Uganda’s Victoria Pearls and the Canadian Women’s team visited Gayaza High School to celebrate Women’s Cricket Week, an initiative by the International Cricket Council to promote the inclusion of girls and women in sports.
The Women’s Cricket Week coincided with the ongoing 50-Over Women’s Cricket World Cup in India to make sure that those teams that aren’t part of the World Cup can be involved in a way of sharing their content, which is made visible to a global audience.
The visit by the hosts, Victoria Pearls and Cricket Canada, saw over 300 girls introduced to the game of cricket in a two-hour fun session. The girls were introduced to the basics of bowling, batting and fielding before engaging in some rapid-fire games.
Women’s Cricket in Uganda started in 2001 and Gayaza High School was one of the landing platforms for the game. The first Victoria Pearls side featured mostly players from Gayaza High School. The School has also won the annual Schools Cricket competition four times and has recently featured in the last editions in Soroti and Gulu.
The purpose of the visit was to make sure more girls are encouraged to take up the sport and find purpose in playing it. The goal is to use sports as a channel to uplift the confidence of girls, teach them the principles of teamwork and support in boosting their confidence.
Cricket Uganda Lady Representative on the board, Leila Namaganda and also an alumnus of Gayaza High School, shared her cricketing experience with the youngsters.
When I started playing cricket I didn’t know that this path would lead this far, I was able to play for the junior teams but now the game has given me a chance to become a leader.
I encourage each of you to pick up a ball or bat and take a chance on cricket. There are many opportunities in the game beyond just playing, you can be a doctor, a physiotherapist, team analyst or a psychologist. These are only opportunities in the sport that are beyond just playing.
Leila Namaganda, Cricket Uganda
The Women’s Cricket Week also coincided with the Victoria Series between the Victoria Pearls of Uganda and the Canadian Women’s team.
Uganda has so far won two games of the five-match series as the hosts prepare for the Emerging Cup in Thailand.
