The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) has launched a special training programme under the guidance of its coach, Delbert Hicks, for a quartet of female players with the objective of making the national Under-19 team in 2022 and then the West Indies Under-19 team in 2023 for the ICC World Cup.
The four players involved in the special training sessions are: Trisha Hardat, Leah Kamalall, Lakshmi Mahadeo, and Dharshamie Subramanie.
Kamalall is a wicketkeeper and batter, while the talented Hardat is a hard-hitting middle order batter who also bowls medium pace. Mahadeo is a technically correct left-handed batter and spinner, while at just 14 years old, Subramanie is the baby of the players. Hicks predicted that she will be a “headache” for many batters at the youth level with her pace and swing.
Coach Hicks shared that the quartet has the potential to follow in the footsteps of their senior counterparts and one day wear the famous maroon uniform as long as they remain focussed and committed.
The players are working very hard on their physical fitness while special work is also been done on their ground fielding and catching.
Cricket Manager, Ravindranauth Kissoonlall disclosed that special sessions would be organised with the club’s current international female players while the quartet would also be involved in social skills seminars along with other junior members of the club.
Among the topics that would be covered would be public speaking, table etiquette, public manners, mental health, and the importance of education. The club would also be working very hard with the girls to make sure that they remain focussed on their education and would be assisting them in this regard with educational material.
Young females who were born on or after September 1, 2004, are encouraged to join the club and become a part of the programme. The RHTYSC female team is sponsored by Metro Office and Computer Supplies.
Since 2008, RHTYSC has been the only cricket club that has invested in female cricket and currently has the only female cricket club in the country.
The Rose Hall Town Metro Females since its formation has been led by West Indies player Shemaine Campbelle and have never been defeated. They have featured in numerous tournaments organised by the club and the pro-active Berbice Cricket Board, which remains the only county board to organise matches for females.
The team also won the only national female tournament organised by the Guyana Cricket Board, way back in 2009 and has never been given an opportunity to defend the title since no other tournaments been organised.
The club has to date produced four international female players for the West Indies in Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond, and Shabaki Gajnabi, with RHTYSC Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster stating that as a visionary organisation, the RHTYSC is now planning well ahead to having at least one player in the West Indies Under-19 team in 2023.
