Stars have fun with kids at KFC festival
Dale College hosts 1,200 children in action-packed day
The annual Border KFC Mini Cricket festival was held to much fanfare at Dale College in King William’s Town on Friday morning, with schools from across the Border region in attendance. Close to 1,200 children enjoyed getting active.
“I am very happy with the organisation of this festival, and every kid will now get a chance to participate and enjoy the day,” KFC Mini Cricket’s coordinator for the Border region, Mnonopeli Mfenqe said.
“We have scouts out here looking at the young talent we have, and they will be identifying the best talent from the Border region.
“But for us it is not just about the best young players. One of the key things we decided at the national coordinators meeting was to promote fun enjoyment and participation by stopping scoring in the games and just allowing kids to play, which I think is very important.”
Warriors and Border men’s players were in attendance at the festival, giving tips and checking out the kids who were in action, along with the Border women’s team, who were also imparting some of their wisdom to the youngsters.
Warriors batsman Marco Marais and Border all-rounder Clayton Bosch were two of the stars in attendance, and both said that the KFC mini cricket festivals were vitally important in growing grassroots cricket around the country.
“It is good to be back home. This is only the second mini cricket festival I have been to, and as I said at my first one, I was never exposed to any of this.
“But I think this is a very good initiative from KFC to get kids of all ages involved, and give them exposure and, going forward, you may find the next Makhaya Ntini or Mfuneko Ngam come out of here,” Marais said.
“This is a very important thing for kids to get them away from bad things and their minds off bad stuff, and it helps them get together and focus on sport, which is very good.
“I played mini cricket back then and I remember what it did for me, and I really enjoyed playing mini cricket, so it only does good things,” said Bosch.
A number of KFC mini cricket coaches were also recognised for their long service, while talent scouts kept their eye on proceedings, hoping to identify the next big star.