This is my first blog as part on an in-country team and is Day Three of the Botswana visit. My first impressions of Bots and Gabs have been brilliant – a really peaceful, stable county, obviously not without its problems (of which HIV/AIDS is a major one) but with none of the hostility and ever present slight air of menace I have experienced in other countries in Africa. Pretty quiet too, if you are prepared to take your life in your hands, crossing from our base at the Stay Easy Inn (which doesn’t have a swimming pool) to the Avani (formerly the Gab Sun) (which does have a pool and for which negotiations for use are well in hand).
The Botswana CA have been excellent hosts, with their bar a great place to chill out a long flight and arrival on Saturday, rest day on Sunday and a catch up on most of the RWC quarter-finals and most importantly, “The Big One”, Hull City’s Yorkshire derby at Sheffield Wednesday.
This Day One of the coaching programme was my first exposure to CWB’s modus operand and an exhausting one in the heat, helped immeasurably by our team of young and very keen local coaches. The morning at Rainbow private school was a brilliant Coach Education session led by the equally brilliant Wiltshire CDO Ali Goddard for a group of eight local teachers. All participant attendees were then awarded their Level 1 ICC certificate and some of the teachers were good enough to stay behind to bring their school to the afternoon session and then help with the coaching programme. Happily the fabled chicken gizzards had yet to put in an appearance and pasta lunch for the coaches in the necessary shade with the teachers was followed by an afternoon session for a group of about 48 local school-children from four schools, for whom we ran a series of three coaching stations on batting, throwing and catching and then a Kwik cricket tournament – lots of opportunity to put across ABCT’s and many of the children were very receptive.
With the temperature rising, this was a good initial way for me to experience CWB at first-hand and reflect with some regret on the disclosure by the very impressive head-mistress of Rainbow that (as an English-born Saffie) she is due to fly to London to see both RWC semis and the final.
Nick
Keep up the good work.
Take care on that road — a cold beer can be very tempting. Pass on best wishes to all at the Gabs Oval. Ask Tefo if he’s done any keeping with the gloves we presented to him. Keep enjoying it.