Blue Chip bragging rights go to Hudson
HUDSON Park High became the only Eastern Cape school to achieve Blue Chip status for their achievements over the past year when Cricket South Africa announced the new inductees yesterday morning.
Hudson had a superb 2017 season, with some of their highlights included them reaching the final of the Coca-Cola Schools T20 competition, their captain Sinethemba Qeshile named player of the annual Coke week, while two players, Jason Niemand and Akhona Mnyaka represented the SA U19 team at the U19 World Cup.
The Blue Chip Schools programme, was launched at the start of the 2015-16 season, and is designed to reward schools committed to providing an environment that will enable young players to exploit their full potential as sports people and to become the best cricketers they can be.
It is the vision of CSA to make cricket a truly national sport of winners and this initiative aligns with CSA’s three-pronged strategic approach to promoting schools cricket, namely:
Identifying and developing new schools in disadvantaged areas through the Standard Bank RPC programme and Hubs programme that was launched in partnership with Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE);
The Focus Schools Programme (FSP) which seeks to refocus the game in cricket schools that have a demographic profile of 70% black children as they already have the necessary infrastructure but lack a specific cricket focus; and
Traditional cricket-playing schools – i.e. the top-performing cricket schools which have excellent resources and infrastructure
“All schools within these three categories are measured against the Schools Quality Index [SQI],” commented CSA general manager: Cricket, Corrie van Zyl. “Schools that achieve 90% on the SQI assessment are awarded the official CSA Blue Chip Status for that year. “The aim of the Blue Chip Schools initiative is to incentivise schools with the necessary resources to assist Cricket South Africa in achieving its vision of cricket being the national sport of winners,” said Van Zyl.
An annual assessment is done on all schools to monitor their progress against the Index and schools are assisted to improve their score on the SQI. Schools that qualify for this status are only able to do so if all five criteria are met to the acceptable CSA standards.
The criteria are: Number of teams per age group, number of matches played, coaching infrastructure and qualifications, facility infrastructure and representation across the school pipeline.
The intended outcomes for this initiative are: Quality coaching structures and thus improved player performances, increased number and quality of matches at all levels within the schools pipeline, increased representation and the development of an increased pool of black players and sustainable production of quality players for the system.
“Once a school has a Blue Chip rating it becomes an even more important cog in CSA’s overall talent development strategy as, depending on its progression in the Coca-Cola T20 Schools Championship, it may qualify for a financial incentive that has to be used for its cricket bursary programme for identified disadvantaged cricket players,” added Van Zyl.
Other schools awarded Blue Chip Status for the 2017-18 season: Grey College, St Andrew’s High, St Andrew’s Primary (Free State), St Stithian’s, St John’s, Jeppe Boys (Gauteng), Cornwall College Primary, St Alban’s (Northerns), Christians Brothers College Primary (Easterns), Wynberg Boys High School (WP), Northwood, Glenwood (KZN Coastal), St Charles College, St Charles Primary (KZN Inland).