Having had a good breakfast, with Carl cracking his whip to round up his posse, we left sharp at 8.30 from Bumala. Charles, the driver, competently meandered his way through hawkers, cattle, women carrying heavy loads on their heads, cars and motorbikers before emerging onto the open road. We passed through wonderful green landscapes, with maize fields stretching out either side of us. It was a very enjoyable trip to our first coach ed session at a school around 15mins from Bumala.
Surprisingly, when we arrived there were a number of expectant coaches waiting for us. Usually it is the CWB team that does the waiting. The coaching session had been meticulously planned by Head Bawana Coach Gellers. After various introductions and CWB/ABC messages, proper coaching commenced. Callum, in his usual athletic manner introduced the concept of remaining low like a ‘cheetah’ when fielding the ball, while Sarah competently demonstrated the pull shot and Beth showed how to bowl. Gellers’ enthusiastic style had all of the new coaches smiling.
There were also a number of smaller children playing around on the field. We loaned them a bat, ball and stumps and they soon had their own game up and running which resembled real cricket. We were informed that the kids came to watch every time cricket was played at the school and were copying what they had seen. The kids also provided able assistance to the coaches, happily collecting up cones, stumps and balls and taking them over to the kit bag. By the end of the session, the prospective coaches had assimilated enough knowledge to enable them to coach their own pupils and develop cricket in their own schools. They will be tasked tomorrow with running small skills sessions, but the progress made today was encouraging. As usual, Beth was on sandwich duty, providing a good lunch to replenish the energy expended in the morning.
The afternoon was filled with a visit to an orphanage. Our reception party consisted of around 60 toddlers and young children. Each coach took a tennis ball or two and started playing catch with a small group. Beth and Sarah finished the session with a mass conga line which snaked around the field and some ABC chants. The children then lead their own sing along, including a gospel tune or two. A very exhilarating finish to the day. We left orphanage with a bat and some balls, some footballs, hairbands for the girls and smiling faces.
Safdar