… Club involvement in female cricket to expand

THE Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) has joined forces with Metro Office Supplies for the 15th time for the club’s female cricket teams.
Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster, during a simple presentation ceremony in New Amsterdam, collected the 2022/23 sponsorship from Metro Office Supplies last week.

“In 2008, no one was interested in female cricket but you took the leap with us to invest heavily into giving young girls the opportunity to fulfil their dreams of becoming the next Ava Morgan of Guyana.
“Fourteen years later and counting, the Rose Hall Town Metro Team is part of history and dozens of young females have fulfilled that dream and many others are working to do so. Every historic feat starts with a small step and we would like to thank you for doing so with us.” moot

The president of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) stated that the vision for a female team was perceived when he and several other club executives saw a 13-year-old Shemaine Campbelle and Jackie Singh play in an Under-15 match versus the Rose Hall Town Farfan and Mendes Under-15 team at the Albion ground.

Campbelle has now gone on to become the greatest female player from Guyana and the RHTYSC has never regretted the decision to invest in female.
In fact, Foster stated that the club views it among the best-ever investment that has produced four senior West Indies players in Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Sheneta Grimmond and Shabika Gajnabi along with dozens for Berbice and Guyana at the junior and senior levels.

The team recently had four players in the national Under-19 team and six in the Guyana senior team in 2022.
He recalled that the club had approached the-then chief executive of the company, Taajnauth Jadnauth, for sponsorship in early 2008 and he readily agreed.

The rest, he proudly stated is history and today, the team remains the only fully functioning team for females in Guyana.
They have won every female tournament organised by the BCB and GCB since 2008 and among the other players produced are Plaffina Millington, Dian Prahald, Sherica Campbelle, Trisha Hardat, Marain Samaroo, Oma Matadin, Leah Kamalall and Priya Mahadeo.

The long-standing club official also unveiled a massive plan to double the female membership of the club in a few months.
The plan is to attract dozens of young girls to attend the annual cricket academy which bowls off on Monday July 18 and then encourage them to become full-time members.

Foster and the club assistant secretary, Jonathan Rampersaud, recently visited several primary and secondary schools in the Rose Hall Town area to speak to female students and the response was overwhelming.
The club executives would continue to visit schools across the county when schools reopen in September as the aim is to attract at least 50 new members to establish an Under-17 and Under-19 teams.

Club cricket coach Delbert Hicks would be responsible for the development of the players and the club has already obtained the necessary cricket gear and equipment for the expansion.
The club has also committed itself to assisting the new members with their educational careers as part of their personal development.

Metro New Amsterdam Branch Manager, Danny Ramnarine, stated that the company was delighted to be associated with the team and was very proud of its many achievements on and off the cricket field.
He expressed confidence that the outstanding performance and the relationship would become stronger in the future.

He congratulated the players who made the national team in 2022 and wish them well in their career.
Shemaine Campbelle and Shakabi Gajnabi would serve as captain and vice-captain of the team over the next twelve months.