Well, that’s it, trip Cameroon Autumn 2015 is over and we are (mostly) back in the UK.
To sum up our trip is hard. We were a small team with only two cricketers and two newbies but you would never know it from the way everyone threw themselves into every activity.
Anouck had forgotten nothing from her trip last year to Kenya and although her cricket knowledge was still pretty basic, her delivery of the ABCT messages and indeed her running of the skills stations was flawless. Thank you Nushka for your tireless enthusiasm and French translation skills 🙂
David was a bit apprehensive, a cricket coach in Devon, he wasn’t sure what to expect from a bunch of Cameroonian kids who had never seen cricket. He needn’t have worried, from the get go his bowing and dad dancing had the kids eating out of the palm of his hand. Thank you Davey for being my cricketing right hand man, we will never forget you were always the first on the dancefloor 🙂
Rebecca could speak French, knew nothing about cricket but plenty about how to enagage with kids. By the end of the two weeks, she could bowl straight, bat straight and catch with her fingers pointing down. Her rapport with the kids was something else, her q&a sessions with some of them really reinforced why we need to do this. Thank you Becs for your can do attitude and willingness to get involved 🙂
Jo was our country manager, along on the trip as part of her PhD research as opposed to a full time member of the coaching team. Nevertheless, whenever she had the time, she would get stuck in and together we ran the biggest hokey cokey I have ever seen. Thank you Jo for all your logistical help, these trips wouldn’t happen without you 🙂
And finally, Victor and all the guys from the CCF. Winston, mon fils, you are amazing and an inspiration to me, keep up the yoga! Franck and Derick, I will miss your out of tune singing on the bus and those incredible smiles. Lawrence and James, you did a fantastic job on the itineraries, we couldn’t have asked for better (even the 7.30am starts). Michel, Charles and Karine, it was a pleasure to have you with us in Yaounde. And Magic Johnson, our driver extraordinaire, who got us where we needed to be through non existant gaps in traffic. You are all Team Awesome.