We left the Cricket House at 9am to go to the Cricket Centre. Wow. Taking the lease on a largely derelict and overgrown site from the city council the cricket centre is half way up a hill, the top section of a municipal sporting area.
The cricket area is roughly half the size of a hockey pitch.and the surface is entirely astroturf. There are four batting nets and an open ‘field’ area, all of which were in use by the playing squads, men and women together, as the strength and conditioning coach put them through their paces early morning before it got too hot. On the edge of the area were two cabins. Only when I got up close did I realise it was actually two shipping containers with an open deck area between them, and the whole area covered with a cantilever roof. Brilliant design and decoration. Dark green, the whole area was branded yellow and green for Brazil colours. Outdoor chairs were green and yellow, tables covered with green. Door mats at every entrance green with Cricket Brasil logo.
With around 5 years left on the lease on the existing cricket centre, Cricket Brasil also now has a 10 year lease on the building below it, a grand building which once would have been the hub of a country club. It’s a listed building that is undergoing rapid but careful renovation to specifically meet the needs of an international HQ of sport. This includes the addition of an exercise area and gym, a physio room, storage (lots of it!), showers, a kitchen, a function area and a central office. All branded green and yellow. The plan is for the renovations to finish by 30 April which clearly shows greater faith in builders than I would have!
The next part of the plan is to take over the maintenance of the rest of the public sports park – the basketball courts, netball, 5 a side, tennis courts, swimming pool and manage the whole site as a public / community sports area, working on multiple projects to give as many kids opportunities to play sport as can physically fit in. It’s clear from what I’ve seen today that connecting vision and drive gets things delivered.
Monday mornings is when all the teams and coaches get together. That too is well planned. The shirts/uniform of all involved are to the same design. Roles are distinguished by shirt colours. Community Coaches wear black, national contracted players green, academy players blue, and squad coaches white. That sense of belonging and branding runs through everything like a (green and) golden thread. The Monday morning meeting outlines the week’s activities for all concerned.. Contracted players go out in to the community with the coaches. Many of them are in university, and Cricket Brasil pays their tuition fees. Their community coaching repays this investment and then some. Some community coaches used to be contracted players, but have moved in to coaching for various reasons. It was lovely to see three children running around. Mothers are welcome, and here are generally coaches, as they have taken the individual decision that playing, and the travelling, is too intensive to merge with childcare. Hmm, couple of high level players like Nat Sciver Brunt and Lea Tahuhu may disagree.
After the meeting training started. Women and Mens’s squads together completing a running session as part of their strength and conditioning. Interestingly, in Brasil it was the women’s team who were centrally contracted first. The men’s squad have only been contracted since October 2025, so have a lot of catching up to do! The drills continued after the running. Initially taken by CWBs Sara Begg the session was handed to/taken over by Miara, who put the squads and herself through their paces before a well earned rest and lunch.
Following a quick stop in a local cafe for lunch we headed off for our first CWB facilitated session, at Escola David Campista, a pink painted school under a cable car! No real outdoor playing area so we were put in a multi function hall that could be used for sports, but also awards nights and drama, as there is a small stage. The afternoon was ours, with 4 groups of about 50 at a time spread over about 2 hours. Chaotic of course, but great fun. Split the hall in to three, and set up batting bowling and fielding stations. After the first rotation, smoothly moved in to bowling station and 2 small games of rapid fire. All went really well, all the kids engaged well. As did the teacher, who joined in, and will certainly be using rapid fire in his lessons in future!
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