TTCB – News

Top youth cricketers inducted in ‘Sir Frank’
September 19, 2011

FOUR T&T cricketers, left to right sitting, Emmanuel Lett, Stephen Katwaroo, Akeal Hosein and Derone Davis who will represent the West Indies in a quadrangular tournament in India later this month.  They are pictured with leading cricket officials, from left, back row,  Roland Sampath, Azim Bassarath, Arjoon Ramlal and Kumar Rampat.
Photo courtesy T&T Cricket Board

THE LATEST batch of inductees in the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Academy  were told that they literally had their future in their hands and must exercise responsibility for all their actions and not blame others for personal failure.

Delivering this sobering message to the twenty young talented cricketers in the 17 to 23 year age group was Mark Mungal, head of the T&T Alliance  for Sport and Physical Education who delivered the feature address at the launch of the $.6 million development programme on Saturday at the Sir Frank Worrell Development Centre in Balmain, Couva.

Mungal told the future national and regional stars that 90 per cent of their success depended  on how they prepared themselves to realize their objectives with the remaining ten percent  make up the  contribution of their coaches, parents and close supporters.

He said success can be achieved by individual effort but excellence can only be attained through the dedication, commitment and perseverance of administrators, mentors and  backing of family and friends.

Mungal told the audience that administrators have a responsibility also to provide an environment to facilitate success and which would allow the youngsters to build their confidence and to feel comfortable in speaking out on issues and taking a stand although it may be unpopular.

“This is the real empowerment. By giving the young people the opportunity  to make informed decisions  we are grooming them for a meaningful role in taking charge of their lives and making a contribution to society,” said Mungal.

At that stage the cricketers he said would have already started their work in focusing their attention on training and making the sacrifices that would lift their standard so that when the opportunity comes along they should be able to respond appropriately and with “substance.”

“You see many athletes , some walk with a swagger and possess a poor attitude. They dress shabbily and based on the law of averages they will not succeed. They live fast and die young.  Then there are others who walk with anger. They are vex with their coach, management, everybody. And their response is at act aggressively in any situation,” said Mungal.

Mungal cautioned the youngsters to play their every ball on its merit and keep their eye on their ultimate objective always. He stressed the importance of building relationships which he said was crucial to success.

He urged them to exude confidence in everything they do as this also instills fear and worry in the hearts of their opponents and being well-prepared, focused and committed to the task at hand will lead  a better understanding of their purpose and what is needed to achieve it.

Mungal said body language is an important indicator of the state of mind of an athlete and stressed that fear can lead to paralysis. “Fear can have a serious effect on you psychologically. It can lead to indecision and can be compounded by the possibility of letting down your family, team or country,” said Mungal.

The Regional Co-ordinator of the Australian Sports Outreach Programme encouraged the youngsters to keep their noses to the grindstone and gain all the benefits of the T&T Cricket Academy programme and emerge well-qualified to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Also attending the function were members of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board including president Azim Bassarath, secretary-general Arjoon Ramlal, second vice-president Lalman Kowlessar, architect of the programme Kumar Rampat who was assisted by Roland Sampath, national Under-19 team manager.

Rampat said the academy programme is a brainchild of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) with the T&T Cricket Board taking the initiative to ensure that the next generation of national and regional stars are properly groomed for the future. 

The new  inductees include four T&T players who were recently selected to represent the West Indies in a quadrangular Under-19 series later this month in India and which will also involve Sri Lanka and Australia.