A new Bermuda Cricket Board National Coaches Association (BCBNCA) has been formed, aiming to help raise overall coaching standards at the national and club level and also tackle a number of issues that affect the sport domestically.

The association, though still in its infancy, already boasts a membership of 20 former cricketers and current club coaches.

St.George?s Cricket Club coach George Cannonier, still playing the sport at age 56, was appointed president of the BCBNCA when the association came into existence just over a month ago.

?We are still sort of in the teething stages, but this is something I believe is long overdue,? Cannonier told .

?So we are just feeling our way around at the moment in the hopes the Island?s cricket and cricketers will benefit from it. We are looking into recommending certain individuals for particular jobs, travelling overseas to further our coaching horizons and abilities and working closely with the BCB to help achieve some of our objectives.?

Cannonier said the BCBNCA also wanted to set high standards for coaches to adhere to and increase their membership by inviting even those without coaching certification to join ranks.

?National coach Gus Logie is aware of our objectives and obviously we have already met with the Board who are prepared to work with us. And we do intend to establish a code of conduct along with across the board wages for various levels of coaching for affiliated clubs to go by,? added Cannonier.

?I think it?s a good idea to have everyone come under the same level of coaching and establish a standard and curriculum that everyone has to follow.?

Former Cleveland County batsman and Bermuda Under-15 national coach Grant Smith is the association?s vice-president while Jon Kerry was appointed secretary and well-known road runner Brett Forgesson assistant secretary.

Smith revealed yesterday that the idea of having a local coaches association first came to light late last year when the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) conducted various introductory coaching courses for all local coaches in Bermuda.

?It (BCBNCA) had been talked about for some time but it really came to a head after the ECB coaches came to Bermuda and ran Level One and Two coaching courses. We had such a good turn-out by former players and existing coaches that, along with Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB), thought it would be a decent idea to form a coaches association,? he explained.

The BCBNCA aim to affiliate themselves with coaching associations in the West Indies and England and establish an amicable working relationship with them.

?Some of our goals are primarily to gather information and keeping current with world coaching methods,? Smith added. ?We already have a relationship with the ECB coaches association and so we are just looking to stay current and make sure we are up to date on any new changes and also be a lynchpin between the BCB and possibly local clubs.?

One of the association?s first goals will be to lobby to have more domestic club coaches involved at various national levels as assistants to the national coach (Gus Logie), Smith said.

?We are still in the formulative stages and are at present discussing our mandate which will be to assist where we can with any local cricketing issues . . . but primarily coaching issues,? he added.

?We want to make sure there is a standard that all clubs and coaches will follow. We actually come directly under the BCB and we are currently in the process of designing our own logo and laying down our mandate.