A two-day training for trainers’ workshop on cricket has been organised for some selected teachers in the Anomabo Circuit, in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.
The non-residential programme, which was put together by the Boys and Girls Club of Ghana, Anomabo, in collaboration with Ghana Cricket Association (GCA) and the Mfantseman Cricket Association, was attended by twenty four teachers drawn from seventeen schools.
The focus was to strategically equip the teachers with the technical know-how of the lesser-known sport so that they could identify, train and develop more talents from the basic school level for the sport.
This way, the trained teachers would serve as coaches and establish Cricket Teams in their respective schools and imbibe the pupils with the requisite understanding of cricket.
An executive board member of the Ghana Cricket Association, Mr Francis Ayikai Okain, noted that though cricket as a sport has existed for many years in Ghana, its contribution towards sports development in the country was less.
The Ghana Cricket Association, he said has, therefore, decided to introduce the sport to more school children at the basic level as part of efforts to make the sport well known to Ghanaians.
He further indicated that “coaches from Accra and the national body will come and fine-tune the process we have begun”.
He categorically assured that it would not be a nine-day wonder, saying “This process we have begun will only end when we see products progressing to the national team to play for Ghana”.
A facilitator, Mr Kwamina Enu Thompson, took the participants through introduction to cricket, as well as the three basic stages of cricket, which consisted of Bowling, Batting and Fielding.
According to him, these three are the base point from which the game was developed and have, therefore, become an integral part of the sport, because everything about cricket dwells on the three.
After the classroom exercise, which focused on theory, Mr Thompson also walked the participants through field work, with the demonstration of enormous practicalities.
The participants were then divided into two teams to play T5 match at Kwegyir Aggrey Senior High/Technical School, which enabled them to have a practical feeling of whatever they were taught at both stages of their training.
Speaking to the Chronicle, Mr Thompson praised the participants for being mentally prepared and fully committed to learn about the rudiments of the game of cricket.
Chairman of the Mfantseman Municipal Basic Schools Sports Association, Rubin Charles Pobi Okai, told The Chronicle that cricket was introduced in the municipality in 2012.
According to him, it was only made known to the Catholic Boys School and Mfantseman Basic School, all in Saltpond.
“Its organisation was not much effective, so during the last three years, we started working so that we could extend it from Saltpond to other circuits”, he said.
He gave the assurance that Mfantseman Cricket Association would liaise with the Ghana Cricket Association to provide basic equipment for schools that would show interest in the sport.
Some of the participants who spoke to The Chronicle expressed their appreciation to the organisers of the event for their foresight.
