Deutscher Cricket Bund

A three days cricket workshop, organized by the Stuttgart Cricket Eagles e.V. and the Korntal Gymnasium, duly funded by the DCB, was held from 18th to 20th July at the school premises. Nilesh Tambe, youth secretary and co-trainer of Stuttgart Cricket Eagles e.V. led the 15 hours training that saw 27 school children experience cricket for the first time.

The Gymnasium Korntal had School Project days they offered Cricket Workshop as one of the project. The activity started two months ago when Manuela Schmelt offered Stuttgart Cricket Eagles e.V. to organize the event. From the same day the club started the preparation for the Cricket Workshop event. After long planning, it was decided that Nilesh Tambe would lead the coaching with the support of Nivas Dev and Mithun Kumar Samarder. With a great support and co-operation of Matthias Schemann (English teacher) and excellent effort from the participants lead the project to a great success.

Day 1: 18^th July 2012 (8:00  to 13:00): Manuela Schmelt introduced the coaches to Matthias Schemann and students. The total numbers of students few girls were 27. The session started with theoretical introduction to cricket. Then actual ground training started with a warm up session of half an hour. The students were trained how to catch the ball. During catching practice the student were divided into pairs of 2 students and the passing of ball was done between them. After the practice there was the drill game of catching. Drill game was of passing the ball in numbers. The students were divided into 6 groups and each student was explained the rules. This game turns to be most interesting and complete fun for the pupils. After this game the students were explained another game of passing the ball in zones. Continued with 6 groups the students were explained rules of the game. The students found this games more effective which was played for another half an hour. Followed by a 15 min break the students were trained for techniques of fielding a ball. They were taught about body position when a ball is coming towards them. The fielding game again started with the basics of the method to collect the ball when it comes on the ground. The students were again separated into groups of two members and were asked to practice as instructed and this practice lasted for 15 minutes. In the next game, the students were separated into 6 groups and stumps are placed separately for each group. Here one student among the group will be the wicket-keeper and the others remain in the bowling side. The students from the bowling side will throw the ball to wicket-keeper end which was collected by the wicket-keeper and placed down after which the person who thrown the ball becomes the wicket-keeper and then the person who was the wicket-keeper should move to the end of the line in the bowling side. This continued for about 30 minutes until each player in the group obtained a chance of minimum 10 times to be the wicket-keeper. The students now were given 15 min break after this game.

When the training resumed, the students were trained for batting in which the training session to bat began with the safety instruction. The training began with the method to stand and hold the bat which was quite easily grasped by the students. Next, the students were again sub-divided into groups and each person in a group gets a chance to bat for 5 balls which will be thrown by the members of the same group from the other end and then after 5 balls the other student in the group gets an opportunity to bat. This was a continuous practice for students. In total, the batting practice lasted for 30 minutes.

As the students had picked up very fast, we decided to have a friendly match among the students to check their training level and also their understanding about cricket. The students were separated into 3 teams each consisting of 9 members. The teams were Cricketer, Indian Hammer and Aerodynamics. Each team had 9 overs to play in which each player of both the team had an opportunity to bat and bowl. The first match was between “Indian Hammer” and “Aerodynamics” in which Indian Hammer won the game. The next match was between the losing team “Aerodynamics” and “Cricketer” in which Aerodynamics team won the game. By the end of the game unfortunately it was the end for the day as the clock ticked 1 p.m.

At the end of the day, the students were asked for feedbacks. The students requested for more batting games and also the students appreciated us for our structured training session. Then the day ended by cleaning up the ground and kits.

Day 2: 19^th July 2012 (8:00 to 13:00): The day started with theory, as planned we introduced cricket game by showing a 15 min video to the students. This video was about Introduction to cricket, Umpire Signals and Safety requirements in cricket. There was a small question session in which few droughts of students were cleared. After the presentation we started with warm up session for around 15 min. The students were now introduced with the bowling technique. They were explained the way to hold the ball and role their arms when the ball is been bowled. The students were again divided into 6 small groups and they were taught the method to rotate the hand & deliver the ball onto the stumps placed in some distance before the group that went for 30 minutes. Afterwards, the students were again introduced to batting skills. During this session, they were taught how to play straight drive. After the bowling and batting practice the students were offered 15 min break.  The students were now introduced to a new game call “Double wicket” In this game students were separated into two different groups and were allowed to practice themselves with a practice match. In this, the students were asked to pair with one other fellow student and they played a match were the one pair need to bat and anyone among the other pair need to bowl and the other student should be the wicket keeper apart from the fielders. Each pair gets 12 balls to bowl and bat which trained them to bat with a partner and the method to co-ordinate with the fellow batsman. If one of the batsmen is out in pair then score of pair will be reduced by 2 runs. This game was turned to be more enthusiastic and the students need to play this again. This game told them how to coordinate with the partner during a game. This game last for an hour and was appreciated by the students.

After this game we introduced them to real cricket game. Now we explained them rules and requirements. We then divided the students into group of 2 teams with 14 players in one team and 14 overs match. The match between the 2 teams was full of enthusiasm, motivation and cheering for their team mates. In this match, the students not only played extremely well but they also set their benchmark with showing how good they are in their job. We as a coach were surprised with some of the great shots played by few of the students who never appeared to have played before. In this match we also noticed that they lost lot of their wickets only because of run-outs. In this match batsman could bat as long as they were not out. The team A was all out for 60 runs in 10 over and the team B need to chase a target of 61 but they scored only 25 runs and lost by the margin of 35 runs to team A. The students took some tremendous catches and brilliant fielding. The training for the day got over by 1 p.m. after the match.

During the feedback session, they were specifically asked for negative feedback. But there was none. They appreciated the way we made them understand the game and how effective they found cricket match.

Day 3: 20^th July 2012 (8:00 to 13:00): This was the last day of session and all students were already aware that they were going to play cricket matches. The day begins with rain and it was considered that we will not start any play of cricket because of rainy weather. But the extremely enthusiastic students were ready to play even in bad weather condition.  The phrase “Rain stops the game” was no longer applicable in front of these students. They were in full positive sprits to play cricket match. Then we told the students to divide into 2 teams of 14 players each and stand in front of the pitch. As we were aware that the students have some problems related to understand the run-out concept. We explained the run-out more clearly with different situations. After the explanation we begin with a warm up of 15 min.

Once the warm up was completed the game started with full encouragement. The first game was played between “Indian Hammer” and “Aerodynamics”. The Indian Hammer team won the toss and decided to bat first. The “Indian Hammer” setup a target of 42 runs with loss of all wickets within 8 overs. All students contributed well and were cheering their players for every runs. After the first inning got completed, “Aerodynamics” were put to bat to chase 42 runs. The “Aerodynamics” students batted extremely well. With just 4 wickets out the chased the total of 42 runs and led their team to victory. This match saw huge sixes hit all the way to the longest boundary and great examples of team work. Their motivation to win and cheers for every run were the most remarkable scenes.

The second game was also played between “Indian Hammer” and “Aerodynamics”. The Indian Hammer team won the toss and again decided to bat first. The “Indian Hammer” setup a target of 36 runs with loss of all wickets within 9 overs. All students contributed extremely well, but chances of run-out were also there. After the first inning got completed then “Aerodynamics” were put to bat for chasing a total of 36 runs. The “Aerodynamics” students batted also extremely well. But this time they lost 8 wickets to chase the total of 36 runs and lead their team to victory. This match had few sixes hit all the way in ground and had again given an example of team work. The motivation and cheering for runs was at high spits in this game.

It was still raining after the second game. We asked students we will stop the game, but they rejected the proposal as they were ready to continue even under rain. After the previous game we rearrange the teams with balanced players. Now there were two new teams formed name as “Aerodynamics” and “Cricketer”. The toss was won by “Cricketer” and they decided to bat first. The rules were same as previous with 10 overs match. “Cricketer” batted extremely brilliant and set a target of 63 run with loss of 8 wickets.  “Aerodynamics” had batted well but due to loss of wicket in catches and run-out they were not able to chase the target of 63 runs and were all out for 43 runs. This match was also an example of tremendous catches, brilliant fielding and excellent team work.

With the rain continuing, the students didn’t show a sign to stop the game. We decided to play the final match with completely new captains and teams. We rearranged the 2 teams again. The rules of the game were same as previous with 10 overs match. The new teams were “Indian Hammer” and “Cricketer”. The toss was won by “Cricketer” and they decided to bat first. “Cricketer” batted well and set a target of 34 run with loss of all wickets.  “Indian Hammers” had also batted well and chase a target of 34 runs with just last wicket in hand. This match was more enthusiastic as everyone was motivating, cheering and encouraging their players. The fielding side was all set to take the wicket while the batting side was counting runs required to win the match. And thick edges were the ball ran to 4 runs made the batting team win the game. We as a coach felt that was the best match of the day as each and every player was trying to put its best to win the match. The matches were played for complete 4 hours up to 12:30 pm.

The main intention of above matches was to improve teamwork and to learn how to grow as a team. The idea behind rearranging the teams and students were as to make all team in win-win situation, s that no one is demoralized due to losing only.

We then summarized the day with appreciating all the players and feedback. The students were asked how they felt about the game. It was again a positive feedback. Matthias Schemann gave a vote of thank to the coach. The coach had a small speech of thanks to Students , Matthias Schemann and Manuela Schmelt .Then at the end we started the closing ceremony with felicitating the students with a medal as an momentum. There were medals given for Best Batsmen, Best Bowler, Best Wicketkeeper, Best Fielder and for cleaver Batting (showing maturity and temperament).

Words from the Coaches: As a coach I would like to say that Gymnasium Korntal students are extremely hardworking and intelligent. I am thankful and feel proud to be a coach of these students. We all know that Cricket is a game with lot of different rules and to understand this game rules itself takes time. But the students were easily adapted to the rules. Apart from this I have no word to describe how much cooperation and support we have received from Mr. Matthias Schemann. Thanks to Manuela Schmelt for initiating the event, special thanks to DCB for funding the workshop and providing training equipment. I would like to thank Stuttgart Eagles members for their effort, especially to Nivas Dev, Mithun Kumar Samarder and Adnan Sadeque for their support.

written by Nilesh Tambe, Youth Secretary Stuttgart Cricket Eagles e.V.