U15 National Tournament

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We somehow survived the national tournament unscathed and in reasonable health. Overall it was a huge success 😊 In some ways it was nothing like any national tournament I ever went to for rep cricket but in other ways it was just the same. We had 150 kids from 15 provinces there and they all seemed to enjoy themselves a lot. We kicked things off with a press conference on the Saturday which went really well and we got some good press out of it. Then it was out to the grounds to make sure that everything was ready for Sunday. The grounds had come up really well - not sure if I mentioned it before but they made the pitches by whipper snippering the grass down where we wanted the pitches and then rolling them with these concrete pipes they had found somewhere. Was amazing what they were able to do actually. In Australia most groundsmen would have just given up due to the lack of required resources but the guys here went out of their way to find another way to get what we needed and did such a good job!! Never underestimate what enthusiasm can get done over here. Anyway that was the first of many many long days! We had to have a meeting with all the coaches and managers that night which did not resemble your average cricket meeting in anyway whatsoever. Everyone was talking among themselves and not really paying attention to what was going on and to top things off we were in a giant sports hall so the acoustics were terrible! However we got through the meeting with everyone relatively happy (cept for one cranky man from Bogor, near Jakarta, but that's a whole other story!)

The next day the games began and I was amazed at how good the kids were given that they had only been playing for 8 or less months. They got introduced to cricket through a mass socialisation program that CI began in February and rolled out through the provinces. Some of them have such good bowling actions, and their natural ability to hit the ball is so good to watch. Some of the coaches in the provinces have done a really good job with the kids and worked really hard and you could definitely tell the teams where the coaches had done a lot from the teams where the coaches were less enthusiastic. But the best thing about the whole tournament was how much fun the kids seemed to be having - they were generally unphased about losing (they still need to be taught some of the more competitive bits of the game) and were just there to enjoy themselves as much as possible. One of the teams, Kupang, was incredible! They had these chants and songs and one of the kids did backflips whenever they got a wicket or won a game!

We had a massive downpour one afternoon which unfortunately ruined one of our two grounds for the next day but somehow things worked out and we still got all the games in that we needed to. By the time we got to the finals the kids were playing some really good cricket and I had the best job because basically I was just sitting there watching, taking photos and making sure that everything went smoothly. Oh and being in 100s of photos!!! There were also 2 girls playing in the competition - one for Jakarta and one for Jayapura (Papua). The girl from Jakarta, Ani, is soooo good! Better than a lot of the boys which was made pretty clear when she was picked in the national U15 side to play in the international tournament next month. And she has the most beautiful bowling action! I cant wait to get working with the other girls to see what talent they have lying hidden...

Oh and the other interesting thing was that the coach from Bogor somehow managed to get former Australian test captain Graham Yallop over to visit and come to the tournament. He was very nice and seemed to really enjoy watching the kids play and even presented an award at the closing tournament. I also met the coaches from all the different regions and we all had a bit of a game at the end of a couple of the days.

Praks was then kind enough to give us the next two days off which meant a 4 day weekend woohoo! Just spent most of it sleeping and relaxing and working out where to go to get what. Have now found the local DVD shop (loving it, 2nd season Gossip Girl and 6th season One Tree Hill for less than $20) and the local sports bar, shopping centre etc. We went out to dinner one night to a really nice restaurant one night which was lovely, and spent another day relaxing by the pool and working on my tan (with sunscreen don't worry). Have to spend this week looking for somewhere more permanent to live as I need to move out of the apartment I am in on the weekend.

I think that is all for now, will hopefully have somewhere permanent to live soon and internet access and stuff like that. All of you will be pleased to know that it has been hot and sunny here the last few days without any rain, generally very nice really! Feel like I have been here much longer than 2 weeks!

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