Scotiabanks Andy Davis looks on as the kiddy cricket kids have fun

About 20 children, mainly 7-11 year olds from various schools, the age group which the programme caters to, were part of the ceremony and the fun cricket which followed under the guidance of Charlie Jackson, who has been appointed by the BVI Cricket Association as the territory’s Kiddy Cricket Coordinator.

Mr. Jackson will be working alongside the BVICA, the West Indies Cricket Board, Scotia Bank, the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, several primary schools, local cricket coaches, physical education teachers and, most importantly, the boys and girls who will be part of the programme.

Kiddy Cricket serves as the initial pathway for the progress under the West Indies cricket development programme, and the first goal is to instil fundamental skills at the primary school level, while at the same time, ensuring that the youths have fun and a safe environment to enjoy the game. The WICB is looking for a 30 percent increase in participation from children in each territory by the end of August 2011.

“How quickly we can achieve those goals will depend on many things, but the BVICA has a clearly defined plan involving approaches to schools to hold lunch time sessions and to provide resources, equipment and the necessary support to P.E. teachers,” said Mr. Jackson.

“One of the aims is to include cricket in their lesson plans and to work closely with the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports to put the game firmly back into its After School Programme,” he added.

The soon-to-be rebranded “Clarence Goes to School” manual will be available as a cricket related resource for teachers to use in classrooms.

Ideally, the manual should be officially recognized as part of the curriculum, but for now it will serve as an additional resource for teachers to use for their schools as they see fit. The manual contains materials covering language, art, mathematics, science, and design and technology presented in a style that enables learning, while at the same time, increasing the interest of students in the game.

As more and more schools come on board, inter-school matches, inter-district matches and even inter-island matches will be organised. Part of the programme calls for cricket festivals to be held during Easter, Summer and Christmas. In the long term, the programme will be used to identify talented youths who will be invited to attend further sessions.

Also attending the event were Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture Caroline O’Neal, President of HLSCC Dr. Karl Dawson, and representatives of the BVICA and Scotia Bank.

Kiddy Cricket was introduced in the West Indies in 1999 as an initial step to ensure that the game is made accessible to as many schools as possible, especially for all primary school kids––boys and girls included. Scotia Bank has been the official sponsor since its inception.

Brandon Kartik and many other Kiddy Cricket kids had an enjoyable game at saturday's re launch of the Scotiabank/WICB Kiddy Cricket programme