The 2012 Edition of the Digicel Grassroots Programme will officially bowl off today in the auditorium of the Larry Gomes Stadium at Malabar, Arima starting at 10.30 am. Minister of Sports Anil Roberts has been invited to attend the auspicious opening ceremony which is designed to set up a system of quality coaching programmes through numerous small and diverse communities in Trinidad and Tobago. The project which is funded by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) through the generous sponsorship of Digicel, aims to conduct five coaching centres in each of the eight zones, including Tobago which are affiliated to the T&T Cricket Board (T&TCB). The programme runs year-round, one day per week except for a break during the August school holidays and will involve close to 120 coaches in remote districts such as Balandra, Matura, Cedros, Guayaguayare, Las Cuevas and Kernahan.
Project co-ordinator of the Digicel Grassroots Programme in T&T, Kumar Rampat who is the Territorial Development Centre of the WICB said he is optimistic that a legacy of strong coaching principles will be established so that the individual communities will be best served in the future. "We are hoping that each coach at the centre will bring his individual stamp and style to the sessions so that after the Grassroots Programme has ended a solid foundation would have been laid for future generations of young cricketers," said Rampat. He wants the centres to evolve into structured coaching schools offering the best training and monitoring processes to identify and nurture talent and capable of matching the highly regarded programmes currently adopted by triple crowned champions Queen's Park; First Citizens Clarke Road, Preysal, Moosai's Sports , Alescon Comets and Harvard.
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