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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

GRASSROOTS Cricket Zimbabwe are enhancing their initiatives to transform young lives in vulnerable communities of Zimbabwe through cricket as they engaged Australian cricket umpire and coach Paul Wilson to conduct coaching clinics in several communities in Harare.

Wilson, who is a former cricketer, is in the country for a two-week programme that ends next week.

So far he has been to Hatcliffe, Hopley and Glen View.

The coaching clinics are focusing on the basics of cricket as well as Wilson sharing his experience and knowledge with the aspiring players.

Yesterday he was at Rocview Cricket Academy at Glen View 2 High School.

“We have been working with a couple of areas already before today (yesterday) . . . We have got a couple of others after this as well.

“So I am working with a group called Grassroots Cricket which is about bringing cricket into the communities, introducing cricket and getting them participating in team sport, particularly cricket, to get them more active and helping them in the situations that they are in at home.

“So (it’s all about) getting them involved in sport, keeping fit, keeping healthy and all those things that team sport and cricket can bring.

“What I have seen where I have been in those communities, is how natural the skills are for those kids, how enthusiastic they are and the smiles on those kids’ faces when we were there has been priceless” said Wilson.

He said with some of the participants already playing, they just want to help enhance their skills.

Rocview Cricket Academy caters for players of different age-groups from Under-11, Under-13, Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19.

And at least 60 participants from the academy attended yesterday’s coaching clinic.

The Academy’s acting chairperson, Ronald Tapera, said they are grateful for the opportunity and pointed out that most of their support in terms of equipment is from Grassroots Cricket Zimbabwe who are the brainchild of Australia-based Zimbabwean, Tawanda Karasa.

They were linked to Grassroots Cricket by their local partner, Young Achievement Sports for Development (YASD).

“Grassroots Cricket has done a lot. Some of the equipment that we have is donated from them because we, as an Academy, are not able to afford these things as well as the parents, they are not able to afford some of those things.

“Our local partner that made it all possible is YASD — Young Achievement Sports for Development — those are the ones that work directly with Grassroots Cricket in Australia,” said Tapera.

Grassroots Cricket co-ordinator in Zimbabwe, Tawanda Jimu, said they have a fund-raising dinner lined up for next week in Harare, to raise funds that can cater for the other needs of their targeted beneficiaries besides sport.

Today they take their programme to Mufakose and Glen Norah. They also have a high performance elite programme running from today until Saturday at Performance Hub.

“So, it’s basically trying to remove the kids from the streets and just keeping them occupied with something that will be meaningful in their lives.

“We have been to Hopley. We went to Hatcliffe yesterday (Tuesday) and today we are here in Glen View.

Tomorrow we should be in Mufakose, then Glen Norah, just trying to get to the kids, mostly to introduce the game of cricket to the kids and also trying to bring them out of the situations (they are in) and just give them hope and a smile,” said Jimu.

They are hoping to make the programme an annual event, and expand to other provinces.

Grassroots Cricket is a non-profit organisation harnessing the power of cricket to help transform young lives in vulnerable communities of Zimbabwe by providing life coaches, life skills and essential support.

Grassroots Cricket is based in Australia.