Sunday: Sustainable Cricket on the Game Reserve – Pete

I’ve touched before on the need for sustainable growth from Cricket Without Boundaries projects. A successful CWB trip has to be about more than just making sure we get kids to enjoy playing the game once – they have to pick it up, and play when we’re not there. Here in Nanyuki we’ve seen a great example of how that can work, and another of what we can achieve.

Whilst the rest of the team led sessions in local schools, two of our senior coaches – Dave and Alan, have taken a group of thirty young teachers, and over the course of two intensive days they’ve given them a real quality level one assessment. The work they’ve done over the last two days should have a real lasting impact on cricket in this part of Kenya.

There was James who cycled 10miles a day for the course so he could take it back to teach the nomadic Masaai tribe he teaches, and the man was a star.

Then there was Mike, who’s been helping us deliver sessions since we arrived in this part of Kenya, and his enthusiasm for the game is fantastic. There were too many more fantastic new coaches to mention but the work of Anne and Millcent, two teachers from the school which kindly hosted us, deserves a mention. The quality of the coaching those two delivered after just two days was phenomenal, and with the kit that their school has the whole team left confident that the two of them can help their school produce some real quality cricketers.

Creating the grounds for sustainable cricket is one thing but seeing it taking hold six months down the line is quite another. In CWB’s last project to Kenya in October they took the game, some kit, some AIDS awareness T-Shirts and the hope of developing the game to a remote school on a Game Reserve an hour and a half out of Nanyuki called Ol Jogi.

As we pulled up to the school we were greeted by the unmistakable sight of 100 children playing cricket. In fact not just playing but receiving some quality coaching. Six months ago, local teacher Azizz took a coaching course with CWB and now his students play twice a week.

There’s no substitute for playing equipment, that’s why every CWB project takes out as much cricket kit as the airlines will allow and brings none back. Azizz was making great use of the two sets of stumps, bats and balls the last trip left behind, and the T-shirts left are still worn with pride by every student that got one at the school.

Ol Jogi is a real success story for CWB – the teachers and head are great advocates for the game and they are a great example of what can be achieved. And they are getting lots of AIDS awareness stuff into their sessions too. Speak to you again soon.

Pete