Children’s passion for cricket visible
The trials for the teams playing in the new cricket season at Springs Old Boys Cricket Club are done over the next two Sundays.
A number of children of different age groups were seen at the Springs Old Boys’ cricket open day on Saturday.
Lionel Joubert, club chairman and coach, said the idea is to introduce hard ball cricket to the newcomers and new skills to the other age groups who have played cricket before.
Some of the children played cricket for the club’s U/8, U/10, U/12 and U/14 sides last season.
The newcomers were taught the basic skills of cricket.
According to their coach Kelvin Mtshali, the U/8 group learned the basic skills of catching a ball.
They started their training under the watchful eyes of Kelvin, who is an official level one SA Cricket coach as well as Danie Immelman and Lourens Pieterse, both level one coaches.
The boys had to learn how to catch a tennis ball with both hands and it is only after they have managed to do this, that the coaches will bring in a slightly harder ball.
Kelvin said the idea is to introduce them to catching a hard ball used in cricket.
The club provides coaching, with the emphasis on sportsmanship, manners and having fun in a private environment.
The U/12 level one coach is Nico Mostert with the assistance of Lionel.
The U/14 team’s coaches are Craig Mharapara (level one) and Cornel Swart (level two).
The coaching is done by volunteers and parents with level one and level two coaching assist in training the children.
The coaches will assist the players to take them to next level and possibly to a provincial level.
Late comers have another chance to register on Saturday between 9am and noon.
Lionel says during this process the children will practice again.
