SECONDARY schools cricket is expected to make a refreshing return in the final term (April to July) of the academic year.
This comes after the Ministry of Education, on Monday, confirmed that all school sporting/extra-curricular activity and inter-school competitions could resume owing to the government's recent roll-back of covid19 restrictions.
Secondary Schools' Cricket League (SSCL) president Nigel Maraj said plans are already afoot for the long-awaited but shortened season.
'We are now in the process of formalising the plans to submit to the Education Ministry for approval, along with doing a budget for that, to submit to our main sponsor, PowerGen.
'We have to meet first with our general council and schools. We are writing all our schools to find out whether or not they will be willing participate in activities of the SSCL,' he said.
The SSCL has already drafted correspondence to send out to its 115 schools asking if they are willing to compete next term, and if so, which divisions they would be willing to compete in.
Maraj said particular emphasis would be placed on forms one and two students, who transitioned from primary to secondary school during the pandemic.
'We need to engage them again, let them have fun, start to learn the rudiments of the game, the rules, etc. We're looking at playing festivals for our forms ones and twos, and maybe threes.
'Those festivals will take place primarily in each of the eight zones of the SSCL. So we will limit transportation firstly. It will also curtail the cost to the school. Funding would be tough to come by now, we believe, and we are trying to limit costs for schools,'
An immediate return to competitive cricket, Maraj said, is premature.
'The idea is to make sure children get back on to the field of play and enjoy their life. This lockdown for the past two years hurt our children not only in the development aspect, but their mental and physical health.
'This is wy we want to engage our lower school in particular. We want to get them back into enjoying the sport before we can engage in any competition.'
Similarly, Secondary Schools' Football League (SSFL) administrators are working assiduously to kick start some off-season (January-August) activity before competition gets under way in September.
However, with schools having to re-acclimatise with the full return of students in the coming term, the SSFL has extended the deadline to register for upcoming competitions. Initially, these applications were to be submitted in April, but the board has pushed this back until June.
SSFL president Merere Gonzales said the Premiership division would resume with three schools being promoted: Fatima College, Moruga and Chaguanas North Secondary, and St Mary's and Trinity Moka demoted to the championships division.
'We are moving with the expectation, with the sponsorship on board and further discussions to take place in the next few days, the Premiership division to remains as is.
'We expect to have 16 teams with either two rounds of competitio
