Outjo Girls Cricket Development Festival

A Success:

The year 2018 came with new development initiatives especially when it comes to the development of cricket in the township of Outjo, over the past few years Cricket Namibia in partnerships with First National Bank of Namibia initiated the FNB Kwata Cricket development program with high hopes to take the sport of cricket to the previously disadvantaged communities especially in the remote areas, the programme was roll out to all parts of the country were Cricket Namibia development officers work with schools to develop the sport amongst young boys and girls and Outjo is no exception to this program.

With the ever increasing interest for the sport of cricket amongst young girls in Outjo, a girls cricket development festival was organized which only catered for girls from the age of 9-15 years of age, the event was hosted at the popular Etoshapoort Sports Stadium on the 16-17 February 2018, the event was aimed to give all girls from all primary schools especially state schools the opportunity to play and learn the basic skills of cricket ranging from bowling, batting and fielding. The event was further aimed to promote the sport within the girls and create awareness for the sport while developing and observing talents.

The Outjo girl’s cricket development festival was well attended with over 120 girls from all government schools in Outjo, the two day event gave the opportunity to all girls from those who played cricket before and to those who got exposed for the first time through this initiative, on Saturday the girls were divided into teams of 8 players on each side and then played matches in a Kwata Cricket format, this matches gave the girls the opportunity to learn the basic rules and skills of cricket and we are happy that all went well and as per our objective.

The event was conducted with the assistance of our U/15 Players who played a big role during the entire festival and we are grateful for the hard work and commitment towards the development of cricket in Outjo.

It was also a great privilege for our senior girl’s cricket team (u13/15) who got the opportunity to be coached by Mr Awees Veljeon from the Northern Leopard Cricket Club, a local cricket club, the girls on Friday went through a specialised coaching were they were taught the techniques of batting, bowling and fielding, Mr Veljoen said it’s a great platform for the girls as they get the opportunity to learn the sport of cricket and one day present the county within the various age groups, he was also impressed by the willingness and passion for the sport within the girls.

In conclusion we want to appreciate everyone that made this event possible, we want to give our greatest appreciations to Cricket Namibia, Erongo Foods Products Pty Ltd who also sponsored the event with Apples and Oranges, schools and lastly Outjo Municipality for making the field available for this prestigious event, we are looking forward to developing cricket amongst all communities going forward.

 

 

– Wilhem Tuhafeni (Outjo development Officer)

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