Photo © ECC

Throughout July, Prague Cricket Club's "Outreach" programme combined learning English with learning cricket for 200 Czech school children attending an annual English language summer camp. The "LAMEA" school in Prague teaches conversational English to students aged between 6 and 16, and this year PCC development officer Scott Page spent 2 days per week at the summer camp, located in southern Bohemia, introducing the students to cricket. The children (who had never seen a cricket bat or ball before) were taught the basics, and quickly understood what a run is, how you can be out, batting grip and stance, and, most importantly, how to bowl with the arm straight.

Photo © ECC

The PCC provided the camp with Kwik Cricket equipment, a strip of grass was mown and the kids did the rest, with Scott making sure they all got a fair go. "I was surprised at how quickly they picked up the game, and kept playing it during the rest of the camp, every chance they got", he said. "Many of the Czech children are naturals and all of them loved this new sport. When I came back one week later to teach more skills, they were all playing correctly, with the right `Spirit Of Cricket' attitude."

Photo © ECC

Prague Cricket Club is hoping that these 200 Czech school children will tell their friends and teachers in Prague that they played cricket during the holidays and that they want to play it at school as well. The first school match between a 100% Czech team and the British International School from Praha 5 recently took placeń a match which saw the Czech youngsters beat their international counterparts by 49 runs to 45. Prague CC's aim is to get more Czech schools playing cricket against both English and other Czech schools. When this happens, the future of cricket in the Czech Republic should be guaranteed.