Cricket took centre stage last weekend to mark the occasion of the United Nations and UNICEF International Day of the Girl.
Under the theme “The girl I am, the change I lead: girls on the frontlines of crisis”, the event featured a special cricket match and other training activities at the Friendship Playing Field in St Michael.
Several excited young players attended and enjoyed the events, according to Dr Sasha Sutherland, chairperson of the Barbados Royals Girls club.
The game and training events were followed by a reimagined “team talk,” giving the girls an opportunity to share their perspectives – not only on sports, but also on the broader challenges they face in their lives.
A special guest turned up in the person of Aliyah Alleyne, the Barbados women’s captain and West Indies women’s allrounder.
She was recently a member of the Barbados Riyals team which won the Women’s Caribbean Premier League and she shared her amazing experience of earning the Player of the Match award in the final against Guyana Amazon Warriors Women.
“I had a love for football, I played football up to the age of 18 where I represented the national team. I still love football, but the Lord had bigger plans for me and he led me to the cricket field where I quickly got into the game and I love it,” Alleyne told the eager listeners. “You are all very lucky to be in an excellent programme like this out on by Barbados Royals. When I was playing as a youngster starting, we didn’t have these kinds of resources, so I’m really happy to see that UNICEF and Barbados Riyals are doing to develop sports and cricket in particular.” (PS)
