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COACH CRICKET

TEACHING CRICKET IN GHANA? NOW THERE'S A THOUGHT!!

AKWAABA ("welcome") to our schools' first ever cricket team in Ghana.

Travellers Worldwide, together with the Ghana Cricket Association, have set up a cricket development program to develop the sport in Ghana and to give Ghanaian children the opportunity to learn to play and compete within a new and exciting sport.

We're looking for cricket enthusiasts as volunteers who can continue with the ground work we've already started. We run a number of successful cricket tournaments and need volunteers to continue the good work of our previous volunteers running these tournaments and coaching at our schools.

You don't have to a great knowledge of the game and the rules, but you must be an enthusiastic person who enjoys playing the game.

On this page:

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About Ghana and our fascinating voluntary projects available for you to do
The first cricket team plus volunteers
The first school cricket team!

Return to the Ghana Home Page and
the list of all our projects in Ghana

"All three schools seem to appreciate playing a new game and the Kwik-Cricket equipment is ideal for youngsters. The kids are certainly wildly enthusiastic! Charlie, Jenny and Anna (teaching volunteers) have all helped run sessions with great enthusiasm. Both Charlie and Anna have played cricket and love the game which helps, but the Kwik-Cricket version is so adaptable and flexible to any rules which suit." Paul Edmunds

TEACHING CRICKET IN GHANA

There is lots of the good stuff in Ghana - lots of almost overwhelming hospitality and friendliness, lots of religions, lots of languages, lots of music, dancing, action and socialising in Accra, and lots and lots of glorious open African country and sunshine! All this contributes to making this project very enjoyable.

At the moment teaching cricket takes place in three schools and you'll probably work at all three. Part of the uniqueness of Cricket is that the game also embodies a philosophy and discipline based on "fair play" and other life skills - so you'll actually be teaching the children more than 'just cricket'!

“We took the Kwik-Cricket equipment out to one of the dusty fields, while the kids all gathered around in curiosity. Ghana does not play cricket so for most of these kids this was the first time they had seen a cricket bat.

We laid out the six stumps and gave one of the children the bat. Initially the child was holding the bat the wrong way round, so I put my arm around him and helped him to hold the bat properly and hit the ball. Paul then did an under-arm throw. To my amazement, this young boy's swing was very natural and he gave the ball a good belt! It zoomed across the air and one of the girls jumped up high and caught it. I think England may have found new team to give us a good bashing in the future!!!”

The schools are a mixture of primary and junior secondary. You will generally be asked to teach cricket to all age groups. You are very likely to be in popular demand everywhere - in and out of the classroom

Some of the teachers are keen to learn the game and help out in cricket sessions, and we believe that this will help to expand the game not only in the schools, but also in the entire community.

OUR NEW CRICKET DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Travellers Worldwide and the Ghana Cricket Association are working hand in hand to develop cricket in Ghana. As a Travellers cricket coach, you'll assist in this development programme that is designed to strengthen the sport of cricket in Ghana. Travellers volunteers and also coaches from the Ghana Cricket Association will be coaching at 4 different schools in Accra.

Your role at the school will be to coach cricket at the school during lesson times. After school you will be involved in selecting and coaching an Under-12s and Under-14s team for all of the schools. On the weekends you might have the opportunity to coach and train with the Ghana National Cricket team depending on the season.

As we are trying to strengthen the sport of cricket in Ghana, three times a year Travellers hold tournaments for the 4 schools involved, who all play for the Travellers Trophy. Your role in this will be to organise the tournament, as well as select the players and run the operation of the tournament. These tournaments are a great way for children to put into practice the skills you have taught them. These tournaments are the only opportunity that Ghanaian children have to play cricket any where in the country.

The tournaments also allow the Ghana Cricket Association to apply for an upgraded status with the ICB (running junior tournaments is a requirement for Ghana to progress to the next level with the ICB).

At the same time as teaching Cricket, you can also teach other subjects, such as conversational English or even other sports, if you'd like to. You don't need any qualifications to participate in a teaching placement in Ghana (but if you're combining Cricket with teaching English, you do need to be fluent in English).

Your help is very much appreciated and schools will usually embrace the volunteers whole heartily. Before you leave, you'll be provided with a mountain of information on just about everything to do with Ghana and your placement.

Our Ghana Manager and his team will look after you well. You'll get lots of advice about the do's and don’ts of Ghanaian culture, what to do and where to go.

SCHOOL TERMS:
Coaching is not available during school holidays, so if you're planning to participate in a placement, please take the school term dates into account when planning the timing of your project. On the other hand, if a holiday falls during your proposed placement, you could use this time to do any independent travelling and sightseeing.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS 2008 IN GHANA:
Dates for the school terms (semesters) are given below (
These dates are provisional and can be subject to change).

  • 1st Term 12th September – 14th December

  • 2nd Term 9th January – 29th March

  • 3rd Term 2nd May – 9th August

FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO COACHING WEBSITE

As a volunteer sports coach with Travellers, we have arranged for you to get a year’s free subscription to a Coaching website: www.grassrootscoaching.com. With this membership (which normally comes with a price tag of Ł39.99), you automatically become a member of the International Coaches Association (ICA) and join a community of coaches from over 65 countries.

The ICA is rapidly growing into one of the largest coaching organizations in the world. This subscription will allow you access to over 4,000 pages of the best interactive, online soccer and football coaching information.

Although they deal mainly with soccer, the coaching principles are the same for all sports and will be helpful for you in teaching any sport. This excellent resource should hopefully be able to give you a few tips that will benefit both you and the children that you’ll be coaching, and enable you to gain the maximum enjoyment from your placement.

Travellers volunteer arranges for cricket equipment to be donated by the MCC - read the Lords/MCC Press Release

Download and print additional
 information on this project
  
in .pdf format
  in Word format


The BBC filming one of our volunteers, Paul Edmunds, during his placement, giving his first cricket lesson to the children. The BBC "Grown-Up Gappers" series.


Paul Edmunds giving the children the basics of the game

"The pleasure for me is in seeing youngsters learning to catch, throw and hit a ball and play in a team game where healthy competition is encouraged and where they encourage one another to do well. You do not have to be a good cricketer to teach this.

Occasionally I have had more than one class at a time and it is quite difficult keeping control of large numbers of kids and ensuring that everyone has a chance to have a bat and a bowl.

The older kids are so competitive that they have latched on to the idea that if they sneak into the queue for a second bat then their team will score more runs!!!”
Paul Edmunds

WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU

You don’t have to have a great knowledge of the game and the rules, but you must be an enthusiastic person who enjoys playing the game. So if you have a passion for cricket then why not become a Travellers cricketer and help to develop the sport to the children in Ghana?

You don't need any qualifications on this placement, but, if you're teaching English,  you do need to be fluent in the language. If you're teaching another subject, like Music or IT, you need to be reasonably skilled in that subject.

Self-reliance, independence and initiative are highly appreciated and a sense of humour when the electricity fails, or buses don't turn up, will help you to make the most of this wonderful opportunity! 

Like all our destination countries, the culture in Ghana is different to what you're used to. For example, the people are exceptionally friendly and helpful, with big smiles and a relaxed attitude. On the other hand, the living standard falls short of UK or Western standards. And Ghanaian time is when someone says, "See you at 10.a.m.," - what he really means is, "I'll see you sometime tomorrow" ... And then he may not turn up at all.

The pace of life is slower and more relaxed. This must be borne in mind and you are naturally expected to live within local cultural rules. But you'll quickly get involved in the daily life of the local people and pretty soon you'll feel completely at home - Ghana has that effect on you!

 

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MCC Foundation donates cricket equipment to Ghana: Press Release

"The MCC Foundation, the charitable arm of MCC, recently donated cricket equipment to help schoolchildren in West Africa.

Two primary schools in the Ghanaian capital city of Accra received “Kwik-Cricket” sets. Craig Barrington, a volunteer hospital worker on a placement with ‘Travellers Worldwide’ discovered that the organization had started a cricket-coaching project. He approached the MCC for assistance and the MCC Foundation offered two complete ‘Kwik-Cricket” sets. The bats, stumps and balls in each set are made from high quality moulded plastic. This makes them light enough for children of all ages to be able to learn the basics of the game, for both outdoor and indoor use.

Craig said, 'Cricket is much a sport on the rise in the schools in Ghana. I spent a couple of hours explaining the game to the children and showing them how to play. The donation by MCC was appreciated greatly by both the staff and the children at both schools.'

Following Chris’s visit, 'Travellers Worldwide' has approached Ghana’s Sports minister and members of the national cricket team to arrange for additional coaching to take place at the schools.

Other recent donations made by the MCC Foundation include fifteen “Kwik-Cricket” sets (plus literature in French) being sent to Gabon Cricket to help develop the game amongst children aged 6-14 years and Ł2,000 to Hatfield Peverel Cricket Club in Essex for a new outdoor net facility to be used by both the Colts teams and the local primary School."

Lords Website: http://www.lords.org/latest-news/top-stories/

ACCOMMODATION AND LIVING IN GHANA

Your accommodation will vary depending on the type of placement you're doing and where you are located. You may live in comfortable guest house accommodation, but you will most likely live with a host family. This means that you get to eat, sleep, work, socialise and generally live like a Ghanaian. Local family stays enable you to fully experience the local culture from the inside.

Many of our volunteers remain friends with their host families long after they leave Ghana and in some cases they return to the country later especially to visit their family. Sometimes members of their Ghanaian family have even gone to visit them in their home country.

"The family for the past 6 weeks, the Opuku family, have been very warming to us staying there. They've cooked up some fabulous meals and have been very helpful to us when we have needed some help finding our way around. The children at the house are fantastic! They're very keen to explore your room, and sweets seems to be very high on the list."

Jonathan Childs - during his placement in Ghana

Food will be local cuisine - again this is to enable you to fully experience living as local Ghanaians do.

When we arrange your placement, we will liaise extensively with you regarding both the placement and your accommodation.  As always, our Local Manager will look after you well and will always be on hand to help and offer advice.

 

Caroline on the left, Susannah on the right
standing on the front verandah of their accommodation with Caroline’s host, Lizzie

TRAVEL:

You have the option to arrange your own flights or we can assist you with your flight arrangements. If you would like us to do this for you, we will liaise with you regarding available flights and dates to suit you. All arrangements for your flight bookings/payments will be fulfilled by Murray Rogers Travel Ltd., ATOL No. 6856. (Read more about Murray Rogers Travel Ltd.) Where possible, we arrange for two or more people to travel on the same flight and we will let you have the names and telephone numbers of other volunteers on your flight, so that you can chat to each other or even meet up before leaving for your placement.

Where possible, all flights we arrange for you have changeable return tickets because many of our volunteers choose to extend their stay once they are in their destination country. Changeable return tickets enable you to do so, within the limits of your visa and the level of your air ticket, of course. If you choose to book your own flights, you should endeavour to get a changeable ticket.

VISAS:. In countries where visas are required, we'll send you all the necessary forms and information and make the process very easy for you.

You'll fly into Accra where you'll be met by our Ghana Manager, or one of his staff. From the airport you'll be taken to your work and your accommodation and introduced to your hosts. You'd be well advised to prepare yourself for an almost overwhelmingly friendly welcome!

Read about the extensive Support & Back-up we provide in our countries.

We can arrange your flight times to give you additional time for traveling around and sightseeing - this is a fascinating and wondrous country!


PRICES:

To see the Prices of this project and all our other projects in Ghana, please click here

Prices include
  • Food & accommodation while on your project,
  • 2 T-shirts, if required for your project
  • All support and backup during your programme
  • Meeting you at the nearest airport, where appropriate, but exclude international travel.

Return to the Ghana Home Page and
the list of all our projects in Ghana

TO APPLY FOR THIS PROJECT, PLEASE CLICK HERE

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Last modified: April 24, 2008