Floyd Reifer named head coach of West Indies U-19 team
Jan 15, 2021
St John's [Antigua], January 15 : Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Friday named Floyd Reifer as the new head coach of the West Indies Under-19 team.
The former interim West Indies head coach, and current head coach of the West Indies Emerging Player and High-Performance Programmes will lead the development of the squad as they prepare for the ICC U19 World Cup to be played in the Caribbean in early 2022.
"It is great to be coaching the young players of the West Indies and trying to guide them as we prepare for the World Cup at home. I am excited to have already begun the work and I'm sure the young men are also very enthusiastic. In speaking to many of the possible team members, they are all eager to start the programme. They have not been playing much cricket due to the COVID-19 situation, so it is great that CWI has started to put the preparation in place for our team a year out from hosting the World Cup," Reifer said in a statement.
"We have solid plans. The programme we have in place is science and technology-based and it looks at all aspects of their game, including cricket fundamentals and personal development. It is very intense and based on creating an 'elite athlete' with a professional mindset. We have held meetings with coaches and the Territorial Boards and they are all happy with the direction we are going. Within that programme we hope to have High-Performance training camps during the year, the annual Under-19 Rising Stars tournament in the summer, followed by hosting the South Africa U19s for five One-Day matches in the Caribbean," he added.
Reifer was chosen at the back of his impressive track record in building and coaching successful development teams, including the UWI Blackbirds, the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), the West Indies Emerging Players and the West Indies A team.
As a former interim head coach for the senior team, and as batting coach for the recent tour of England, Reifer's experience and knowledge are perfectly suited to help young West Indians understand what is needed for them to achieve global standards. He is also a former batting coach for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and is the current head coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
