By Ben
Our second working day in Francistown started with another bumpy ride from our Chalets at Woodlands Lodge, to the same local cricket ground from the previous morning. Shortly after our arrival we were joined by about 27 teachers whom had been in attendance the previous day. We were not entirely sure how many children we would have in the afternoon, though we were assured it would be less than the 120 we had had the day before. We had by this point learnt to take such estimates with a pinch of salt as we had been told several times that the figure would be well below 100 and in the end we often had twice the number predicted!
The morning took a slightly different format as we had the teachers do some peer presentations. Basically, they were split into 3 groups and they each took it in turns to present one of the skills we had taken them through the day before. The 3 groups were run by Jono, Mick and Rachel. Together with Richard, I helped Mick assess and give feedback to the teachers in preparation for their full assessment in the afternoon.
After a brief drinks break, we ran a quick quiz for the teachers, who came up with some answers and ways of demonstrating their point which were at times unbelievably creative! There were some very nice prizes on offer too, as well as some yellow coaching shirts which we handed out to the teachers after the quiz.
Following the quiz we then gave the teachers a quick demonstration of a few different games aside from continuous cricket that they could play with the children in the afternoon assessment. Great fun was had by all judging by the laughter that could soon be heard even though several of the teachers in Mick’s group got a bit confused with when and where to run in the Snakes & Ladders game.
We popped back into town for lunch and headed to KFC much to Jono’s delight! My requests for a second piece of chicken appeared to confuse the girl serving me but thankfully our Project Leader was kind enough to let me have his. Fed and watered we headed back to the cricket ground for the afternoon assessments with the teachers and about 20 local primary schoolchildren.
Whilst the coaches put the teachers through their paces I settled down in a corner to catch up on paperwork. All teachers did well and left as newly qualified cricket coaches. We then headed back to the Chalets for a couple of hours rest (or in Smurf’s case to deal with pre Champions League match jitters). Around 7pm our driver Maswabi drove us to a very nice place to eat and watch the Chelsea match. Smurf’s nerves were severely tested for 90 minutes as were our ears by a highly excitable and vocal local Chelsea supporter. After the final whistle we all we headed back a happy but rather tired team.
