Scotiabank Kiddy Cricket celebrates 16th year of existence

Present at the Oval was Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Scotiabank, Anya Schnoor, who met and greeted the participants. Filling the lower section of the Scotiabank stands were parents, students, teachers, well wishers and the much loved Kiddy Cricket Mascot “Chirpy”.

Saturday saw the top 120 performers gathered to have an interactive day, with the hope of meeting and greeting the players of both West Indies and India teams. However this was not possible as rain prevented play for the day.

Less than a month ago, a five-day camp hosted 25 of the exceptional participants in the aim of further fostering technical development.

Scotiabank, who partners with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) in hosting this programme annually, which runs from January through August. This year saw its largest compliment of participants with a total of 2,500 throughout eight school districts nationwide.

The programme captures pupils between the ages of 7–11 and, not only teaches them the physical aspect of the sport, but there are various levels of academia involved.

Additionally, not only the students benefit, but the teachers themselves are enrolled as coaches via the programme. At the end of the yearly cycle, students showcase what was learnt over the months via poetry, art and craft displays all reflecting cricket. Due to the close affiliation between the Kiddy Cricket programme and the TTCB, it functions as a filter programme in which young aspiring cricketers are scouted and nurtured into professionals.

They will all be continuously motivated to work hard because presently, on the West Indies team, there are players who were once in the said Kiddy Cricket programme.