With Holly taking a deserved rest from blogging duties (for one day only) team tutor Luke is stepping up to the plate…

Two of the most inspiring (and tiring) days of my coaching career culminated in more than 20 coaches and teachers in celebratory spirit after achieving either a level one or two coaching qualification. To see their transformation from the start of the course through to the assessment was fantastic and a real credit to the hard work they had put in. As Holly alluded to yesterday they all threw themselves into it wholeheartedly and I have no doubt that they will make a real difference in encouraging youngsters to take up cricket and spreading the HIV/AIDS awareness messages. One of the highlights for me as team tutor was the chance to sit down and talk with them, both before and during the course. One young teacher, Veronica told me she had always found cricket very complicated and thought it was for other people but was now determined to turn her school into a cricketing force to be reckoned with. She even said she intended to start playing the game herself.

As well as Veronica I was privileged to meet many other inspiring characters including Peter (who Holly mentioned yesterday). Not only could he bowl equally well left and right handed –including spin- he is also one of the best young coaches I have seen and has the potential to make a real impact in driving Kenyan cricket forward if he is given the opportunity.

There are so many other individuals I could mention but the most satisfying thing for me as a tutor was the development of the group as a whole. Seeing them start to embrace a questioning approach, begin using praise throughout their sessions and incorporate the HIV/AIDS awareness messages was fantastic. We will continue to work with all of them during our schools sessions later this week. I just want to sign off by paying tribute to my fantastic team of CWB coaches who were absolutely brilliant. Hard-working, supportive and unfailingly enthusiastic they made the course a real success and should feel incredibly proud of their contribution.