CRICKETING LEGENDS LAUNCH LAUREUS PROJECT

Cricketing legends, Steve Waugh and Kapil Dev, officially launched the Seenigama Sports project last week. The famous cricketers spent a packed two days in Seenigama meeting the participants of this highly successful project, and taking part in some of the sports involved. Steve and Kapil are both prestigious Academy Members of Laureus World Sports Academy, as is our friend and supporter Ian Botham who pioneered this sports project after his visit last April. Sadly Ian (who had intended to return with his cricketing peers) had to postpone his trip to Seenigama due to personal reasons, however we wish him well and hope to see him early next year.

Seenigama Sports is sponsored by Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. We were glad to also host David Butler and Gillian Smith from Laureus, in order to thank them in person for their support and show them how much we have achieved. We also had visitors from IWC, a Swiss international watch company who are sponsors of Laureus, and a crew from Sky Sports television who were covering the entire visit.

It was an honour for Seenigama to host such guests and they were given a welcome worthy of their status. The rains miraculously held off and the 2 days were a huge success. After an incredible welcome from the villagers, Steve and Kapil were introduced to 12 of the teams that take part in the Seenigama Sports project. The introductions were followed by a volleyball exhibition match with our star players from the Under 14 team, who were runners up in the All Island Finals last month, versus our Under 15 team. The cricketers and the Laureus visitors were all extremely impressed with the standard of play, so much so that after the game (won by the Under 15s) Steve and Kapil decided to join in on the action.

After a packed day the visitors were treated to pure Sri Lankan hospitality with local food and Kandian dancers in the Foundation's secretariat, after which they retired to their hotel. The following day was equally busy. After being shown around the exciting new AVIVA village site and visiting the train site in Pereliya, the Laureus group was treated to a game of softball cricket. This was the nail-biting final of the recent tournament run by Seenigama Sports - Seenigama vs Kalupe. Steve and Kapil donned their whites to warm up with the boys before watching a thrilling game which was won by Seenigama. The players provoked much interest from the cricketing legends to the extent that Steve was asking how players in Sri Lanka are picked to play for their country. They were very impressed with the potential of some of the players.

The cricketers and the Laureus visitors were in fact impressed with the whole visit. They saw a lot of hope in the Seenigama Sports project and were pleased to see so many motivated kids who had obviously benefited enormously from the various sports involved. The organisation of the project owes much of its success to the dedicated project managers Asanka, Thushara and Faye (below right). Asanka and Thushara run the project on the ground gaining interest from all the local schools and villages and encouraging young people to get involved, and Faye is our volunteer from the UK who helped set up the project and remains very much involved.

We thank Laureus Sport for Good Foundation for uplifting the spirits of the young people in Seenigama and the other villages involved in Seenigama Sports, including Kalupe, Pereliya, Thotagamuwa, Telwatta and Nelsanpura. Laureus' sponsorship has offered us hope and has helped us to build the confidence of everyone involved and to encourage active participation in village life.

To see how Laureus are working with other projects around the world, please visit the Laureus website.

18.10.2013