Imagination roadshow rolls into Belgium, 15-17 April 2002

Day 13 (15 April)- Belgium: Success transcends Languageo

Scene: Hotel Carolus. Weather: Tipping it down. Time: 4.45 am. A car collects Tim to deliver him to Brussels Zaventem for his flight home.

Less than 90 minutes later Lalit Nahata arrives to guide Bruce and Mike to their first Belgian primary school ñ the Parkschool Ieperman in Antwerp. They take the school by storm with their high-octane, super-energy performances, PE class after PE class. The youngsters come out of the sports hall asking their PE teacher when they can do it again.

He replieso ''next week, next week'. This is a real eye-opener- teachers take every opportunity to watch, visiting parents take photos and the whole school is abuzz with it.

In fact, at the end of the school day, our two intrepid travellers find it impossible to leave ñ their car and trailer are surrounded. Alex Oltmans, the Belgian coach who arranged the visit to this school and who assisted throughout, ensures that Kwik Cricket sets are presented and that a flyer goes home in every schoolbago The school starts Kwik Cricket next week.

One amazing thing though n Afrikaans proves totally unintelligible to these Flemish-speaking youngsters: English, on the other hand, does not. "Playstation generation," says the PE master.

These youngsters are already bilingual and English is theoretically their third language. Wow! In any event, the way Bruce and Mike work transcends the language issue and translation is not really required.

Day 14 (16 April)- Belgium: Country Roads, Take Me Homeo

A big day aheadÖ Caron Davies, sports master at the British School Brussels, collects Mike and Bruce from the hotel and leads the way along an extraordinarily tortuous and winding back-road route to the school at Tervuren, thereby avoiding the massive motorway delays that occur in these parts.

The all-important trailer follows faithfully, giving the ICC logo a decent amount of exposure to pursuing tractor drivers in the Belgian countryside.

A rapid re-arrangement of the proposed timetable for the day means that Bruce and Mike are working with big groups of 75 to 80 youngsters at a time ñ the way they like it.

The seven-year-olds give their very best, their enthusiastic responses combined with the Roadshow music almost lifting the roof off the Barn. The Barn is a great indoor facility and is even equipped with three-lane cricket nets.

Ten minutes after the seven-year-olds finish their session, two girls run back into the Barn with a thank-you card prepared by their class. In all, some 400 pupils (about a third of the school) experience the Roadshow.

After school Bruce and Mike work with the school's Under-15s before heading off to a nearby restaurant with Caron. At 7 pm they're back in the Barn, this time with coaches and parents.

A two-hour session provides tips and enthusiasm as well as more technical detail about coaching. At 10 pm the guys finally pull into the hotel carpark back in Mechelen. A big day indeedo

Day 15 (17 April)- Belgium: Whew!

Day offo Time to give the voice-boxes and muscles a bit of well-earned rest. Tomorrow it's OLVE, a local school in the Edegem area of Antwerp.