..closing ceremony set for July 27

SIXTY excited boys and girls between the ages of 7-18 turned out yesterday for the commencement of the 2024 Malteenoes Cricket Academy at MSC on Thomas Road.
Yesterday saw 50 boys and 10 girls registering so far but registration is still open this week. Registration fee is $12,000 and $8,000 for members.
The two-week Academy will include teaching young boys and girls the basic skills, the laws of cricket, etiquette, physical sessions and pitch practice and runs from 09:00 hours to 15:00 hours Monday to Friday.
This Academy commenced with the National Anthem before a prayer was said.

The official launching and orientation were held yesterday morning while the afternoon session included drills on the tarmac of the National Park due to the wet condition in areas on the Malteenoes Ground.
Speaking at the opening of Academy were MSC’s 2nd Vice- President Steven Jacobs, Edward Richmond who was a part of inaugural Academy in 1993, past President Neil Barry and MSC coach Quinson Nedd.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson, like he did last year, delivered the feature address before declaring the Academy open.

The Minister told the gathering which included many parents, that cultivating confidence and academic intelligence will not only help with their cricket success but also in their life after the sport.
Minister Ramson spoke of MSC members Jacobs and Lennox Cush who both played for Guyana and are now businessmen.
He told the youngsters leaning the fundamentals and practicing it regularly will give them confidence.

“There is nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it and be confident. If you don’t get it right, work harder.
“Focus on your education since you need intelligence to play well and understand your game,” the Minister stressed.
He encouraged the coaches to teach the youngsters to do everything.

“If you have never tried something you can’t know if you are good at it. I was a good bowler when started at Everest but I would bat last.
“I wanted to make cricket my career…I did not want to be a lawyer or politician. But when I was not selected for the Demerara U- 19 team I left to focus on my studies.

“I resigned as an MP and went Scotland to study oil and gas and while in the plane I read a book that changed the way I think.
“While my focus was on studying, the University had a cricket team and I put what I had learned from the book to the test. In six months, I was batting at number three.

“In the Lawyers World Cup I had the best average and scored a hundred before Sanjeev ran me out,” Minister Ramson said laughingly.
“When people say you can’t do something that you are not good at just work harder at it instead of not doing it,” the former left-arm chinaman Everest first division bowler advised.
Richmond remembered when past MSC President Claude Rapheal and him stared the youth program in 1984. Seven players from the club were picked in the National U-19 team for the 1987 tournament in Jamaica.
“In 1993 MSC held the first National Cricket Academy for youths from all three of the Counties in Guyana with the ‘out of Town’ players being provided live-in accommodation at the club.
This was the first such Academy in this hemisphere and was attend by Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ryan Ramdass and Narsingh Deonarine who went on to play Test cricket. We had the first bowling machine and 60-inch TV on the wall” informed Richman, who was the club’s fitness trainer in the 1980’s.

Jacobs said that former Guyana player Neil Barry was his mentor when he joined MSC as kid. He informed that the club was honouring Barry and Winston Semple for the work they had done for MSC as past presidents.
Jacobs a former Guyana Stanford T20 player and West Indies U- 19 Captain also informed that the Allen siblings from the Friendship Primary School was writing a children’s book about Friendship.
Barry who received his award from Minister Ramson, said that the Academy teaches life skills that can be used after cricket.

He named several persons from the club who played for Guyana and had gone on to make a living from other cricket related activities.
Barry a former QC student congratulated Naomi Barkoye for getting 15 subjects and playing in key role in Guyana’s girls winning the U19 T20 title in Trinidad and Tobago while congratulating Clive Grimmond (one of the Academy Coaches) for coaching the Girls to title honours.

The Academy counties today at 09:00 hours and if anyone wants to register their children, they can call the MSC on 225-6502 or 6459487.