In another significant milestone for cricket in Namibia, national cricket stalwart Craig Williams has opened a brand new, state of the art indoor cricket facility in Windhoek.
This facility will be the first of its kind in Namibia and will feature three mats with bowling machines, as well as a cricket shop selling various equipment of all sorts.
Speaking to The Namibian, Williams stated that the indoor cricket facility is his own special gift to the sport and the nation, as his 14 year long international playing career comes to an end.
‘I’ve played about 360 matches for Namibia over the past 14 years and I think the time is right now to give back to the sport that I love.’
And that’s not all. The high performance Craig Williams Cricket Academy is also set to open its doors early next year. Based at the same site, the academy will provide specialised individual coaching to boys and girls, 5 to 19 years old. The academy will utilise video recording facilities to record training sessions, enabling parents to follow their children’s progress closely.
Williams is hopeful that the visual element will make a crucial difference in developing player skills in all disciplines of the game.
‘Our high performance coaching includes video analysis – the visual element helps a lot because you can show the children on television what they are doing wrong.’
There has been a lot of national interest in the opening of this facility. Therefore, Williams is hopeful that his business venture will be successful in the long run.
‘I’ve invested a lot of time and money and had to take out a big loan to start this venture, but I believe the time is right. There is a lot of interest in cricket right now and there are enough kids playing the game, so I definitely think there is a market for this.’
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