The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) recently held its 11th annual cricket academy under the sponsorship of beverage giants Banks DIH through its Sprite soft drink at the Club’s Area ‘H’ pavilion.
Over 85 young cricketers graduated from the three-week old academy under the supervision of Stanford Twenty20 cricket coaches Renwick Batson and Winston Smith.
They were assisted by Senior Berbice player Delbert Hicks.
The main aims of the academy were not only to coach the youths in the game of cricket, but also to enable them to become proper ambassadors of the game and role models to their peers.
Batting, bowling and fielding drills were part of the skills learnt, whilst HIV/ AIDS, Peer Pressure, Sports Etiquette, Drugs and Drug Abuse, Personal Hygiene, Public and Table Manners were part of the topics taught in relation to the game off the field.
Making brief remarks at the presentation ceremony held at the Area ‘H’ ground, Club Secretary Hilbert Foster hailed the academy as a success and the best ever and praised the youths for the discipline they displayed as well as the ability to work hard.
“I challenge you to continue this attribute that you possess as you strive to not only play for Guyana, but the West Indies. You must remember to practice hard at your game as amongst one of you is a next Shivnarine Chanderpaul and you can use the same formula he has used to become what he has today, and that is the number one batsman in the world.”
Foster noted that it was heartbreaking at times to read about the constant failures of the West Indies cricket team and called on the youths to be a part of the revival of the game in the Caribbean.
“You can be a part of the revival of West Indies cricket and the one way to do so, is by playing the game for the love of it and not the financial gains that comes with it as is the case of many cricketers today, thus I challenge other cricket clubs and associations to wake up from this slumber and do more in the likes of organizing cricket and cricket development programme and stop the rapid decline of the game.”
Coach Winston Smith, who is also the co-coordinator of the academy, hailed the large turnout and the amount of talent that was on display whilst indicating that the coaches were able to complete their programmes.
“It was nice to see the response from you the participants in terms of the turn out and discipline displayed with the latter being the highlight of the academy. All of you showed commitment and an all round improvement and I must commend you for this.”
Berbice Under-15 off spinner Dominic Ricky was named the best batsman and cricketer of the academy following his century made in one of the organized matches that coincided with the level of discipline and commitment he displayed. Shawn Pereira won the best bowler award whilst Daniel Lewis (best fielder), Adrian Persaud (Most Discipline), Lloyden Lewis (Most Committed), Veramootoo Senwasena (Most Promising) and Jamal Jarvis (Most Improved) were all awarded with prizes. Seven (7) other academy graduates were presented with prizes for their 100% attendance record in the academy which saw a total of $120,000 being distributed in prizes inclusive of cricket bats, educational packages, hygiene kits and polo shirts.
The management of the club said it would like to express its profound gratitude to Banks DIH for their sponsorship under the Sprite soft drink brand. Special thanks must be extended to Bakewell, H. A Snacks Limited, Rajendra Persaud, Albion Sugar Estate, Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), Farfan and Mendes, Western Union, Spready’s Snackette and Demerara Bank for their co-operation.
