ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Cricket West Indies (CWI) in collaboration with UNICEF concluded the organization’s first medical conference in 10 years in December 2019. 

This is the second major development initiative brought back by the Cricket department led by Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams under the Skerritt-Shallow administration, following last month’s appointment of Chris Brabazon as Coach Education Manager.

Persons in attendance included a range of professions from physicians, physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches, sports psychologists and sports nutritionists.

Specifically under the leadership of Dr. Oba Gulston, CWI Manager Sports Medicine and Science, this medical conference coincided with the adoption of the new CWI fitness policy, which has the mantra of putting players first.

“At CWI, we have been placing increased emphasis on player fitness and health and this medical conference was an important development as we continue to drive the philosophy of putting players and cricket first,” said Gulston.

“Every sporting body and cricketing nation will have meetings like this annually or biennial, where updates on policies, new science and standardization of practices are discussed because it is also crucial to receive feedback from practitioners.

He continued: “With the adoption of the new fitness policy the Board of Directors also approved the central contracting of full time physios and Sports Science coaches for each franchise. This is new for CWI and brings us in line with best practice around the world. This conference brought together Science and Medicine professions who are currently involved in cricket and should form the base for these full time positions, providing an opportunity to update them on CWI policies, updates in cricket science whilst introducing them to each other and CWI’s medical Committee.”

The majority of this CWI medical conference was funded by UNICEF and they were instrumental in the child protection workshops, although it was not intertwined with all coaching education, science and medicine education aspects. This is crucial because anyone in the CWI system who will be exposed to minors or persons with disabilities should be exposed to these workshops.

Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams further added:

“This event was critical for CWI to achieve its objective of aligning all our medical, physical and mental support provided to our players across the region. CWI has, for years, needed to have our regional practitioners involved in standardized processes and protocols regarding our players, and conferences like this will go a long way to ensuring this is achieved. CWI is extremely grateful for the support that UNICEF provided to make the event possible as we seek to foster even stronger ties with them going forward.”

-CWI