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Former Cleveland County opening batsman Grant Smith is a man who takes his cricket seriously. Inspired by his father, the late Devent Smith (who was one of this country's premier golfers), the former Bermuda international became the first and remains the only Cleveland County batsman to score a century in the Eastern Counties. As a coach he is just as committed, despite guiding Bermuda's under-15 national team to three Americas championships he has already begun preparing his charges for a fourth. I caught up with him recently and managed to secure the following interview.

How did you get into coaching?

Once I finished playing cricket for Cleveland it was just a natural progression of finding other ways to stay involved in the game, I got into cricket administration at Cleveland for a while and then went into coaching.

How long have you coached the under-15s?

I would say about five or six years.

What is your record like in international competitions?

First of all the only tournament of note that we do compete in is the Americas regional or zonal tournament, out of the four tournaments we've competed in, we've won three and loss only one match, that was last year's final, the game was rescheduled and the organizers came up with a twenty over format for the final, then reduced it to fifteen overs because of bad weather conditions and we ended up losing to the U.S. So overall you're looking at one loss in four tournaments.

As a coach at under-15 level do you find yourself having to teach players the fundamentals of the game?

At times yes, we do get clubs or schools sending us boys who don't really have a firm grounding in the basics so we do have to go over them. We have found that there are three or four of the same technical faults that the boys in this age group come to us with, which clearly shows that some youth coaches are not getting it completely right but by and large we do have a very good product at the various youth levels across Bermuda. This allows us to concentrate mainly on preparing the boys for international competition.

How important do you think it is to have established in Bermuda an under-15 youth league?

It's very important, take the clubs for example if they don't have youth programmes then eventually, their senior programme will falter.

Youth programmes are a must in all clubs.

I know it has been a struggle in the last two or three seasons with clubs and the Bermuda Cricket Board have tried to establish youth leagues throughout Bermuda without much success but that is not the fault of the BCB or the youth players, they are doing their bit. It is primarily the fault, at some clubs, of club personnel failing to come out and put the necessary time and work in to make sure that their youth programmes are successful.

The under-15s have been very successful so far as the Americas region is concerned, would you like to see the under-15s broaden their horizons by competing against other countries such as the West Indies or England?

Definitely, three or four years ago I suggested to the Board that it would be wise to allow them to compete in other regions to experience playing in different conditions and against other players.

To their credit the BCB have now done just that, with various youth teams going down to the Caribbean to compete, and doing very well there.

It appears to me that many Bermuda sports teams perform well at youth level and can compete with most countries but when the players reach 16 or 17 we seem to lose our way. Why do you think this is so?

That's been our 'Achilles heel' for years in Bermuda.

It's what I refer to as the 'Bermuda Factor' kicks in at that age.

At 13, 14 and even 15 our boys tend to be very focused on their sport, but once they go sixteen they get their bike, they start looking at girls, other things grab their interest and they tend to drift away from sport although at 21 many come back.

Sad to say some start to drink, others may even experiment with 'herb' (marijuana), I guess they are experiencing the wonders that life has to offer, so they go their own way for a period of time.

What goals or aspirations do you have as a coach?

As far as qualifications go I am presently an ECB level 2 coach.

I would like to get to another level.

I would also like to coach a higher age group, which would be a natural progression because all the guys in the under-19 squad I have coached at under-15 level.

Within the next year or two I would like to assist the senior national coach.

I know that this has been part of the Board's plans - to allow youth coaches to assist the senior national coach on various tours.

Still it should be remembered that most successful cricketing countries use many of their better coaches to work at various youth levels.[[In-content Ad]]

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