So today was our first day of Cricket coaching within the schools of Cameroon after yesterday’s coach ed. After a few hours sleep we found ourselves on our minibus ready to venture out in the 30 degree heat. The trip there was as fun as always. People watching in Cameroon has become my favourite hobby, and the others would probably say listening to my commentary has become theirs! So far we’ve seen fights, people carting baskets on their head and people jumping in front of the van trying to sell us a fire extinguisher. I’ve been in some funny cities in England but it doesn’t even touch Yaounde.
Anyways we arrived at our first school and were ushered into the head mistresses office fairly quickly. A smart lady with class and a successful school behind her. She shook our hands and wished us luck. This is where it began. To begin with we had a ‘small’ group who’s enthusiasm shows you what Cameroon is all about. We ran fielding, batting and bowling drills in under an hour which was really successful for all parties.
The fun began in the next session though, as the heat got stronger so did the intensity. Expecting another group of around 70 we suddenly had 204 kids ready to play cricket. CWB would never turn anyone away so we just got on with it! In my group I had around 50 kids who spoke limited English, an experience I’ll not forget in a hurry, not that there was any problems. The morning finished and we headed off into Cameroon again to our next School. A small dust bowl that in England would be considered as unsafe for sport but in Cameroon is was quite a luxury. Around 30 16-18 year old ‘primary school students ‘ turned up with limited cricket knowledge. Again not a problem and a lot of fun! We were then informed that we were expecting 120 kids on a field no bigger that a football penalty area. Oh god! Luckily an African 120 was actually only 50 and we made the most of it and had 3 skill camps, the kids had never played Cricket before so it was great to see them take to the game so early while also absorbing the ‘ABC’ messages that CWB are passing on.
It is really great to see our team with a wide mixture of skills working together so well. We have people who coach cricket for a living to people who have never picked up a bat before. You wouldn’t be able to tell who was who today from the sessions that were provided. It’s also great to work with the Cameroon Federation team. They are very knowledgable coaches and invaluable when it comes to translation! Hopefully this partnership continues.
The day finished with a trip to the Cameroon Cricket federations office which was very interesting, learning about world cricket is becoming really fascinating. The last stop of the day was to visit our local supermarket which lets say you could run a half marathon before been served at the till. Welcome to Africa!!
We are currently working on uploading my Vlog which we are recording several times a day, so keep your eyes out for that!
Danny Mines
Awesome. Have fun and keep it going. Wish I was there.