The KFC Mini-Cricket festivals are well underway taking place in different private schools in Johannesburg and cricket stadiums that vary. Thousands of children at a time are honing their skills and building a love for the game. The stats which came out of mini-cricket post in the 2015/16 cricket season are staggering and over 114,000 children, boys and girls from 5,584 schools now participate in the programme.
This makes the event one of the biggest grassroots development programme in South Africa by some stretch. The competition is the first step in Cricket South Africa’s pipeline to the Proteas and is the first taste of cricket for the majority of children taking up the game. It is a soft-ball version of cricket focusing on participation and fun ensuring every player is given ample chance to bat, bowl and field.
It aims to set young South Africans on the path to international stardom by entrenching cricketing basics and a love for the game by reaching as many children as possible. The programme offers each coach the chance to up-skill themselves through initiatives such as regional seminars where local coaches involved in the programme meet to share best practice and to learn from standout coaches and CSA representatives.
As a result, many coaches have been able to use the mini-cricket as a catalyst to forge a career for themselves in the game. The outcome of this is more people working towards becoming qualified coaches. The aim of the event is develop young players from grassroots to professional level.
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