The Amsterdam Cricket Academy is a multi-facility first class academy assisting cricket clubs in the region of Amsterdam with coaching junior and senior players of all levels. The Amsterdam Cricket Academy also organises events for schools and companies to get a fun introduction to the game of cricket or simply enjoy a day in the outdoors.
Our coaching philosophy is based around putting people and society first. The main emphasis will be on building strong interpersonal relationships, whilst ensuring a constant desire for self-improvement among those within our academy.
By partnering with leading performance skills, coaching technology and sports innovation companies we seek to find the best cricket development centered around you.
ACA was started by three like-minded people, who have a common goal to see cricket flourish within the Netherlands. At ACA we see cricket is a tool to unite and engage society to stay healthy and stay active. Our aim is to target development and growth, with our main focus being on grass root structures. The starting point of any successful venture is the foundation.
Between us we have a wealth of experience in many different areas around the game of cricket. We have a very ambitious Head Coach, Taku Kusano who has worked in multiple countries and is focused on growing our academy into one of the biggest and best around. In Richard Wolfe we have the 'glue' that keeps ACA together, he runs the operations and organisation day to day. Richard has comprehensive experience when it comes to planning and technology. He is also very active within the Dutch youth structures both at club level and national level. The final piece of the trio is Rashid Shah, a prominent business man and our finance expert. He has come in and given us the freedom to execute and complete our goals as a company. Rashid was also a great cricketer in his day and played for many years throughout the different Dutch divisions.
COACHES
"Good leaders must become good servants"
Robert Greenleaf
Taku Kusano
Head Coach
Level 3 cricket coach with 12 years’ experience. Has coached in five different countries, at various different levels. Very passionate about the development and growth of cricket. Dream is to one day coach a National Team and build more academies around the world.
Abel Heymeijer
Academy Coach
Abel Heymeijer started playing cricket in Australia before moving to Dubai and is now studying in the Netherlands. Abel aims to improve the quality of cricket players in the Netherlands through fanatic coaching.
Lotte Heerkens
Academy Coach
Lotte played cricket as a child and stopped when her team fell apart. Ten years later she returns and now plays for the VRA Ladies Team. Lotte is the drive behind the Girls Academy. Her goal is to introduce cricket to more and more girls and start a girls competition in the Netherlands.
Peter Borren
Guest Coach
Former captain of the Dutch national team and level 3 coach. His career highlights are the two wins against England at the 2009 and 2014 T20 World Cups respectively. He has won the Netherlands national Topklasse competition with VRA Amsterdam 5 times in 12 years.
Tim de Leede
Guest Coach
Tim de Leede is a former Dutch cricketer who had a long One Day International career of eleven years for the Dutch national side. A right-handed all-rounder, he played for the Netherlands at the 1996, 2003, and 2007 World Cups. Tim coaches national youth teams and is focused on youth cricket development.
Brady Barends
Online Coach
Brady is a professional cricket player from South Africa and played in Europe for 7 years. His experience as a player and coach is of great value to the Amsterdam Cricket Academy through assisting the coaching staff with specialist video analysis of performance players and young developing talent.
