Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Courtney Walsh (right) presents Brian George, president and CEO of Supreme Ventures Ltd, with a special autographed bat yesterday at the Melbourne Cricket Club. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
TITLE SPONSORS Supreme Ventures have pumped an additional $2.2 million into this year's series of the Courtney Walsh Cricket Clinics, with the aim of providing a full nutritional programme for participants.
Now in it's second year, the total sponsorship package for the island-wide series of camps which will span a five-month period, now stands at $7.2 million.
"Last year a lot of the coaching that was given to the kids in the first half of the day was lost because many of the kids that came to the camp were hungry and could not concentrate and participate," said Brian George, president and CEO of Supreme Ventures Limited.
"Having had that discussion with Courtney, we then took the decision to increase our sponsorship this year," he said.
The programme, which bowls off on April 5, will consist of both weekend and summer camps, with the latter set to begin on June 1. Once again, the clinic will be headed by Walsh, who will be joined by a host of other coaches including former cricketers Robert Samuels, Junior Bennett, Andre Coley and Robert Haynes.
Fundamentals
Participants, who must be between the ages of 11-15 years old, will be selected via consultation with select parish coordinators and will be taught the fundamentals of the game along with other life skills.
"There are a few things we take for granted, when we went into certain areas in the morning the kids didn't look interested, but after lunch it was a different thing altogether. That's when we realised the programme needed to be a complete one," Walsh said.
"The future of the game is in the youth ... so we are looking to give them the complete package," he said.
Walsh, the former fast bowling great, also pointed out that of the 15 who were a part of the 2008 CLICO West Indies Under-15 tournament, 12 had taken part in the camp.
