Salahuddin’s masterclass to inspire coaches’ evolution

Ariful Alam Khaled came to Dhaka from Chattogram's Sandwip, an island located in the north-east of the Bay of Bengal, to attend a coaching workshop in Mirpur on Friday. Cricket has seeped into Bangladesh's consciousness so greatly that the sport managed to wash ashore to Sandwip. 

Ariful had set his sight on a coaching classas he aims to deliver something better to his students at Sandwip Cricket Academy. Thus he didn't hesitate to travel by speedboat to Kumira, Sitakunda before boarding a bus to Dhaka.

As many as 12 students, each with a background different from Ariful, attended Prime Bank and Comilla Victorians' coach Mohammad Salahuddin's first workshop on Friday – titled Master the game with Mohammad Salahuddin -- organised by PhysioCare Wellness Centre.

It reflected the passion for cricket in the country, for in Sandwip, money and cricket coaching do not go hand in hand, Ariful informed. There are 150 students in the academy where he teaches but participation is sporadic.

"Yes, it's a risk as a source of income because people there don't know that in order to learn to play, you also need to pay. I'm doing it out of passion," he said.

One of the participants involved former women's national team skipper Jahanara Alam, who had a women's Dhaka Premier League game on Saturday but took the time to do the evening workshop nonetheless.

"It's a workshop based on level A. As you know, Australian and England players have already completed level 2 and when they finish playing, they go for level 3.

When you have undergone courses, it will help make an impact in your game," Jahanara told The Daily Star regarding taking the class, adding that coaching was an option for her in the future.

A mentor to many such as Bangladesh ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, Salahuddin wanted to pass on his knowledge and passion. His students seemed mesmerised during his three-hour session.

The dearth of local coaches who have been in national setups had been felt. The national team has not had many local coaches in the head coach role due to one reason or the other.

"Having coached for the last 25 years, I feel I have some responsibility so that coaches coming after me are better than me and can do something good for Bangladesh," Salahuddin said.

"I think coaching education should be looked at seriously since we haven't had a world-class coach yet. We have to improve the standards of coaches' education system and if we don't, we won't go forward. We have been playing international cricket for a long time and we have a few players of international standard, but we are yet to get coaches of international standards. It's not like this sector needs a lot of facilities," he added.

He felt that local coaches have the ability and need guidance.

"We need more talented coaches than just talented players since you need to nurture talented players. Our local coaches are nursing talents at grassroots level and if they improve, these players would also do well," he said.

The organisers intend to introduce online classes, further ushering hopes that young coaches like Ariful can attend workshops from afar and take Bangladesh forward.