| Two officials from the West Indies Cricket Board were in Anguilla several days ago to hold a training workshop and to implement what is called “a grass-root cricket”programme in the primary schools.They were K.J. Singh, Project Officer, responsible for Kiddy Cricket in the region; and his colleague, FawwazBaksh. |
“The Kiddies Cricket programme has been around across the Caribbean for the past thirteen years,” Mr. Singh told The Anguillian. “We saw it fit to come to Anguilla and invite its neighbouring counterparts from the US Virgin Islands to be involved in a one-day workshop just to get the programme back in session in the primary schools here in Anguilla. “The Kiddies Cricket programme is the foundation of all cricket, if we look at the pyramid and the age group, that being six to eleven years old. We try to target the children in the primary schools, deliver the necessary resources – whether coaching services or cricket gear to them – for them to have the technical base to move on to the next level of cricket. While they are doing that, we encourage them to have fun, develop a love for the game and also try for the next level – the grass-root level in terms of their cricketing career. In Anguilla, we have seen the likes of Omari Banks, and many others, who have developed into national and regional stars. We hope we can continue that success in Anguilla.” FawwazBaksh said the grass-root programme was started a year ago and that he and Singh were happy to launch it in Anguilla. “It is a youth development programme targeting youngsters in the ages of eleven to seventeen years old. “Simply, it is to get any child interested in the game of cricket and the technical training they would need,” he stated. “It reaches all the communities in Anguilla and regardless of the youngsters’ background or experience they can sign up for the grass-root programme. There are venues across Anguilla …where they would be provided with coaching from the very basics of cricket all the way up to the technical aspects.” President of the Anguilla Cricket Association, Rommel Hughes, who was pleased to have the West Indies Cricket Board personnel on the island, told The Anguillianthat there were seventeen participants in the workshop, two of whom were from St. Thomas. The fifteen from Anguilla included representatives from the Ministry of Sports and cricket enthusiasts from throughout the island. Mr. Hughes said a Kiddies Cricket coach in Anguilla was being paid by the West Indies Cricket Board, in conjunction with Scotia Bank, to work with other coaches, the primary schools and the physical education teachers there, to promote the sport. “We are hoping to go into the private schools as well so that wecan have as broad a spread as we possibly can,” he stated. “The cricket gear has been provided by Scotia Bank and the West Indies Cricket Board. It was distributed to the schools throughout the island so that the children, six to eleven years old, can have a feel of the equipment.” Valdez Johnson, Kiddies Cricket Coordinator at Scotia Bank, commented: “We are proud to work with the West Indies Cricket Board. It is a good programme for children in Anguilla to be exposed to, like those in the larger Caribbean islands. We are very happy to have Mr. Singh coming down from Antigua and sharing his experience and programme with us.” Cricket Development Officer, working with school children, Cardigan Connor, said the cricket tutoring programme was going exactly as planned. “It covers the basics for the very young in the primary schools all the way up to even the club level which, of course, leads into the national level,” he said. “It is good having a number of our cricketers, some of whom have retired, playing a major role in the development of cricket in Anguilla. It is also a huge boost from the West Indies Cricket Board for us to be able to say that we can take our cricket where we would like it to go.” |
