On a beautiful sunny day on Thursday 4th May, 47 teenagers from a Secondary school in Valencia descended on the Albir Oval to learn about English customs and practise some cricket. After the initial horror of realising that there weren’t enough tennis balls and having to run off to the local shop to purchase some more, the training got underway.
After a brief introduction to cricket by the coaches, a leisurely warm-up and some stretching exercises followed before the main practices got underway.
The large group was split into 3 smaller, manageable groups of around 15 per group. Initially, the children enjoyed some fielding and catching practice to get a feel for one part of the game of cricket. After a quick drinks break, the children practised the art of bowling with several of them managing to hit the stumps. In the hot weather, another refreshment break was required before the batting practice was started. This allowed the children to really let loose, trying to hit the ball as far as possible and whilst technique was certainly lacking, their enthusiasm was most definitely not
The session lasted about 2 hours and the children seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and after a quick photo opportunity, they headed off for a well-earned swim.
The session was run by Gary Crompton (an ex-player and now Team Manager for Cricket España and ICC Level 2 coach) and Sue Crompton (ICC Level 2 coach and professional teacher) with help from Mark Briggs.
Thanks must also go to Albir Council, Alfonso, Bernd and Miguel for letting Sporting Alfas use the ground during the day. Thanks must go to Elena Arana (from the Valencian school) for helping to organise the trip. Sporting Alfas cricket Club look forward to hosting the session again next year.
