Steve leads Dolphins Coaching Asociation
Toti cricket coach, Steve Belluigi, has been elected as president of the Sunfoil Dolphins Coaching Association.
Steve, who was recently elected treasurer of the KZN Cricket Union and board member of the professional body, KZN Cricket (Pty) Ltd, has been coaching for 35 years and directs the ACC School of Cricket Excellence in Toti.
Although still playing the game at the age of almost 60, Steve’s passion has always been the coaching side. At the insistence of KZNCU president, Fa-eez Jaffar (a level 3 coach) and CEO, Jesse Chellan, Steve was asked to involve himself in the coaching side due to his vast experience that spans across three provincial unions.
“The professional coaching structures are well organised and KZN’s most qualified coach has done his level best to educate qualified coaches with regard to the very latest scientific developments in the game,” said Steve. “However, the amateur structures were not formalised which created a situation whereby they were not represented at the highest decision-making level of the Union. Our first step was to create these structures and I am honoured at being elected president.
We have a huge job on our hands to improve the level of coaching, since the scientific developments in the game are occurring so rapidly Cricket South Africa has dedicated R30-million towards a Centre of Excellence, to be built at the University of Pretoria, in a joint venture with them.”
This centre will compare favourably with those at Loughborough in England, Brisbane in Australia and at the ICC headquarters in Dubai.
“We are pressing CSA to locate a similar facility in KZN, but before we can do that, we have to get our own house in order.”
According to Steve, schools, clubs and other cricket facilities need to ensure they employ properly qualified coaches and those coaches attend regular updating sessions offered by the union.
“Ex-players are not coaches and attending a coaching course is not sufficient for qualification. One must pass the exam with a mark exceeding 70%,” said Steve.
The association will soon issue proper identity cards to qualified coaches, thereby making it easier for schools and clubs to verify the validity of their coaches’ claims. These cards will be renewable annually, thereby ensuring the coaches are kept abreast of the latest techniques and developments.
“The first priority of each coach must be to ensure the long term wellbeing of his players. As with any teaching profession, the quality of the output is mostly dependent on the quality of the input.
The duty of the KZN Cricket Union is to ensure the input is of the highest quality available and it has chosen the Sunfoil Dolphins Coaching Association to achieve this objective. Quality output will follow naturally.”
For more information, contact Steve on 083-291-1045 or email belluigi@global.co.za.
