Another early start and long trek in the bus was the order of the day as the team headed to the southern province of Rwanda and Butare. A few nerves were felt as we embarked on a day in which our relative inexperience in disability cricket had been talked through the night before. We arrived at the Deaf School in Butare to be greeted by 35 kids, keen to get on with the cricket. We set up, divided the kids into groups and got going – catching drills, ground fielding, batting drills and to wrap up, a number of games. The session illustrated the value of good demonstrations and with that anyone can get on and enjoy cricket. The kids were amazing – undaunted by the challenge that 7 ‘muzungi’ presented them and thoroughly enjoyed the morning. We handed over a number of the CWB T-shirts, boxes of pencils and some kwik cricket kit, all of which was received enthusiastically.
After a short lunch break we moved onto Gatagara High School, which, whilst a main stream secondary school, had a number of kids with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. Here again, the numbers we were expecting proved to be variable and we ended up with about 70 new cricketers aged 14 – 18. This was tackled with a 4-station carousel – batting (pull shot), bowling, catching and ground fielding with the afternoon ending with a series of games. If the noise was an indicator of the level of enjoyment then the session was a resounding success; able-bodied or not, everyone seemed to have a great time and we had an impassioned plea for kit before we left.
Another great day! Any nerves about delivering coaching to disabled cricketers were quickly dispelled. The interest and enthusiasm of the young Rwandan cricketers we met in Butare will be long remembered.
Cricket Without Boundaries