Fiji Begin Inclusive Cricket Program
Cricket Fiji (CF) has established a regular program of visits to special schools to start it's Inclusive Cricket Program.
Regular visits are being made to Seven Special Schools in Suva and Nausori.
The Special School Program will revolve around improving the athletes' physical literacy through cricket activities and games.
The activities will not only enable students to learn the game and skills of cricket but by improving their physical literacy CF hopes that it will improve the student's participation in all physical activity and hopefully improve their performance in the class room as well.
The physical literacy components will be coordination, hopping, skipping, jumping, running, agility, flexibility, balance and activities that can work on literacy and numeracy skills.
These will be combined with the basic cricket skills of catching, throwing, batting and bowling.
In 2011 CF purchased specialised equipment to improve the quality of the program. This included numerous balls of different sizes with bells inside of them, cobweb balls that are easier to catch, lightweight plastic bats and mini soccer balls to make it easier to hit the ball. These purchases have greatly improved the quality of the sessions.
"Cricket Fiji are committed to delivering opportunities for all the people of Fiji and this is another demonstration of our commitment to this. By using cricket we will be enhancing these children's lives, improving their ability to learn and assisting the schools. On top of that it brings much pleasure to our staff to be involved in this initiative," said Cricket Fiji CEO Jon Symonds.
The next stage of the plan is to take the program to the special schools in the West, Levuka and Vanua Levu. This will cover every special school in Fiji. All sports teachers from the special schools will be trained on how to run the program and the schools will also be provided with cricket equipment, which will be theirs keep. This will allow the program to continue when CF staff are not present.
Once the schools have been provided with training, equipment and the training manual the schools will be able to run the program during their PE classes and sports days. CF development officers will continue to make regular visits to the schools as part of their weekly visits. CF has development officers in Suva, Nausori, Nadi, Lautoka, Ba and Moce.
After the program has successfully been introduced to the schools, tournaments will be organised so that athletes can enjoy the benefits of being part of a team and competing. A table cricket day is also planned.
CF would also like to see special schools competing in our mainstream competitions such as the CF Primary School Fun Day.
