VERNON PHILANDER VISITS RAISETHORPE SECONDARY SCHOOL

As part of the KFC Mini-Cricket campaign to get children across South Africa living active lifestyles, Vernon Philander held an exclusive KFC Mini-Cricket coaching session with youngsters from Raisethorpe secondary school yesterday.

 

During the IPL competition in 2012, SuperSport presented a KFC Mini-Cricket competition whereby you could win one of these once in a lifetime coaching sessions. Shrikaar Singh from Pietermaritzburg was one of six winners that came up trumps as the recipient for the coaching session prize.

 

Young Shrikaar now attends Raisethorpe secondary school; he won the prize whilst attending Allendale primary school, where he got active through playing KFC Mini-Cricket. Now Shrikaar will get a chance to reunite with his former KFC Mini-Cricket teams mates and enjoy this great day of active fun and learning with one of their Protea heroes.

 

“Because of my love for the sport, when I saw the competition advert, I thought to myself that would be a great experience and I would love to be part of it. I knew we could learn a lot from being coached by a professional and international star.” said Shrikaar on entering the competition.

 

In its third year of sponsorship, KFC involves over 100 000 young boys and girls in KFC Mini-Cricket from schools around the country. Being a talented young batsman, Shrikaar’s favourite player is Hashim Amla, but he was just as excited to find out that Vernon Philander was coming to his school.

 

Vernon coached the kids throughout the day while sharing inspirational words with the group. Each player had a chance to chat to him and had their bats signed. Vernon was happy to coach the kids and share some interesting cricketing insights and expertise.

 

This event will no doubt leave a lasting impression on young Shrikaar, who had this to say; “We all dream of becoming professional cricketers one day, so being able to meet and learn from one like we did today was so special. Vernon was really great and has made me a lot more focused on the game going forward, and what is needed to keep improving as a cricketer.”

 

As an associate sponsor of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge, KFC is not just involved in promoting an active lifestyle through KFC Mini-Cricket, but also through including boys and girls within the programme in the international and domestic matches.

 

From the more than 100 000 kids ranging from over 4 500 schools, chosen KFC Mini-Cricket ambassadors get the chance to be involved in the matches as player escorts, ball boys and girls and by participating in the match coin tosses.

 

KFC MINI-CRICKET GROWS BY 20 PERCENT AND KFC MINI-CRICKET COACH OF THE YEAR IS ANNOUNCED

The KFC Mini-Cricket programme grew from 83 638 participants in the 2010/11 season to 100 702 in the 2011/12 season, an increase of 20 percent ,which far exceeds the 10 percent target set by KFC and Cricket  SA for its Unions.

KFC partnered with CSA two years ago with the aim of reaching as many children as possible to promote an active and balanced lifestyle.  It is important for kids to develop an active and balanced lifestyle at a young age because it becomes a habit that can be a benefit for a lifetime. 

The increase in participation would not have been possible without the 6 000 or so coaches who manage the programme. Each year KFC Mini-cricket salutes one of these volunteers by naming him or her the KFC Mini-Cricket Coach of the Year. This year that person is Angela Cilliers of the Matatiele district of KwaZulu-Natal.

Cilliers was given this prestigious award in recognition of her passion for the programme and for the boys and girls she coaches. Her leadership, organisational and motivational qualities have been commended in the running of the programme in her district.  She has not been involved for as many years as some of the former winners, but her commitment, quality of her work and the drive to get children leading an active and balanced lifestyle makes her a worthy recipient.

Cilliers, who is a teacher at St Monica's School in Matatiele, says KFC KFC Mini-Cricket is in her blood.

She was responsible for the growth of the KFC Mini-Cricket programme at the previous school she taught - Rivermead Christian Academy – and was instrumental in getting the programme going in the district, a rural area where there were very few sporting opportunities for the young boys and girls.

She remembers her introduction to the programme well. "I was told to run KFC Mini-Cricket at my previous school, although I had no idea what it was all about. I was given a KFC Mini-Cricket booklet and was told to study and run the KFC Mini-Cricket coaching lessons as from the next day.”

“That night I fell in love with the programme. The next day I held my first coaching session and I have never looked back. This is a programme that can teach young students about getting the basics right so that they can become the very best they can be.”

She was appointed the sports co-ordinator at St Monica’s this year and immediately set about introducing KFC Mini-Cricket in the school; she is also busy getting it going in the surrounding rural areas as well.

Cilliers has a Basic Coaching Mini-Cricket (Level 0) qualification and has been involved with the programme since 2009. In that time she has imparted cricket and life skills to hundreds of boys and girls, of which roughly half were girls. She says it has been particularly pleasing that so many girls are now involved.

Looking back over the years of her involvement in the programme, she believes the most memorable moment was when she was selected to attend the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar. “This was an awesome privilege for me. You come back from there and just want to persuade every small student to start playing KFC Mini-Cricket,” said Cilliers.

“The past season focused on growing the programme and this upcoming season is about endorsing the active and balanced lifestyle message and informing the public why KFC is so passionate about this programme” commented Dave Timm, Chief Marketing Officer of KFC

KFC Mini-Cricket – Last chance to win a coaching session with a Proteas player

The South African cricketers currently playing in the IPL in India are in great form, keeping South African fans interested and entertained even though the local season is over.

And, courtesy of the KFC Mini-Cricket programme, young cricket fans can stand a chance for a Proteas Player to visit their school and coach their school cricket team.

The lucky six schools that get drawn will see either, Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell or Vernon Philander coming to the school to coach their school cricket team.  The player selected will run a coaching session, speak to the players as well as motivate them to keep working at their game.

Fans can enter the competition on http://www.supersport.com/competitions/KFCIPL with entries closing on 27 May.  A draw will be take place once the IPL ends when all competition entrants  will get to know if they have won and which player will be visiting their school. The coaching sessions will be finalised based on the availability of the players.

KFC Mini-Cricket programme, which is a soft ball development programme that is an integral part of Cricket South Africa's mission to take the game to the people of South Africa, is a programme that AB De Villiers endorses as an ambassador to the programme. AB says this is a programme he is very passionate about and that it brings him great joy knowing that he is contributing to kids living an active and balanced lifestyle.

Information or to register your school for KFC Mini-Cricket log on to www.kfc.co.za/minicricket or contact CSA at (011) 880 2810.