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Gingins CC 3^rd Annual Awards Event 2011

Sunday December 11^th saw the GCC host its 3^rd Annual Awards event at the La Chat Sports Hall. Play kicked off just after 2pm with some keen lads turning up to get some practice aboard. Other players trickled in and by 5pm, when the awards ceremony officially got going, there was a great racket emanating from the Hall as the kids challenged each other with bat and ball.

This is the 3^rd time the Club has held an Awards event and it has become a great way for us to finish our year and to reflect on what we’ve achieved, where we could do better and to look forward to the year ahead.

This year we broke the awards into 4 categories:

· Under 9s

· Under 10s

· Under 11s and

· Under 13s.

We didn’t take the recent Indoor tournament performances into account; the players’ efforts there will be considered in the 2012 Awards. Nor did we consider players who had recently joined the Club – again, they’ll be eligible for Awards in 2012.

In choosing the Award winners, we look for performances in matches, efforts and attitude at training and the overall approach with respect to the Spirit of Cricket. With so many kids playing at the Club it wasn’t easy but because it’s not a Beauty contest, we didn’t feel obliged to pick a single winner in categories where more than one player warranted acknowledgement. In fact, with some Awards, such as the Spirit of Cricket Award, we took the chance to recognize a number of players who had held true to the values of the Club and the spirit in which the game should be played.

Before we gave out the Awards, we presented the U11 team from Zuoz with the Zuoz Cup. They had not been given the Cup when they won the Tournament in Zuoz earlier this year - last year's winners had managed to lose it - and so we bought another Cup and presented it to the lads who were happy to finally raise it to much cheering!

Here’s a list of our winners:

Under 9s:

Best Newcomer: Wilf Chisolm

Best Young Star: Gregor Wellard

Under 10s:

Best Bowler: Charlie McKellar

Best Batsman: Luca Poynton

Spirit of Cricket Award: Matthew Shaw

Ayoush Shrikanth

Kian Power

Mattia Uras

Alex Buchelli

Dylan Cleaveley

Under 11s:

Best New Player: Sebastien Wood

Best Emerging Player: Anna Colville

George Colville

Best Fielder: John Cumberland

Best Bowler: Rohan Jain

Best Batsman: James Allsop

Spirit of Cricket Award: Oliver Roux

Sam McKellar

Patrick Lynch

Jelle Veenstra

Thomas Allen

Milton Valentine Coaches Award:

Leo Vlassopoulos

Thomas Allen

John Cumberland

Hawthorn Trophy Player of the Year:

Rohan Jain

Under 13s:

Best Fielder: Ale Poynton

Best Batsman: Floris Winckel

Best Bowler: Aidan Andrews

Rohan Jain

Ale Poynton

Spirit of Cricket Award: Vince Williamson

Simon Pearce

Milton Valentine Coaches Award:

Ale Poynton

Hawthorn Trophy Player of the Year:

Aidan Andrews

The Milton Valentine Coaches Award is a special award given to selected players, not necessarily because they’re the best players but because of the whole approach they bring to their game. Milton Valentine was an exceptional youth basketball coach but sadly died of cancer in 2009. Each year the Award is announced with some words that Milton penned before he passed away. Here is an excerpt that explains the idea behind the Award:

The Coaches award is in my opinion the Award to win. It is about the player who has made a commitment to him/herself and his/her teammates to put the team first. They are the person who is always at training, always gets to the game on time, always focused on what is happening both at training and in games and practices the drills at training so that in the game situation it is an automatic response. Most times they are the people who go home and practice in their own time as well to fine tune their skills, they will be prepared to try something new and will be there to pat a team mate on the back when he “drops a sitter” or is given out “to a howler of an LBW decision”.

We also had some special awards to recognize the great support given by our Gingins parents.

Mark Steele received his very own yellow Gingins CC t-shirt for all the great work he’s done with the Nippers this year. Dean McKellar also received his own fine yellow T for his great support at training and for his work coaching the U11s in the Indoor tournament.

And Manoj Parmer, our wonderful coach from the UK donated a new, special award to recognize the efforts of one of our parents. This year we couldn’t split Lindsey Williamson and Andy Cleaveley so both Andy and Lindsey have their names engraved on the lovely plate that Manoj donated – thanks Manoj!

Lastly, we wanted to give all the players a special “prize” that could sit on their desk to remind them of the spirit of the Club and to help them think about “Letting go” of the dreams that reside, sometimes deeply, within their young scones.

Each player received a mounted picture by Michael Leunig, an Australian cartoonist/philosopher and were reminded that if they had it in their heads that they wanted to do something, then they should set the dream free and just get out there and go for it.

With the year ahead looking so exciting for the Club, it was a great way – we thought – to end proceedings.

And really lastly, our parents and kids presented Manish and I with a great gift for which we were very grateful. Vince Williamson made a terrific speech.

So we take this opportunity to again congratulate all our Award winners for their achievements during 2011. We wish everyone involved with the Club a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing everyone again in 2012 and to continue to grow the Club and to provide a safe, fun and learning environment for all our kids to enjoy the great game of cricket.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! See you in 2012!

Gingins CC U11/U13 player Rohan Jain won the Inaugural U11 Bob Barber award earlier this year. The award ceremony was in October but Rohan and Manish were unable to attend so the award was given to Rohan as part of the ceremony at the recent Gingins Indoor Tournament.

Rohan Jain is the worthy recipient of this inaugural U11 Bob Barber Award. Rohan was the standout performer at U11 this past season. He got away to a flying start by captaining the Gingins CC U11 team to victory in the Swiss National Indoor Tournament hosted by Gingins last November. Rohan won the Player of the U11 Tournament award by virtue of excellent bowling (both wickets and economy), batting and fielding with Gingins winning a tight match vs. Luxembourg in the Final. Rohan also made a major contribution to the Gingins U13 team in the same Tournament. Rohan bowled beautifully in all matches, contributing a number of key wickets at a great economy rate; he batted soundly and safely and contributed some terrific fielding, especially in the Final when it really mattered, where he got 2 key run outs and 2 key wickets to help the U13 team lift the trophy.

In the outdoor season, Rohan again played an important role at both U11 and U13 in matches against local teams for Gingins but his next excellent success was at the annual Zuoz tournament. There Rohan played in the Gingins U13 side. He bowled brilliantly throughout the 3 matches, picking up 9 wickets including a 5 for in the vital, must-win match vs. Basel, the reigning champions, as well as a number of key wickets in a nail-biting game against Zurich. His economy rate was again second to none – all batsmen struggled to get him away, unsure of which way he’d spin it - and this for a young 10 year old who had only started bowling leg spin 12 months previously. Rohan used great flight and variation throughout to leave even the best batsmen struggling to fend deliveries away and was a worth winner of the U13 Tournament Best Bowler Award. Rohan batted solidly throughout the tournament, coming in twice in difficult situations, batting sensibly to help the team post a competitive score. Rohan made a major contribution to the U13 side winning the Zuoz tournament.

Rohan then captained the Swiss U11 side in Austria where again his tight bowling and strong batting saw the Swiss team beat an overage Austrian team as well as administer sound thrashings to Munich and Bratislava.

Rohan then participated in the Swiss U13 tour to the UK. Whilst he didn’t get the results he wanted, Rohan gained great experience against tough opposition.

Rohan is a keen young cricketer who devotes many hours to practice. He is a wonderful young lad who always plays in the spirit of the game, respecting team mates, opposition, coaches and umpires. We’re very much looking forward to seeing Rohan continue to develop his leg spin and as he gets older and stronger, to seeing his wonderful batting footwork and stroke play convert more of his fine shots into runs.

Congratulations then to Rohan Jain, a stand out winner of this year’s U11 Bob Barber Award.

Gingins U11s Make it Two out of Two, U13s go close

Gingins CC hosted the 2^nd Annual Swiss Indoor Championship at the La Chat Ecolint campus on November 26^th and 27^th. Visiting teams from Basle, Cossonay, College du Leman, Zurich and Luxembourg played against our Gingins kids and competition was fierce indeed!

Having won both age groups in the inaugural tournament last year, hopes were high amongst our U11 and U13 teams for a repeat performance. Our 2^nd U13 team, a development squad, were thrilled to be able to participate and get some much appreciated match practice.

The results were terrific!

Our U11 squad, comprised predominantly of kids relatively new to the game, far exceeded expectations. We knew they’d be competitive but we didn’t expect them to go on and win the tournament! But that’s exactly what they did!!

A good win over CDL in the group games was followed by a setback in the second game, being beaten quite convincingly by Basle. This placed them 2^nd in Group A, meaning that they had to face the Group B winners – Zurich – in the semi-final.

Shirts tucked in and looking like a cricket team, the kids went out and put on a great performance. Zurich got early wickets with the ball but our batters hung in there to post a respectable yet easily gettable score. Zurich’s batters came out and the runs flowed but one key difference – our kids weren’t bowling wides or no balls so the Zurich lads had to fight for every run. And they didn’t come easily as our kids fielded as though their lives depended on it. Having said that, they dropped three relatively simple catches off Zurich’s best batsman and the match seemed to be slipping away. But they got him in the end and wrapped up the game with runs to spare, earning themselves a position in the Final.

For the second year running, the U11 Final was Gingins vs. Luxembourg. What a cracking match it turned out to be. Gingins batted first and kept the scoreboard ticking over and over throughout the innings, posting a very strong 86. Then – what a bowling and fielding display! Hardly a single wide was given away and the Luxembourg team found it a real struggle to get any momentum going. Great fielding restricted their batters who had to hit out to try to stay up with the required run rate. That led to batsman taking risks and getting out. Our straight bowling saw us bowl a number of their players, we took some catches and ran out their big hitting No. 4!

In the end the brave Luxembourg squad fell short, our kids celebrating as though they’d won the lottery with the final catch to dismiss their last batsman.

What a great achievement by our U11 squad! They were:

Luca Poynton (c), Charlie McKellar, Matthew Shaw, Ayoush Shrikanth, Alex Buchelli, Kian Power, Sebastien Wood, Dylan Cleaveley, Tanish Patil and Mattia Uras

And to add icing on the cake, two of our lads were recognized for great individual performances. Ayoush won the Best Bowler award and Matthew Shaw won the Player of the Tournament trophy for an all round great effort on bowling, batting and fielding.

All our U11s were great but well done Ayoush and Matthew for really excelling.

The U13 tournament was just as tough! We fielded two teams – U13 Gingins Green, our main team; and U13 Gingins Gold, our development squad.

The Gold team had a hard time of the group matches but nonetheless there were some good performances and our players took heart and benefitted strongly from the match practice. They eventually played off for the 5^th vs. 6^th decider and beat CDL to win their first game at U13, a really great effort. Our Gold team comprised:

Anna Colville, George Colville, Rahul Venkatrum, Oliver Roux, Max Miller, Sam McKellar and with participation from U11s Matthew Shaw, Kian Power, Alex Buchelli and Charlie McKellar.

The Green team had a tough time too. Like the U11s, they won one and lost one in the group games. They beat CDL in their first game but lost to Luxembourg in their 2^nd. This saw them face Group B winners - the surprise packet of the tournament, the combined Basle/Cossonay team who had beaten Zurich and Gingins Gold to top their group.

The semi was the match of the tournament for us. Our boys lost the toss and were put into bat and made quite a mess of it; scoring nowhere near enough runs to be really competitive. But the match was by no means lost and our lads picked themselves up and duly went out and wiped out the Basle/Cossonay batsman. Floris Winckel took two early wickets and Rohan Jain and James Allsop kept the pressure on, taking wickets, restricting runs. Slowly, slowly, the lads tightened the noose and finally ran out strong winners – a match the stats said they should never have won - to secure their place in the final. It was a terrific effort from the Greens but one they weren’t able to replicate in the Final vs. a very strong and capable Zurich team. It was no pushover but the Zurich lads won comfortably in the end. Our lads were pretty upset – they had set themselves a tough target of again winning the tournament but though they fell short, as coaches, we were thrilled with the way they’d fought so hard to reach the final and to be competitive in that game too. It was a great effort.

Again, one of our lads was rewarded with an individual award. Floris Winckel got more runs and had a higher average than any other batter in the tournament by far and duly won the Best Batsman prize – well done Floris.

But the team, comprising: Rohan Jain (c), Floris Winckel, James Allsop, Jelle Veenstra, Thomas Allen, John Cumberland, Leo Vlassopolus and Iam Macdiarmid did a great job and should be proud of their achievement. We were and we look forward to seeing the lads train that much harder now to give the Zurich lads a real go at the Zuoz tournament.

It was yet again a wonderful tournament experience for all our players, made so by the great effort of our terrific Committee but also with help from all our families who bought food and drink in for the visiting teams throughout the two days of the tournament. And we cannot fail to mention our magnificent U15 players! They were super keen to play of course but as they'd all gone beyond the age limit, there was no opportunity for that. And yet they still wanted to be part of the proceedings and helped out - in their terrific yellow GCC t-shirts = by welcoming and supporting the visiting teams,helping kids pad up, consoling kids when tears were flowing and just generally being there to help the mums and organizers. Well done those lads:

Alex Marr, Ale Poynton, Simon Pearce, Vince Williamson, Alasdair Macdiarmid, Aidan Andrews, Abhishek Shrikanth, Floris Winckel and Amrik Jhand

We held a successful raffle and a Tournament Dinner as well as a great awards ceremony at the end where David Woods, Director of the La Chat Campus came and presented the trophies and medals to the players and winning teams.

We had great feedback from the visiting teams and cemented our bonds of friendship with the teams from all over Switzerland as well as the terrific squad from Luxembourg. We look forward to welcoming everyone back again in 2012!

Oct 3rd:

Jelle Veenstra and Thomas Allen, two Gingins CC U13 players, represented Switzerland this weekend past in the U13 Rugby World Cup which was held in Provence, France.

We posted some Twitter reports from Mark, Thomas' dad, on our Twitter feed over the weekend - the results and the boys' magic moments - so will not repeat it all here. But the boys had some great games against South Africa, Wales, Northern Ireland and were competitive in all their games, losing by 1 try only in a few matches, winning and drawing others.

Here's a great photo of the two ruffians and we post it here to celebrate their achievement.

Well done Thomas and Jelle!

May 29th: Picture this:

Fighting for our chance to win the Championship, we’re playing reigning champs Basle, we MUST win and we must win convincingly to stand any chance of taking the trophy because it’s going to come down to net run rate.

Rohan Jain is traumatizing the batsmen with his leg spin. He has 4 for and he’s coming in to bowl. The ball seems to be sliding down leg side, but wait, it kisses the leg stump on the way through, almost caresses the bail off and Basle are all out. Rohan celebrates, careering off on a looping run, arms raised above his head, through the covers…7 boys of 5 different nationalities chase him, catch him and hug him, celebrating together, mates! A 10 year old, small of stature. Indian boy, sometimes given a hard time because of his calm, gentle and polite approach to life, cart-wheeling across a cricket field, his team in tow and a crowd inspired by the site….THAT was my magic moment!

There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when you achieve a goal you had set for yourself. Easy goal, tough goal, unimaginable goal – it doesn’t matter. Looking back at the mountain you’ve just climbed, amazed in wonder that you actually did manage to drag yourself all the way up there, to those dizzy heights, there are few words that can capture the fullness of feeling, of wonderment and amazement, that washes around you during that moment of reflection.

Setting targets and working hard to achieve them is a major part of life. Sport, of course, in that it is part of life, is no different. All sportsmen and sportswomen set goals. Unimaginable goals (winning an Olympic goal medal), tough goals (your team winning a major championship), easy goals (getting to practice on time) or personal goals (running a PB in next week’s race); sport is a great prelude to the tougher challenge of survival in an ever competitive world.

Because of that, sport is great for kids. Any sport – team or individual – opens kids’ eyes to the journey required to succeed, to be a good person; because it really is a journey. Even those gifted with rare natural talent have to work hard to reach their goals. Nothing comes easy; there are no free lunches. Sports people learn early the heartfelt pain of defeat, the physical pain of injury, sometimes the pain of not being able to continue their chosen sport because something somehow happens to derail their journey. We, as spectators, love sport because we can watch these things unfold before our eyes. Sport and cricket in particular, captures so many emotions in a single game – that moment of competing for the trophy - will he catch it, has she trained hard enough, will they choke? “If only he’d have…!” How terrific it is that we have sport and the great game of cricket to enrich us!

When those emotions come from watching our own kids – well, how our hearts jump into our mouths each time they go out there to bat or bowl - how intense can those feelings be! Worried for their hearts in case they lose or mess up somehow, you almost wish that they would just stay in their room and read a book – it would be much safer! But you know that that will only teach them so much, it will likely not fulfill them and so out they go, helmets on, bat or ball in hand, to have a go. You sit there and can only mutter a choked “Good Luck!” or “It doesn’t matter if you don’t win” when you know very well it matters to them more than anything.

So when the Gingins CC first travelled to Zuoz to compete in the Swiss National Junior Cricket Championships in June 2009, we realized that here was a worthy goal.

Organized by Cricket Switzerland – and a thousand thanks to Patrick Henderson for giving us the gift of this goal - the Zuoz Championship really is the showcase for Swiss Junior Cricket. Played at 1,800m at the Lyceum Alpinum School in the beautiful Engadine region, snow capped mountains all around, Zuoz is about as far as you can get from Gingins and still be in Switzerland. Teams compete in 8 per side, 18 over matches at U11, U13 and U15 levels.

In 2009, we were in only our second season and had played only a handful of competitive games against other Clubs. When we took our U11s to compete in our first Zuoz Championship, we had few expectations of winning. Yet we came 2nd and – very proudly – were awarded the Spirit of Cricket Award for the way we played. If that wasn’t enough to stir the competitive juices, nothing would.

So we thought to ourselves – this would be a terrific tournament to win! We set that as a Club goal and we trained hard and prepared like crazy for the 2010 tournament. Our U13 team had a huge challenge that year because most of our lads had only being playing cricket for two years and were up against serious and much more experienced talent. Nonetheless, they fought hard and achieved respect from the opposition.

Our U11s that year went ever so close. We’d won our first two matches, beating the excellent and experienced past champions the Zurich Crickets in the process. We came up against Munich – who had also won their two games – in the final match and took them to the wire. We took 6 of the 7 wickets needed but their experienced players hung in there. We gave them a few lives to boot so that in the end, we travelled the 6-hour journey home cradling not a trophy but the dreadful pain not only of defeat, but of having had victory snatched from our grasp.

Every match and training session since that moment the Munich lad smashed the winning run has been dedicated to preparation for the 2011 Zuoz Championship.

The physical journey to get there each year is a logistical challenge in itself. Our parents, having travelled there separately by car and train in 2009, and then together by train (with 5 changes!) in 2010, decided this year that we’d hire a bus, everyone travelling together, to generate that magical team spirit we believe is so important to everything we do in Gingins CC.

Departing on time at 1455, we were stuck in traffic near Bern for an hour and as the weather turned bad and night settled in, we received text messages from those ahead of us, already in Zuoz, that snow was falling in the valley. Notwithstanding the concern this raised for the safety of our journey over the 2,200m Julier pass, it really made us fear that the Championship would be called off and we’d not get the chance to compete.

The bus driver got us there safely around 2330, not without some nervous moments. All parents and kids were thankful that the bus had a video we could watch to deter our attention from what was happening outside – there really was snow everywhere up there. Our iPhone-wielding parents had dialed up the forecast for Zuoz the next day and it seemed that yes, it would be sunny so we went to bed feeling hopeful we’d get the chance to have a go after all.

Indeed, Saturday dawned majestically (see left). Cold, but with sunshine and snow almost right down in the valley, off we went to the fields to prepare for our first match – Gingins CC U13s against a composite Swiss Wanderers team made up of lads from Cossonay and a few other Clubs (including Abhishek Srikanth from Gingins).

How dreadfully we played! The Wanderers batted first and scored a total of 58 runs – 47 of them coming from wides and no balls from our wayward bowling! We were horrified! All that training for this? “Come on lads!”. Worse, our normally robust batting slipped badly and we ended up 6 for 50, with our last man in. A nail-biting run chase that should have been a lot easier became a fight for survival in the tournament. The lads made it – phew! – so we had a win on the board but we needed serious improvement from then on with the past champions Zurich and current champions Basle ahead of us.

Attention then turned to the U11s. Only one of our players had played in Zuoz before so we had a new squad that was full of hope and expectation but thin on results to prove their credentials. Playing against the Basle Dragons, we had an easy win in the end because the Basle lads were, like us in 2009, quite young and new. But it was a great game played in an excellent spirit; a good confidence builder for our boys.

Our next game turned out to be the game of the Championship - Gingins CC U13 vs. Zurich Crickets CC. Zurich won the toss and elected to bowl; a good choice as we were playing on the coconut matting strip and the ball was keeping low at times. We got off to a very rocky start and before we knew what was happening, were 2 for 5 and then 3 for about 10. This was bad! But our experienced lads worked on through and eventually posted a score of 73; likely 10-20 runs short of where we’d have liked to be after our 18 overs, but a total we felt we could defend.

Zurich are no slouches though and are full of experienced lads. But they found scoring a challenge too and we rotated our bowlers sensibly and carefully. Wickets came but then there were periods of run-getting so the emotions waxed and waned as the game unfolded, Zurich creeping closer to the target, Gingins fighting hard, not giving anything away. Then a flurry of wickets!!! Coming into the last over, they needed 5 runs, we needed 2 wickets. Singles taken of the first few balls – WICKET! The crowd, swelled by spectators from other fields, cheered and rallied their favourites. Last ball, 2 runs needed. A wide would hand them victory, but no, a tap, run, a rushed single, a throw at the stumps – NO! Overthrows! Zurich steal victory in a brilliant match by a single run off the last ball of the match!

Phew! Breathing out, calm…coaches, parents consoling distraught players. Zurich elated, what a game, played in an absolutely brilliant spirit! But heads up lads, you’re not out of it yet – if you beat Basle tomorrow, it will be Zurich 2 wins (they’d lost earlier to Basle and beaten the Wanderers), Gingins 2 wins and Basle 2 wins so it would come down to net run rate. You’re still in it!

Meanwhile….the U11s had their second game. This time against College du Leman (CDL) playing their first ever Zuoz Championship, our lads played a super game. They’re no slouches either at CDL but we put on a score over 115 and had them all out for 49. So the U11s went off to dinner that night on a high whilst the U13s, many of them the same boys who had tasted that oh-so-close defeat against Munich the year before, were more pensive, worried but still positive.

The weather during the first day had improved progressively so that the Sunday dawned a magnificent sunny day. Sunscreen required all around, especially given the altitude. The scene was set for an enthralling day for the Gingins lads. The U11s still had to beat the Zurich lads to seal the Championship and the U13s not only had to beat the reigning champions and highly capable Basle team, but had to do it sufficiently well to end up with the best net run rate. Zurich U13s were up against the Wanderers team so were expected to win comfortably – the odds were stacked against us.

The U13s were up first. Winning the toss (excellent!) we decided to bowl and how beautifully we did! Seven of the 18 overs in and Basle were 2 for 14 (or 14 for 2 if you’re a Pom!). We fielded like our lives depended on it, dismissing their most attacking batsman with a cracking catch! Some excellent batting took them to 59 but this was a good total for us, one we thought we could certainly chase.

The wheels fell off our chase a bit – our number 3 going out cheaply – but the rest of the Gingins lads clenched their jaws around that total and slowly, progressively chewed their way there; aggressive and terrific shot making at the end taking us to a really brilliant, hard fought victory.

The U13s had done all we could ask. They hadn’t had a brilliant Championship but they’d fought like tigers, there was no choking here. Some players were up in some matches, or in some facet of their game, down in others. Other players stepped up to fill the space. No one took a backward step and everyone was so proud of their achievement – regardless of whether they’d done enough to win the Championship – because they had truly exemplified our team spirit – “We Play as a Team!”

The U11s were up next and they bowled first. Another terrific bowling and fielding effort saw them restrict a strong Zurich batting line up to 59. The best thing about the bowling was that it wasn’t the experienced strike bowlers who got the wickets; our new younger lads took 5 of the 7 wickets and that was terrific. Getting 60 runs still represented a mountain to climb though because the Zurich lads can bowl. Sure enough, we lost both our experienced and high scoring openers very cheaply and as runs dried up to near desertification levels as the overs ticked by we were in trouble – serious trouble. We worried that our new U11s would feel the pain of defeat all the way home too as had their predecessors in 2010 after having put themselves in such a good position to win. But no way, not on your Nellie!

The U11 lads worked hard and batted carefully, keeping wickets intact and scoring slowly and progressively; there were even some cracking aggressive shots. The Zurich lads bowled well but eventually wides started to come (2 runs for a wide or no ball) and with some good shots and good running between wickets, we edged our way to the total. Tension! With two runs needed to win, the six young non-batting players lined up on the sidelines. “Wide!” “Game Over!” and onto the pitch they ran to greet their mates and celebrate winning the U11 trophy! They’d done it! But not without a struggle, the hard work making the win so much sweeter.

So we had one trophy in the bag – brilliant – but had to wait to hear the U13 result. Coaches and mathematicians had been poring over the Basle, Zurich and Gingins score-sheets to determine the net run rate and thus the results.

Had they done enough? Players, parents, coaches gathered to hear the result. No one (save the coaches who had verified the run rate calculations) knew the deal. We only knew: Basle 2 wins. Zurich 2 wins. Gingins 2 wins; Swiss Wanderers 3 losses.

Announcing 4th place - the Swiss Wanderers. OK, so no surprises there.

Announcing 3rd place - Gingins boys and all the other boys from the other teams heads in hand, no one daring to look – long pause - ”Zurich!!”

“We’re still in it!”

Announcing 2nd place, and by default the champions -

Very long pause - ”Basle!!!”

We’d won! The boys had done it! Our lads looked at each other in shock and uncontained happiness, almost hyperventilating with the excitement – it meant so much to them.

Announcing 1st place, Zuoz Champions 2011 – Gingins CC! Absolutely fantastic!

So…great emotions all round. The mountain climbed – not once but twice – we had come to give it our best and challenge for the Championship. We’d had a tough time of it, we’d had to fight hard and face disappointment and yet we’d come through. Two teams, two Championships! Unfortunately for the U11s, last year’s winners (Munich) have misplaced the trophy so there was only one cup on the bus ride home but we hope to have it here with us soon.

Some readers will find it odd that I’m a long way into the article and haven’t yet mentioned a single player by name. That’s deliberate and the reason is that these were two quite brilliant efforts by our TEAMS.

We say in Gingins “We Play as a Team!” It’s what defines us, how we see ourselves and this Zuoz Championship really, really showed the power of it. We had players who performed really well but few did so in all games and in all aspects of the game. What defined this tournament for the us was the way each and every player stepped up at some point in the tournament; each player made some contribution. Each player fought back after a disappointment. Each player wanted to bat, to get out there, to have a go. Each player wanted to bowl. In the field, they wanted the ball to come to them. We didn’t drop a single catch and indeed took some beauties. Our shirts were tucked in; we LOOKED like a team. We had our new team banner and we took a thousand photos in front of it – because it had our logo on it and it said “We Play as a Team” and there’s is nothing we’re more proud of than that!

On the bus home we all spoke about our Magic moments – our own personal magic moment, a fellow player’s magic moment and a team magic moment. Our kids came up with a hugely long list and we will post it here on the website soon.

We look forward to our next challenge. Defending the Indoor Championship trophies at U11 and U13 levels that we won last November is likely our next goal and then defending Zuoz after that.

I personally had many magic moments, both watching the U11s and the U13s and I know that Manish and our other parents and coaches did too. My best one was watching Ro and the U13s celebrate that Basle 5 for but the U11s running onto the field together when they’d won the trophy was special too. So, in an odd way, was the tears of the lads when they lost that thriller to Zurich – what passion they have! And how easy to comfort them when they’d given it absolutely everything. It would have been a harder job had they bottled it.

We must also thank many people:

Monica Winckel organized the bus and hotel logistics for us and that was NOT an easy task. But everything went brilliantly so many thanks to you Monica.

Lindsey Williamson organized all the players for the team and kept everything on that front moving forward so good on you Lindsey.

Brian Pearce organized all the scoring and the boys love to look at stats so that will be valuable in the future.

Mark Allen, Rhett Andrews and Arun Srikanth were excellent with the boys, coaching them in the nets and keeping their minds focused on technique.

Patrick Henderson, as already mentioned, is the key Championship organizer and he had strong support this year from three Zurich parents for each age group so thanks to Patrick, Paul and Radovan for the support to the U11s and U13s where we competed.

Thanks also to Mark at the Lyceum Alpinum - simply brilliant organization, great food, and a great atmosphere.

Our bus driver – great job!

All the parents who made the journey – TERRIFIC support!

And of course – all the players!

We did have three stand out performers and they do deserve a very special mention because we do also recognize exceptional performances:

Rohan Jain took 9 wickets in three games including that wonderful 5 for against Basle and was the most economical bowler of the tournament. Ro batted well too and hung in there with Floris in the tough game against Zurich, helping us to a competitive total. Against Basle he was in there with Aidan when the winning runs were scored and almost took the catch of the tournament at deep square leg. Ro easily won the U13 Best Bowler award – and he’s only 10 years old! A brilliant performance.

Floris Winckel’s batting saved the U13s three times in three matches. The number of runs against a batsman’s name doesn’t always tell the complete story. He did take the catch of the U13s tournament – dismissing Basle’s most attacking batsman for zero with a screamer off Aidan’s bolwing. Floris’ maturity and calmness in a crisis saved the day and he also deserves credit for a brilliant tournament.

James Allsop in the U11s team won the Best Batsmen Award but bowled well and fielded brilliantly – a stunning catch and a brilliant run out lifted the whole team. This was James’ first major outdoor tournament and he played like a real champion.

But the rest of our lads were heroes too, all of them. Here’s a description of how they went. Pat them all on the back the next time you see them.

UNDER 13s

Ale Poynton – Captained the U13s with great leadership. After the first 2 overs in the first match Ale bowled beautifully and was unlucky not to get more wickets. He had a shocker with the bat and has some work to do there but fielded well as always and led with determination.

Vince Williamson – Vince changed the whole nature of the Championship for us with his bowling in the first game. We’d been bowling rubbish and Vince came on, cool as a cucumber, and took two wickets in his first over, turning the tide and bringing belief back to the boys’ faces. Vince’s bowling against Zurich was simply excellent, ice-cool in the final overs.

Simon Pearce – Simon beat himself up as the lad who threw the overthrow that allowed Zurich that extra run that cost us the match. It shows just how passionate Simon is about his cricket and Gingins CC. Simon bowled brilliantly in that Wanderers game as well, helping Vince to steady our ship. As always, his fielding was spot on and it wasn’t his fault the ball went for an overthrow – the backing up was there, but everyone missed it, C’est la vie!

Aidan Andrews – our brilliant new South African! Aidan had a terrific Championship. Still has issues hitting across the line but carried his bat through the Basle innings having bowled beautifully in that game to take their best batsman’s wicket. Batted and bowled well in the Zurich game too and was also unlucky not to get more wickets. Aidan typically fielded brilliantly.

Theo Deurden – an under-believer in his own ability, Theo was part of the trio of bowlers (along with Simon and Vince) who turned not only the Wanderers match, but the whole tide of our Championship by helping the U13s get their belief back. Batting with little confidence but grim determination, Theo hung in there as last man in with Floris to secure the runs needed for victory against the Wanderers. Typically active in the field, Theo saved a bag of runs behind the keeper.

Ed Deurden – our keeper! Ed doesn’t get to training so often so lacks some technique but he makes up for that by throwing himself into his cricket. Ed had to face some wayward bowling in the first few overs against the Wanderers and got hit with the ball a few times but fought back, got some run outs through the other games and made a terrific contribution to the team.

Abhiskek Srikanth – played in the Wanderers team and initially was coming to Zuoz only to cheer on the U13s which shows great values. Abhishek got a run with the Wanderers which is good experience and will stand him in good stead for next year when he plays for Gingins. We couldn’t get him out when we played the Wanderers and he carried his bat until at least the 10th over.

UNDER 11s

Jelle Veenstra – has been with the Club since its inception and captained the U11s beautifully. Struggled a bit with the bat but bowled terrifically and was unlucky not to get more wickets. Jelle fired up his team mates and inspired them through his energy to victory – a natural leader.

Thomas Allen – new to the Club, Thomas has worked like crazy during the winter season and it shows in his cricket. Batting and bowling were excellent – needs to work on his running between wickets – but overall a terrific lad who made a huge contribution to the team victory.

John Cumberland – good mates with Thomas, John is also new and made a massive contribution to the team by keeping to Jelle, Thomas and James; easily the three fastest bowlers in the Championship. John never took a backward step and we didn’t see too many byes either. John batted well too and fought through a nasty blow to the foot. John was out there with James when the final run was secured to win the Championship; I bet that’s a feeling he’ll not forget for a while.

Ayoush Srikanth – very new to the Club Ayoush’s skills have developed rapidly and he took some good wickets with the ball. Ayoush contributes a lot in the field, chatting away and lifting his team mates. Specialises in excellent celebrations whenever the team takes a wicket!

Luca Poynton – has been to Zuoz the past two years to watch his older brother play but was excited to be on the field this year. Bowled a few wides but then really got it together in the final game against Zurich, taking two important wickets. Secured the Club’s first ever Diamond Duck in the game against CDL when responding to his partner’s call so had that disappointment to live with but batted like a champion in the Zurich game, strongly supporting James in the successful run chase. As ever, fielded well and just missed a couple of great run outs with throws from near the boundary.

Patrick Lynch – our new Kiwi lad who likes to smash every ball he faces. Patrick had contrived to go out first ball in his last 4 visits to the crease which isn’t a bad effort considering it’s a rare thing for an U11 bowler to bowl at the stumps so often, and he went out cheaply in his first innings. But he fought back, scored some runs and felt good about his batting by the end. He bowled well and took at least one wicket and fielded well too, fighting through the pain of being hit in the leg.

Leo Vlassopulous – keen as mustard Leo and whilst we need to work on his batting, his bowling really improved, especially in the last game where he took 2, maybe 3 wickets and missed the stumps by a whisker – could have been a 5 for! A little powerhouse of inspiration, Leo constantly urged his team mates on and made a huge contribution of positive vibes to the team.

For more stunning photos (there are 175 of them - with thanks to Sarah & Brian Pearce, Sarah Cumberland, Monica Winckel & Karen Vlassopulos) visit this web album:

Zuoz 2011 Photo Album

May 15th 2011:

Gingins CC members had a terrific experience this weekend past. Craig Hogan, Jersey National Team Coach, travelled to Switzerland for the weekend to deliver an intense two-day training session to over 60 GCC players! The two-day session, held in the new Sports Hall at the La Chataigneraie campus of the International School of Geneva, saw 25 kids participate on the Saturday and 52 participate on the Sunday.

By Sunday afternoon, kids, coaches and parents alike were revelling in the spirit of cricket as Craig took the kids through a series of exercises and great fun games that bought huge smiles to many faces.

Craig represented Australia at U19 level and played for the NSW Colts. He also played alongside Allan Border in his early years though we have some work to do at Gingins because most of our kids didn’t have a clue who Allan Border was – slightly embarrassing!

But they certainly knew who Craig Hogan was by Sunday afternoon! Craig has many years teaching experience and as National coach in Jersey, he works at many levels of the game, right across Europe. Craig has been very involved in junior coaching for many years and our kids really responded to Craig’s terrific approach – you could have heard a pin drop as he was explaining this or that technical skill.

Batting, bowling, fielding, running between the wickets drills – the kids soaked it all in and enhanced their technical skills in the process. They worked on their fitness levels too, playing loads of games that had everyone puffing and cheering their team in a tremendous competitive atmosphere.

It wasn’t just about the technical and the physical though as Craig introduced the concept of team work, strategy and the mental side of cricket. All the kids will remember how flummoxed they were when the stick they were trying to lower to the ground instead kept getting higher and higher!

Even our Nippers group participated!! Our Nippers comprise little players of age 5-7 years and Craig spent over an hour getting them going on some fun new games.

For our advanced players, Craig showed detailed video analysis of bowling and batting techniques. Immediately our kids could see where they could improve. Craig spent over an hour and a half early on Sunday morning – before the main group arrived - in focused one-on-one sessions with our advanced U13s. Most critically, he made it clear to them – and our participating coaches – that it was our collective responsibility to share these insights with our less advanced players.

These new skills were immediately put into practice in real cricket games held side by side in the wonderful Hall after we’d dropped the curtain to form two “fields”. Our U11s formed two teams and they went hard at each other - as did the U13s - for a good hour at the end of each day. Playing tip-and-run cricket, they learnt the responsibility of looking after your teammate, bowling and fielding tightly and scoring runs to win the game.

We have had loads of very positive feedback from our players and parents. Our coaches have learnt so much just watching the various drills, looking at the video analysis, and listening to Craig’s words to the kids.

It was terrific to be able to do this just for our Club and we must thank Craig very much indeed for taking his time out to join us. We must also thank the International School of Geneva La Chataigneraie campus for allowing us to use the unrivalled facilities.

Craig’s course comes on top of a similar one held at La Chat two weeks ago for the Swiss U11 and U13 teams (see below story). Manoj Parmer, another very experienced coach, travelled from the UK to run the two-day coaching session for the Swiss U11 and U13 squads. In late April, the Zurich Crickets CC had two coaches from Hampshire come to run a weeklong session for their kids so as we prepare for the annual Cricket Switzerland Zuoz Junior Tournament, we can be sure that Swiss Junior Cricket is in rude health. Zuoz should be a cracking event this year as so many kids from all across Switzerland line up to put their new skills into practice.

On top of this, don’t forget that Gingins CC will this year continue its great relationship with Cricket Victoria. We will run our 3^rd Annual Cricket Victoria Gingins Coaching Camp Aug 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd. As in previous years, an experienced Cricket Victoria coach from Australia will lead players from all over the “Western” Swiss Romande region for 2.5 days of cricket development sessions.

It really was a pleasure watching Craig in action this weekend but most of all it was great seeing exhausted players bouncing out of the Hall, huge smiles and happy faces, discussing new techniques, talking about how they’ll whip the competition next time they play. Thanks once more to Craig Hogan and we look forward to continuing our junior cricket development program in Gingins in association with our fellow Clubs in Cricket Switzerland.

We have a link to all the photos that were taken over the course of the two days. Here it is and please feel free to download any shot you like:

Craig Hogan Course Photos

The group embarked on numerous exercises all relating to one of the central factors above. These ranged from mental challenges to basic technique demonstrations and tactics tests. Manoj related experiences from critical points of matches he has been involved in and passed on invaluable tips on how to deal with pressure and how to navigate through matches with tactics that work. He mixed into this approach a healthy dose of technical skills, demonstrating a wide array of batting shots, bowling variations, and fielding technique by giving simple tips on how best to execute them and in which match situations these would be best employed. It was clear to all that the junior players gained tremendously from Manoj’s passion, experience and engaging approach towards the game of cricket.

INFORMATION ON THE CAMP

Following on from the successful Inaugural Cricket Camp held in mid-August 2009 and our 2nd Camp held in Aug 2010, we are pleased to announce that Cricket Victoria (yes, the guys from Australia - see http://www.cricketvictoria.com.au/) is again supporting us in 2011 to hold our 3rd Annual Cricket Camp.

This year Rohan O'Neill from Cricket Victoria will lead a two and a half day cricket camp, full of fantastic training for young cricketers from across the Lac Leman region.

Rohan is currently employed at Cricket Victoria as Game Development Manager - Metro which oversees the delivery of all game development programs in the metropolitan area of Melbourne via Regional Cricket Managers. Rohan has been at Cricket Victoria for 6 years in 3 different roles.

Coaching wise Rohan is an Australian Level 3 accredited High Performance Coach. He is currently coach (and captain the 1st XI) of the Elsternwick CC in the Victorian Sub District Cricket Association. Playing wise he played 11 seasons at the Melbourne Cricket Club which is in our Premier Cricket Competition. Rohan has coached various junior development teams in his time at Cricket Victoria.

Camp Format

The format will be the same as in 2010. We will have two age groups:

Nippers: For children aged 6, 7, 8 that are new to cricket

Older Kids: For children aged 9 and above up to a maximum age of 14.

All children - boys and girls, beginners or advanced, able or disabled - are welcome to join us. We will run the session over 2.5 days with a mixture of skills sessions, and free-time (supervised) matches.

Sunday Aug 21st

The traditional Gingins CC Sunday morning coaching session will move to the Sunday afternoon from 14:00 to 16:00 and Rohan will observe the coaching session and get an idea of the kids’ skill levels.

Monday Aug 22nd:

09:00 to 12:00

Nippers’ session with Rohan and Gingins CC Coaches; a mixture of skills sessions and a match

Older Kids' session with Rohan and Gingins CC Coaches focusing on skills and warm-up matches

12:00 Lunch

Children must bring their own lunches and drinks but we will provide cakes and drinks for refreshments and snacks

Nippers’ session finishes with lunch (i.e. Nippers only do half days)

13:00 to 15:00

Older Kids' skills session with Rohan and Gingins CC Coaches

Tuesday Aug 23rd:

Same Format as for Monday Aug 22ndCost:

Nippers Group: CHF50 for the 2.5 days

Older Kids Group: CHF100 for the 2.5 days

Location: La Chataigneraie International School. More information on the exact details will be sent to people once they register. Further informationcan be obtained from Monica Winckel.

Bank Details to pay subscription:

Bank: UBS

Name: Gingins Cricket Club

IBAN: CH69 0022 8228 5772 25M1 C

BIC: UBSWCHZH80A

Description to use = Child’s name + 3rd Cricket Camp

(this will help with tracking the payments)

We look forward to welcoming parents and kids to Gingins CC for what we expect to be a great couple of days of cricket for the kids of the Region.