Sunny skies and sandy beaches were the order of the day as the eager Sporting Chance team made its way to Main Beach, Strand for the roll out of the 23rd annual Calypso Cricket festival. Day one of the event always sets the tone for the remainder of the week, and judging from the positive turnout it’s evident again, that this year’s Calypso Cricket will be another major success. Being able to host this popular cricket initiative on our beautiful local beaches, adds a festive-like ambience to the already action-packed event.
500 children from the surrounding Helderberg communities of Lwandle, Nomzamo, Macassar, Mfuleni and Stellenbosch were bussed down to the beach and on arrival looked more than ready to get the festivities going. As soon as the cricket bats were distributed amongst the participating teams, Calypso Cricket was in full swing!
Craig Marais and his crew from SABC news arrived during the course of the day recording footage of the cricket action. With the passing of SA’s most revered statesmen, Nelson Mandela, it was fitting that children were brought together by sport, something which the late Nelson Mandela viewed as playing a special role in nation-building. Towards the end of the day’s programme, we all paid a special tribute to Madiba by singing a song that he particularly liked and signing off the song with the words, “Rest in peace Tat’u Madiba!”
We look forward to the next day’s Calypso action and sincerely thank our sponsors and partners: Taquanta, the Western Cape Department of Community Safety, Coca Cola, Food Lover’s Market, the Maurits van Nierop foundation and the Rotary Club of Strand for joining forces with Sporting Chance and working to making this initiative possible.
