Windies Gear For Kiddy Cricketers

Details

Cricket

Thursday, 22 November 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St. john's - The West Indies Cricket Board and ScotiaBank Kiddy Cricket presented gear to local schools and organizations in Antigua & Barbuda on Wednesday as part of the ongoing 13-year-old youth sporting initiative.

The brief ceremony at the Scotia Bank Antigua High Street headquarters saw recipients from the Adele School, Rotaract Club of Antigua, the School for the Deaf and others receiving cricket kits and goodies as part of the annual distribution program. Each recipient expressed gratitude to the WICB and Scotia Bank for the equipment, and pledged to their effective use.

Present at the presentation were WICB and Scotia Bank officials including new Scotia Bank country manager Gordon Julien. WICB’s Cricket Operations head Roland Holder said the initiative comes as part of the Kiddy Cricket program designed to marry education with sports.

He said the idea is to provide both discipline in education and love for cricket. “In marrying the two we try to promote that you can also play sports and achieve academic excellence,” Holder said.

So far two West Indies Cricket players currently on the international teams have come through the Kiddy Cricket program.

The packages handed out on Wednesday saw each school and organization receiving a case complete with two cricket bats, two sets of stumps and two cricket balls.

Overall, the Kiddy Cricket program injects some US$40,000 across more than a dozen countries in the Caribbean in equipment alone, and yesterday’s initiative comes as part of that injection. Over 100,000 children are reached annually.

Head of Scotia Bank Antigua Gordon Julien told Caribarena that the move was indeed a pleasure both for the bank and for him personally.

“Its an excellent program,” Gordon said, adding that more than 2000 cricket kits have been distributed as part of the program. He said the bank, outside of promoting the spirit of cricket within schools and organizations, also looks to provide the youth with ample exposure at every international West Indies match played in the region. The next such exposure will take place in the first quarter of 2013. “There they have the opportunity to come out and show themselves to the audience. I think it is important that they get that exposure and feel what it feels like to be on center stage. The kids look forward to that and it motivates them to develop their skills in cricket.”

The Bank of Nova Scotia has been in the Caribbean before expanding to Toronto where it is now headquartered, and, according to Julian, Scotia Bank sees it fitting to promote yet another Caribbean culture.

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