The Association for all Cricket Umpires and Scorers based in Warwickshire
The Association's Committee asked a sub-committee to consider what was perceived to be a feeling that members of the Association did not know what they needed to do to progress and develop. The result of the sub-committee's work was the publication of the TDP, which has now been adopted by the Association.
Historically, the WCUSA has always provided a Level 1 umpires course and informal ad-hoc advice thereafter when an individual member approached the Association for guidance.
Once the participants on the Level 1 course had completed that course, they are left to their own devices, and we had no further support mechanism in place. There was no formal source of support for its existing members, and no formal process to develop those members who wished to progress.
This produced three obvious problems.
1) New umpires had no source of information or support to guide them to the next stage in their development and to offer them guidance in their new career,
2) Existing members were unsupported and received no further training, and this was in conflict with ECB ACO's actively managed education programme (assessments / mentoring etc); and
3) As an Association, we did no know how well members were progressing, who needed further assistance, who should be progressed and in the worst case, members were lost for a lack of support.
ECB ACO want county associations to take the lead with the education of Officials in their county. They are best placed to know what their members need and how to provide it.
As one of the first class counties, Warwickshire should be at the forefront of officials education in the country. We have outstanding training officers, and members with unmatched experience who can assist with the training of our members.
ACO will allow a county to take as much control as it is able to demonstrate it can manage, and we can and should control Officials training locally from Level 1 up to the Level 3 course.
This means that we are aspiring to run Level 1, 1A and Level 2c courses locally for umpires and scorers, and also to provide any further training to existing members who want it. But to do this, we must have to put in place a support and monitoring structure to back up the formal teaching part of the course and to keep tabs on our members' development.
This is what the TDP is all about.
The TDP does not conflict with ECB / ECB ACOs training plan (as published) – it is a mechanism to support and implement that plan in the county of Warwickshire.
The TDP sets out how it is proposed to implement the necessary wider range of courses, and the training that will be required internally up front to give us the necessary expertise to run those courses. To some extent this process has already begun, as John Bates is a Level 2 tutor and also a qualified IAPS assessor, but we need more trained Trainers, as well as Assessors and Mentors to roll out the Training to our members,/p>
The TDP also sets out the detail of what assessment, self-assessment and mentoring will be required and available to an individual member, depending on their particular needs, and what access that member will have to guidance and coaching to assist with development.
The biggest change will be to run Level 2c courses locally (which are currently run centrally by ACO) and this is where the real hard work (and cost) is required.
Whether we like it or not, ECB / ECB ACO training at Level 2 requires assessment of candidates and requires candidates to have access to a mentor. We have a huge resource of suitably experienced people available to us, and the TDP sets out how these people need to be trained in the first instance.
The TDP provides that each member who wishes to progress will be placed on a personal training plan at a position appropriate to his or her experience, with a view to moving towards taking the next exam in the pathway, and to encourage each candidate to commence the discipline of self assessment before this becomes mandatory at Level 2. In addition, each candidate will be given access to a mentor, and will be assessed.
The Association's primary function is to train and develop officials in the County of Warwickshire, and we are doing more to improve what we offer, which had always been limited to a Level 1 course.
In time, Warwickshire will be seen as the best county association in the country, however, to do this, it must offer its members the best access to education and support, to allow every member who wishes to develop the opportunity to do so.
The hard work will be over the next 1 to 2 years with putting in place the processes and training the people necessary to provide a more wide ranging process or education and support, however, the process is underway.
The TDP is an achievable goal. It will be hard work, but I know we have the people to meet this challenge, and the results will be worth the effort in terms of what we are able to offer to our members in the future.