Amaijah tries Cricket

Edited by Brianna. 

Hi, everyone! My name is Amaijah Coates, age 16, and I’m a soon to be junior from Philadelphia, PA.

Today was an amazing day for the global navigators of the Australian Conservation from Land to Sea program. We went on a tour of the Sydney Cricket Grounds (SCG)! We were able to explore one of the largest sports cultures of Australia. Our tour guide’s name was Kaz and she taught us about the history of the Cricket Grounds. Firstly, I’d like to express how outrageous it is that the women of cricket only have one statue while the men have 76. Huge shout out to Belinda Clark though! We started off with a tour of the SCG Museum where all past historical moments were on display, including a lego version of the members pavilion made by a fourteen-year-old. We then continued to the player dressing rooms where we could see where the players’ lockers were and where they showered. It was quite spacious compared to what the visitors’ dressing room looked small and not very friendly looking. The cool part was the names written on closet doors. Everyone’s a winner in the name of cricket! After a walkthrough of the changing rooms and bathrooms, we ventured over to the member's pavilion. Both the men and the women had a section, the women’s looking smaller than the men. Typical. We were able to sit in those chairs as well as the chairs of sports casters and see the cricket grounds from above. 

        At the end of the tour, Kaz took us to the SCG indoor practice area where two men were there to teach us how to play cricket. It started off with us learning how to catch a ball after being hit off of a cricket bat in order for us to gain an efficient catch. At the time, the ball was just a tennis ball but then we switched to an actual cricket ball. All of us were then split into four groups to learn how to throw the ball like real cricket players do. It was pretty difficult at first because I couldn’t get the motion of throwing the ball overhand and without bending my arm. It was a problem for most of us that we didn’t quite figure out. Afterward, we were taught how to hit the ball with a cricket stick which was a whole lot easier than throwing it. I think that if I could play cricket without having to throw the ball, I’d be a cricket prodigy. I’m lying. It was terrible. Anyway, in the end we played a game of cricket. All 32 of us were split in half and divided into two teams. I ended up being dubbed the captain of my team and it was a long, enthusiastic, stressful game but my team came out on top with a score of 55-40. I just want to say that I’m an amazing team captain and even though the game was fun, I’m proud of my team for winning because I honestly didn’t think we were going to win. Lol. Go team!