Rural cricket in the Alice region seems to have a bright future with new funds being pumped into the Fort Hare Cricket Academy to help unearth more rural grassroots talent.
The Joint Venture (JV) Rural Academy Project was set up at Fort Hare and, along with Border Cricket and Cricket South Africa (CSA), has been successful over its six years to date.
The project has been funded by CSA since it was up and running in 2008 and will now look to improve even more, after Momentum came on board.
Momentum has invested R475000 in the programme and along with eight businesses from around East London are pitching in to build and set up an electronic scoreboard at the university’s main cricket field.
The project has two components – the junior programme and a senior academy.
The programme, which starts at the lowest level with mini-cricket at the various cricket hubs in the regions, looks to identify future talent and provide them with the best possible education and resources to further their skills.
The three focus regions in the area are Alice, Middledrift and Healdtown and once talent has been identified at the cricket hub in the area, the talented kids are placed in the talent identification programme at the academy.
The most promising talents are then sent on a bursary to a Model C school in the Border region.
The schools chosen to nurture this exciting young talent, are Dale Junior in King William’s Town, Queen’s Junior in Queenstown and East London schools Hudson Park Primary and Selborne Primary.
Selborne Primary head of sports Gareth Sincock was all for the initiative despite having no players from the programme.
“We are 100% behind this initiative and think it is fantastic,” Sincock said.
From here the players’ progress is monitored throughout their schooling career. They are expected to keep good grades, as well as progress in cricket with the view of them joining the academy once they have finished school.
A total of 12 children are currently on bursaries at these schools.
The other children in the programme are then catered for at the Regional Performance Centre at Fort Hare where they are brought in on a regular basis for training sessions, as well as a life skills programme.
These children are transported from all the surrounding areas and two-day cricket camps have been planned for certain weekends and holidays.
A Western Region cricket team has also been formed where these children are then pitted against some of the best schools in the Border region.
“We go to the hubs and identify players and then bring some of them to the academy for training,” Fort Hare cricket coach and academy head Mfuneko Ngam said.
“Some of them are then sent to Model C schools where we keep up with their progress before we hopefully can bring them back to study at Fort Hare.”
Not all identified players who are sent to schools will be accepted by the academy as certain criteria need to be met to be accepted into the programme.
The academy is open for anyone in the country to apply to and maybe be accepted to further their cricketing careers.
“We are firstly looking for players who are very committed and are under the age of 23,” Ngam said.
“They should have at least played provincial cricket for either the under-19 or U17 regional side and if not, I personally look at their technique and see if it is something I can work with.”
“They also have to pass matric as they need to be studying, either here or at MEC Business College,” he said.
Cricketers at the academy are also expected to help out with the junior programmes in the area through coaching and other means.
The programme will now look to use the funds gained to further its reach and help with transport costs, while also buying equipment and clothing and the running costs of the two-day cricket camps.
CSA development consultant Greg Hayes said: “I believe these funds can go very far to improving rural cricket in the country.”
Funds give fresh impetus to rural cricket
The Joint Venture (JV) Rural Academy Project was set up at Fort Hare and, along with Border Cricket and Cricket South Africa (CSA), has been successful over its six years to date.
The project has been funded by CSA since it was up and running in 2008 and will now look to improve even more, after Momentum came on board.
Momentum has invested R475000 in the programme and along with eight businesses from around East London are pitching in to build and set up an electronic scoreboard at the university’s main cricket field.
The project has two components – the junior programme and a senior academy.
The programme, which starts at the lowest level with mini-cricket at the various cricket hubs in the regions, looks to identify future talent and provide them with the best possible education and resources to further their skills.
The three focus regions in the area are Alice, Middledrift and Healdtown and once talent has been identified at the cricket hub in the area, the talented kids are placed in the talent identification programme at the academy.
The most promising talents are then sent on a bursary to a Model C school in the Border region.
The schools chosen to nurture this exciting young talent, are Dale Junior in King William’s Town, Queen’s Junior in Queenstown and East London schools Hudson Park Primary and Selborne Primary.
Selborne Primary head of sports Gareth Sincock was all for the initiative despite having no players from the programme.
“We are 100% behind this initiative and think it is fantastic,” Sincock said.
From here the players’ progress is monitored throughout their schooling career. They are expected to keep good grades, as well as progress in cricket with the view of them joining the academy once they have finished school.
A total of 12 children are currently on bursaries at these schools.
The other children in the programme are then catered for at the Regional Performance Centre at Fort Hare where they are brought in on a regular basis for training sessions, as well as a life skills programme.
These children are transported from all the surrounding areas and two-day cricket camps have been planned for certain weekends and holidays.
A Western Region cricket team has also been formed where these children are then pitted against some of the best schools in the Border region.
“We go to the hubs and identify players and then bring some of them to the academy for training,” Fort Hare cricket coach and academy head Mfuneko Ngam said.
“Some of them are then sent to Model C schools where we keep up with their progress before we hopefully can bring them back to study at Fort Hare.”
Not all identified players who are sent to schools will be accepted by the academy as certain criteria need to be met to be accepted into the programme.
The academy is open for anyone in the country to apply to and maybe be accepted to further their cricketing careers.
“We are firstly looking for players who are very committed and are under the age of 23,” Ngam said.
“They should have at least played provincial cricket for either the under-19 or U17 regional side and if not, I personally look at their technique and see if it is something I can work with.”
“They also have to pass matric as they need to be studying, either here or at MEC Business College,” he said.
Cricketers at the academy are also expected to help out with the junior programmes in the area through coaching and other means.
The programme will now look to use the funds gained to further its reach and help with transport costs, while also buying equipment and clothing and the running costs of the two-day cricket camps.
CSA development consultant Greg Hayes said: “I believe these funds can go very far to improving rural cricket in the country.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos