Sian
Coaching in a country with language barriers, is not impossible. Body language and demonstration with a smile generates great coaching and skill building with joy and humour.
Loved helping the children, seeing the girls embracing opportunities and then playing in the tournament and improving at every step was brilliant. The change makers and coaches are doing a great job in Rajbiraj.
Tim
Rajbiraj is a fascinating place with lots of cricket activity on its 3 grounds (more than expected for a town of its size). I was impressed by the work Sabal Nepal are already doing and how they are collaborating with CWB. This has culminated into a growing school programme in a very short space of time, no mean feat as these can often take many years to develop. The girls playing cricket are fully engaged, thoroughly enjoying it and are so so supportive of each other. It has been a fantastic first week with loads of cricket and huge huge optimism that the programme can continue to grow and thrive for many years to come.
Rachana
This was my first CWB trip and my first week of cricket coaching. It’s been a whirlwind week with coaching sessions (some of which start at 7am), tournaments (where I got the opportunity to put my umpiring skills to test), engaging in important and difficult conversations with the girls we coach around gender discrimination & caste, and some excellent food and drink to polish off the day.
While I expected coaching to be hard work, one of the key learnings I’ve had is the importance of maintaining energy levels through the session. This is more important, in my opinion, than the specific drill one is coaching or game you’re playing – and is probably the most energy consuming part of the session. That said, coaching is immensely gratifying, and while you end the day pretty darn tired, the adrenaline from the sessions leaves you excited about the next day.
The second reflection is seeing the life skills that sports can help develop in action – leadership, teamwork, compassion, confidence… especially coaching girls from underprivileged backgrounds, these things become even more pronounced. There is a lot of gender discrimination that many of these girls face – right from teasing on the court to menstruation stigma, and spending a few minutes after each session speaking to them about some of these challenges and what boys do to support each other has, in my opinion, been a much needed use of time aside from just the cricket skills. We have to be realistic – many (most) of them will not be able to become international cricketers, but skills that one develops through sport along with the conversations they can help facilitate go a long way, and hopefully we can play a small positive impact in their journeys.
My third reflection is on representation – coaching and learning can only go so far unless they’ve seen examples in their community and others who’ve succeeded (yes, a little bit of a chicken and egg problem). This is why I believe the Change makers program we run is such a valuable tool, giving younger boys and girls the opportunity to see young women, probably a few years older to them, paving their way in cricket. Separately, as the only coach of South Asian origin in the CWB contingent, this spurred a lot of questions by the girls, teachers, parents, coaches on my role as a “cricket coach” and how I got to here. I never realised that an example like mine, someone who got involved in cricket barely a few years ago, could inspire all these youngsters that anything is possible (and that examples exist!). As the sport continues to grow, I’m hopeful that the young women we coach see more examples succeed in women’s cricket and sport – be it in their community, in Nepal more broadly, and internationally.
Hard to sum up this week, but if I were to attempt in a few words, it’d be: hard work, gratifying, emotional, humbling, losing one’s voice, and inspirational.
Lee
The work that has been done in the last 6 months through Sabal Nepal and the Cricket Changemakers is clear to see wherever you travel in and around Rajbiraj. From my first visit there around 4 years ago it is hard to believe what progress has been made in normalizing girls playing.
No longer is Sakshi Yadav the only female player on the public field training at night, to see her surrounded by 50 more girls laughing, joking, playing and enjoying cricket was such a privilege and I am sure that in a few more years there will be many more female cricketers from the region.
Ed
It’s been a joy to see so much Nepolese village life close up. Goats, cats, dogs, chickens and cows aplenty. On the cricket front, female cricket participation has been stronger at our sessions than I expected, and the batting standard high. There is so much further to go but, happily, a significant distance travelled already. Working with the Change makers in action has been inspiring. Nepal women’s cricket will get there, with consistent local (female?) coaches regularly returning to schools. More importantly, the visibility of women enjoying playing sport appears to be changing attitudes bit by bit, just as the Change makers project set out to do.
Be First to Comment