Day 2 of coaching started with a buzz of anticipation and excitement as we gathered outside the hotel to travel to Surunga, a new area of focus for Sabal Nepal and CWB.
However a mixed start ensued as our designated driver didn’t seem to think he was booked to take us but we soon convinced him otherwise. This was closely followed by a kit bag flying off the roof rack at high speed (no cricket equipment was harmed in the making of this blog). Bungees are now compulsory on all CWB trips.
The team was split to visit more schools with Sara, Rachana and me supporting local coaches Ujwal and Raul. We visited Shree Keshab Snark Ma Bi Tikulia School where the local Sabal team who have only just started visiting to help promote Cricket 4 Equality. The session were great fun with a mixture of cricket, lots of laughter, a pinch of chaos and a large dose of promoting gender equality to give girls a chance to play cricket. Ujwal was a superstar engaging with the kids and recruiting more and more girls to join the programme.
Off to the next school, which involved a bone crunching drive through rural Terai (Southern Nepal) with only 3 near death experiences. With limited time we ran a quick but highly energetic session with culminated in the high octane rapid fire, watched by a packed grandstand.
As always key messages were expertly delivered by the local coaches with another mass recruitment drive for the weekly community sessions.
In the afternoon we changed teams which included Sian the name slayer, Mr D Choudary Esq and Manju a Changemaker, who are local girls who volunteer to run, recruit and lead the community sessions, but more importantly they are inspirational leaders and role models to all the girls. It was amazing to watch Manju in action as she promoted gender equality and challenged the cultural norms today large group of boys and girls with teachers listening in too. As is now standard in all sessions, it ended with a successful recruitment drive.
Today was all about watching the local Sabal Nepal team and Changemakers at work. Incredible to see how much they have achieved in such a short space of time.
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