APS U15 & U17 Opening ceremony
Africa Personnel Services (APS) has once again honoured Cricket Namibia with another sponsorship but this year the sponsorship tripled. The Managing Director – Mr Robert de Villers of APS has not only chose to renew the sponsorship to the U 15 age group but to also invest into the U17 and take over U19 week that was previously known as “Momentum week”.
The opening ceremony of the APS tournaments took place on Friday the 17 August 2018 at the Wanderers Main Hall.
The evening started off with a prayer to bless the tournament with love amongst team mates and players in general.
Then the CEO of Cricket Namibia – Peter Forster was the first speaker of the evening, he started off by introducing the newly appointed board. He also mentioned that Cricket Namibia will soon be meeting up with the CEO and Operational Manager of the Northern Titans whom are from South Africa. Mr. Forster continued to show appreciation to all that were present and mainly to the main sponsors APS for taking initiative and pledging to age group cricket development.
The next speaker was the newly elected President of Cricket Namibia – Dr. Rudolf van Vuuren, who also made his first public appearance at the opening since his appointment. Dr. van Vuuren had a message that he wanted to share, he used a personal experience to explain that without encouragement and support we are not able to push ourselves out of the comfort zone and excel beyond expectation. Further stating that Cricket Namibia is in trouble and that without sponsors Cricket Namibia is unable to do anything in any area and without sponsors “we are lost”. “We are thankful to you Robert de Villers for what you are doing for development.”. He also extended a few words to the parents, asking them “to give us time” and to the players that were involved in the tournament Dr. van Vuuren said that discipline is what will make you successful.
The Managing Director of APS Robert de Villiers finally got the chance to speak, he began by thanking everyone in attendance adding that 2017 was a year where they saw that under 15 age group needed more exposure and so they sawed and reaped good results. This year APS saw the same with the U17 age group and decided to take on the challenge by including this age group in the tournament. As planning went on the main sponsor for what was known as “Momentum Week” had withdrawn from the commitment which was aimed at the development of the U19 age group. APS then also decided to take over the U19 week and is now known as the “U19 The Big Guns”.
Mr de Villers continued to say that this year a combination of around 120 boys will take part in the tournament, this year the tournament organisers also expanded the play format of the tournament to 50 overs, Time cricket and T20. Players will also have the opportunity to take part in the umpire course and will also be taught by an Ethics coach about Ethics.
Mr de Villers closed by thanking all the sponsors that came on board in making the event possible. The sponsors : Nam Dairy, Clover, Exco and CIC.
