan Douglas has been appointed by the Bermuda Cricket Board as chairman of the coaching committee, tasked with improving the standard of coaching at all levels in Bermuda.

Douglas is putting his committee together, but is wasting no time in getting to work and plans to meet with the new committee before Christmas before “hitting the ground running” in the new year.

The remit and responsibilities are to design and implement coaching standards for all age group levels and also to act as an advisory committee to design and implement national and club coach development and standards and coach performance evaluation and assessment.

“Basically there is a chair who is appointed by the president of the Board and the national coach [Arnold Manders] will be a part of the committee at times,” said Douglas, who comes to the post well qualified, holding Level Three coaching qualifications and having served as Bermuda coach for the men’s and women’s national teams. He is also a former national team wicketkeeper and serves at present as a national team selector as well as a coach at Cleveland.

“Four other members will be selected based on their knowledge and involvement in the sport or in sport,” Douglas said. “I will seek out these people to try to find the best fit. I’ve asked a few people and have a commitment from two. I have asked people who are prominent in the sport of cricket and one who is prominent in the sport of football because what I find is that there are people in other sports who know all about coaching and development at all age groups.”

The issue of the quality of coaching at club level comes up often, including after Bermuda’s performances at the World Twenty20 qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Clay Smith, the former Bermuda captain, complained in his weekly column in this newspaper recently that “far too many [clubs and players] are just going through the motions, just there to be there and some clubs are operating without a coach which should not be allowed”.

Douglas has some ideas that he wants to implement with the new committee. “Over the summer when I was off sick after my [hip] operation, I had a lot of time to sit down and go over all the Academy stuff, the coaching in Bermuda and how can we get things better,” he said.

“The objective for this committee for 2014 is to complete a skills assessment test rubric for under-13s, 15s, 17s and seniors, to test the skill level of players at all age groups. We also plan to develop templates for coaching planning and performance improvement.

“I know in Australia for each club to compete in the league you have to have a Level Two coach, so with that in mind we’re going to recommend and provide educational opportunities for coaches to get to levels where they can go back into their clubs and develop coaching plans. It is all to raise the coaching standards at all clubs; there are a whole range of factors that need to be improved on in order to take our cricket to another level — from administration at all levels to field and pitch development, coaching and players’ deportment.”

Douglas added: “I’m going to meet with all the coaches of the clubs and we’re going to do this together. Everybody has their challenges; football coaches have the same challenges as cricket.”

Douglas took another Level Three coaching course in Florida in September to keep up with coaching trends. He believes that getting more coaches qualified will help to improve the standards.

“When coaches at the clubs want to coach one of the national teams, we want them to aspire to that, but here is the structure you work under and then you can get to coach the under-13s, under-15s or national team,” Douglas said.

“This is absolutely a big task, but it is going to be a committee and we’re going to be inclusive. There are people out there who have a lot to bring to the table and they will be involved. We’re not going to make it mandatory that they all get qualified, but it is something I would like them to do.

“I want to meet with the committee before Christmas to sort some things out and in the new year we will be hitting the road running. Clubs will want to start training around February or March and we want to have some things in place.”

- Nyon steede was returned as first Vice President of the Bermuda Cricket Board during their AGM on Tuesday evening. Steede will hold the post until 2016. Cheryl ann Mapp was voted to the post of secretary while Kimberley Jackson is the fund development chairperson.

Sherwyn Richardson, Cal Waldron and Sammy Robinson have been elected as club representatives for the upcoming year.