We awoke feeling very bleary eyed. Very heavy rain from 4:00am had meant we were all awake very early and the guttering had acted as a waterfall. Also we had very loud Kenyan Army staying at the hotel for the evening!
After breakfast we still had some drizzle in the air but the main rain had stopped – as usual we bump started the mini bus and set off. We had to avoid various rivers of rain water flooding down the main roads (road is a broad use of this word) but the journey was only short and we arrived the rain had cleared up totally.
The school was a ‘Colonial Style’ dating from 1940 and everything was very formal, but really friendly. We met the Sports master and deputy Head who informed us that the school also catered for Special Needs – both regular and autistic. They then led us out to the field so we could set up for 11:00am. The facilities were obviously wet but there was a large hard area in the middle of the area that allowed us set up where we wanted.
We got all the equipment set out but this did prove very challenging as a large crowd of spectators was building up meaning that stumps, bats cones, etc were all finding their way to other parts of the field. Great fun though in chasing all of these down!
We had 42 Children to coach, both boys and girls, and as usual we started with introductions and then got cracking with a warm up from Simon. This was then followed by us breaking up into specialist skill sets with Steve taking a front foot drive session, Ghazi on bowling duties, Simon and Phil on fielding(catching) and Ben and Stephen on fielding skills (pick up, hitting stumps, etc).
We finished with photos, thanks, etc and we were then summoned to the Head Masters office (see the photo of us all sat out side waiting for our punishment!). We thought we better ‘butter her up’ so we all signed a bat on behalf of CWB before we entered the office. The room was like going back in time with a plethora of trophies amassed over a number of years since inception of the school. We were thanked and then presented the bat.
Back to the Hotel now, with a further bump start and ready for the afternoon.
Phil, Simon and Steve went in search of some extra Sports equipment for the afternoon sessions but only managed to find a very undercooked, suspect, lunch. In the meantime Ben, Ed and Ghazi got back into the next edition of Inspector Mwala on TV – must be seen to be believed!!!
We headed off to Highway Secondary in the afternoon which was the longest journey yet. Lots of traffic and lots of roadworks – just like the UK!. Getting good at bump starts now but we did seen another mini bus doing a reverse bump start – we have tasked our driver with achieving this later in the week.
Arrived at school and met deputy head and Sports master before going out to the play area. This was a large grass area, mainly football pitches, with a small hard mud area for a wicket. Intro as usual and then a Ghazi warm up – during this we heard lots of shouts from Ghazi of ‘Gotcha” (Swahili for stop).
We then a full session for all 30 lads led by steve doing the front foot drive. All other Coaches took a small group during this working on the main skills. This worked really well and will be used again.
We the started splitting the lads into 4 groups where up on Ed decided to grab anyone walking past including two lads on their way home with back packs on!
Ghazi and Simon carried out a pull shot session, Steve carried out fielding, Ed and Stephen catching, and Phil carried out a bowling (grenade throwing!!) session.
We had the normal summary and thanks and commented on some very good players, particularly one bowler and also a lad who managed to take the mickey out of the Scottish National team as Kenya would always beat them!! Egg on his face when the first catch sent to him by Stephen (lives in Scotland) was dropped!!
Moved inside to speak to the sports master and were given a drink and biscuits – this was a really great touch. We also presented a bat on behalf of CWB to him.
Back to the hotel via the many street sellers (you could get anything from flowers, maps, knives, etc). We were told to keep valuables away from our laps if windows were open. Having arrived back, after what seemed like an eternity we had a well deserved Tusker (local, very good, beer) and headed off for a Curry. Great food, nice change, and then back to the Hotel for the first Half of Spurs v Inter Milan. Then bed as we have 3 sessions tomorrow!
Stephen, Ben and Ghazi
