Devon coach Baylis spends two weeks in Botswana spreading word

DEVON cricket coach Andy Baylis has come back ‘rewarded’ and ‘challenged’ from a two-week educational trip to Botswana.

Baylis, a freelance coach working with clubs, school and the Chance2Shine project in Exeter, joined Cricket Without Boundaries for the Botswana trip.

Cricket Without Boundaries is a charity set up in 2005 to promote cricket in sub-Saharan Africa and promote health issues associated with AIDS and HIV.

Botswana has one of the greatest HIV infection rates in the world – more than one on four of the population aged 15-49 have the condition – and Cricket Without Boundaries uses the sport as a tool to tackle the problem.

Baylis, a 54-year-old father of three girls, said health messages were delivered alongside cricket coaching quite easily.

“The mantra is ABC, which most of the young people in the bigger towns and cities already know about,” said Baylis.

“A for abstain, B for be faithful and C for condomise – and every session starts with the ABC.

“You may be doing some batting coaching in pairs and emphasise being faithful to a batting partner.

“Or when some one is wielding a bat it is a way of protecting their wicket – just as a condom is a former of protection.

“We found away from the bigger towns the ABC method was not well known among the kids, although the teachers knew about it.

“There was an important health message to get across and I felt we managed it.”

Baylis and his co-coaches visited 50 schools in two locations – Francistown and Maun – and ran sessions for around 3,000 children, boys and girls. They also gave basic coach education to more than 60 teachers.

“We would split into sub teams and visit two or three schools on the same day,” said Baylis.

It was hard work but worth it, according to Baylis.

“When I became a freelance coach three years ago, one of the things I wanted to do was charity work,” said Baylis.

“Having heard about CWB and the work they do, I thought it would be a good opportunity to fulfil that personal goal and set about raising money for the trip.

“It costs about £1,000 to go and part of the cost is buying kit and equipment, which is left behind for the kids to use.

“I appealed through social media – people were very generous – and ran a couple of tournaments in local primary schools, which the children paid a pound to take part in.

“It was challenging at times, but immensely rewarding. I would recommend it to anyone.”

Baylis is the third cricket coach from Devon to join a CWB trip to sub-Saharan Africa.

Scott Chappell blazed the trail in 2011 when he went to Kenya. His party introduced around 3,000 kids to cricket in 28 school or orphanages and gave instruction to more than 100 local coaches.

Chappell, who plays for Kentisbeare, was a community coach with the Devon Cricket Board based in Ashburton until last month. He has recently taken up a new post with the Somerset Cricket Board.

David Gidney from Chulmleigh joined a CWB tour to Cameroon in 2015. Again the coaches visited schools and orphanages and spread the word about cricket, not an easy task as last parts of the country are French-speaking.

Cricket Without Boundaries works in five sub-Saharan countries – Uganda and Rwanda are the other two – promoting the same messages of cricket and health education.

Said Baylis: “CWB are always looking for volunteers for what is worthwhile work.”

Anyone interested in joining a CWB trip – there are two or three every year – can contact the charity’s website www.cricketwithoutboundaries.com