In a move aimed at increasing cricket in the public school system, the Bermuda Cricket Board has partnered with CedarBridge Academy.

Under the Student-Athlete Development Programme, the BCB will assign qualified cricket coaches to mentor CedarBridge students every Wednesday at the National Sports Centre’s North Field.

The BCB is hoping the initiative will grow to enable schools to engage each other in competitive matches, with executive director Cal Blankendal laying out the focus of the programme at a press conference yesterday.

“The BCB-CBA Student-Athlete Development Programme will start next week,’’ Blankendal said.

“This programme will be based on CedarBridge with the BCB mentoring and tracking student-athletes with an interest in cricket.

“We’re moving from just participating on the field and we are actually making sure that when they do play cricket, there’s a follow-up process. Hopefully, this can lead to well-rounded citizens of Bermuda.

“The core focus of the programme is to provide athletic training, event management workshops, inter-school match fixtures and potential national team opportunities, both locally and internationally.

“While the BCB is not a traditional educational organisation, we are vital to the mission of fostering and maintaining the cultural relevance of cricket in Bermuda.

“We believe this is the start of providing student-athletes with access to participating in the sport of cricket, for on and off-field development.”

BCB president Lloyd Smith is keen to emphasise the significance of schools cricket and hopes to get more young people involved in the sport.

“The board understands how important the need is for cricket in schools at this moment,’’ Smith said.

“We’re so happy to partner with CedarBridge Academy and we hope that we can get additional young people into coaching, scoring, umpiring and other essential parts of the game of cricket.

“Hopefully, we can expand this initiative to other schools and we hope that the student-athletes will benefit and enjoy the experience.”

CedarBridge board chair Lindsay Simmons expressed her gratitude to the BCB for affording the school’s learners such a great opportunity.

“We are thankful that the Bermuda Cricket Board has agreed to come on board to foster our children with cricket and also a mentoring programme,’’ she said.

Kenneth Caesar, the CedarBridge principal, welcomed the partnership, which he said had come at the right time.

“It is important that as we work at CedarBridge Academy, we’re a fully comprehensive school,” Caesar said.

“Our goal is to expose our young people to as many avenues as possible. I’m glad that this avenue in the form of sport, mentorship and skill building is going to be a great opportunity for our students.

“We have a lot of talent at CedarBridge Academy and we know that this is going to be the talent of our future.

“Every Wednesday afternoon we have approximately 30 to 40 different activities, which our young persons can participate in.

“When we look at this particular programme, it allows for the personnel to work with young persons who are interested in cricket.

“It allows them to further develop their skills, gives them everything they need. The good thing about this is that we know that every Wednesday afternoon we have the consistency of the programme.

“I do look forward to some of these young persons being developed into cricket players for the local clubs, Cup Match and ultimately, they should become world-class cricket players.”

CedarBridge Cricket Club co-ordinator Oranthus Turner said adding cricket to the school’s curriculum had generated a lot of excitement among students.

“I know the students will fly high with athletics and academics because most of them are excited,” he said.

One of the students, Daejun Butterfield declared his readiness to resume playing the sport.

“Personally, I'm ready to play cricket and I know fellow students are,’’ Butterfield said.

“I would like to thank the Bermuda Cricket Board for allowing us to use the nets and to get better athletically and academically.”