Monday & Tuesday – Pete

Hi my name is Pete and I’ll be blogging for Cricket Without Boundaries for the next two weeks we are in Kenya, hopefully developing the game we love and putting across and HIV/AIDS message at the same time.

After a fantastic first two days of rhinos, lions and local kids playing Kwik Cricket, Monday brought the first day of real work. A 6:30 start followed by a two hour journey through some of the finest tea country on the planet took us to Kericho Teacher Training College.

Teaching teachers is the very best way to get any message across. CWB is only in Kenya for two weeks but if we get a new generation of coaches into cricket and delivering an awareness message, that sort of work is going to last for generations, so this was to be a huge test.

As a group we were determined to show everyone we met what a great game cricket is, and to tie it in with that paramount ABC message.
A – For Abstain
B – For Be Faithful
C – Use a Condom/Use Protection

At the teacher training college we were greeted by 50 20-something aspiring teachers and after a warm up we quickly split them into two groups – those who’d played before and were ready to become coaches, and those who needed a more intorductory session. From there Gareth Davis took the novices and David Dolman took the more experienced – This year’s trip is blessed with three professional Level 3 coaches so we certainly aren’t lacking in top level technical ability.

As a group we decided that on top of the technical side of things we needed to leave these young students with a love for cricket. Cricket is not on the sporting syllabus in Kenya, and the way to get it on is for teachers to demand it, so what we looked to do was create a generation of young teachers who see the benefit of the finest game on the planet, and so hopefully insist their school teach it. CWB is all about sustainability, both in HIV/AIDS awareness and cricket, so if we can get to a point where cricket gets on to the syllabus we will know we have made lasting change.

The major agent for cricket development in this part of Kenya, Nakuru, is the incredible coach/cricket development officer/wicket kepeper batsman David Odihambo. The man is one of the finest, most inspirational coaches we have ever seen, and he is the guy who will be delivering cricket development 52 weeks a year – and it’s clear he is doing a brilliant job.

On Tuesday the team took cricket into two local schools, where we were greeted like celebrities – a crowd of 200 kids saw our arrival at the first school and it was clear many of them had never seen Europeans in the flesh before. As coaches we are in a unique position to get a message about HIV/AIDS awareness across. As a coach, you are a role model, and in a great position to re-inforce a message that children and young people might not want to hear from the usual sources – the parent, teachers and pastors – so cricket coaches are in a great position to get that all important awareness message across.

If the first two days have taught us anything, it is that the Kenyans we have worked with so far have been enthusiastic, friendly, incredibly athletic and they have had a tremendous desire to learn – the perfect students. At its core cricket is such an easy game to pick up and get into, and we’ve already seen a real potential for the game in this sports mad country.

A CWB trip is undoubtedly a learning process – there’s plenty of ways we can improve and we are eager to do so, but already we feel like we have started to get the message across.

See you soon.

Pete