West Indies Cricket Board’s Territorial Development Officer for St. Vincent and the Windward Islands Irvin Warrican has thanked Digicel for their contribution to the local leg of the West Indies Cricket Board Youth Development Programme also known as the “WICB Digicel Grassroots Programme”.

Last Saturday at North Union, Warrican said that the first leg of the development initiative which started six weeks ago has been a success so far. He added that while the program started late due to some unforeseen problems, it has been going well thanks to the support given by Digicel.

Warrican said that the grassroots program is designed to nurture young talent and is made up of four clusters. The clusters are located in North Union, West St. George, Arnos Vale and North Leeward. The North Union cluster deals with youngsters living between North Union and Sandy Bay. The West St. George cluster takes care of athletes between Belair and the Marriaqua Valley while the Arnos Vale leg deals with mostly female cricketers. North Leeward deals with interested participants from that side of the island.  Each cluster attracts about 30 participants.

On Saturday, Digicel’s Country Manager Sonia Polius and Digicel’s Marketing Manager Juno DeRoche visited the North Union playing field where two of the four clusters (North Union and West St. George) were playing a friendly game. The Digicel team brought with them uniforms and their continued support of the project which will soon move into its second phase.

Warrican said the aspect of the program now being played out is focusing on the Under 17s (15-17) but a bit of emphasis is also being placed on the ‘elite’ Under 15s. He added that the program is being run in quarters under the guidance of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), “the first quarter ends around now therefore we are having a few inter-cluster friendly games”, said Warrican.

He added that with Digicel as the main sponsor, they were able to get new equipment and clothing and this has helped them recognize young talent. He added that coming out of the program was Gidron Pope who represented the Windward Island in the West Indies Under 15 tournament this year. Pope was the leading batsman in the tournament and the Windward player of the tournament. Also mentioned was Ray John who played for the Windwards at the Under 19 level and was one of the leading fast bowlers in the tournament.

“We work with them on improving their technique on a weekly basis; we do a lot of drills and also try to instill life skills in relation to problem solving techniques and conflict resolution”, said Warrican who added that the program also hopes to tackle sport psychology, goals, deportment, nutrition and history lesson on West Indies cricket.

“We are looking at the holistic development and we want to stress knowledge of the game and not just who can play well”, said Warrican.

Coaches working with the kids include Head Coach Orlando Jackson (North Union Cluster). Jackson has the support of Deighton Butler and Juliana Nero. The West St. George Cluster is supported by Head Coach Samantha Lynch along with Wendell Glasgow and James Samuel. Nixon Mclean heads the Arnos Vale group while North Leeward is being led by Bertram Stapleton and Orlando Charles.

The WICB Digicel Grassroots Programme is a partnership between the WICB and Digicel which provides training for young cricketers from ages twelve (12) to seventeen (17) years. The Grassroots Programme prepares young cricketers for their entry into competitive cricket by providing them with the necessary training to develop their cricketing skills and physical and mental preparedness for the game.

The program is being run in countries including Trinidad & Tobago, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St Maarten, St Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, Jamaica and Guyana.