Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway enters third season of discovering grassroots cricket talent

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Limited (CCBSL) announced the commencement of Season three of ‘Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway’ at the Bloomfield Grounds in Colombo today. ‘Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway’ is a series of camps organised by the company in partnership with the Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation and Sri Lanka Cricket.

The aim of the camps is to discover grassroots cricketing talent from amongst the youth in Sri Lanka’s rural and regional areas and groom them to play in the Sri Lankan national team. Sri Lanka National Under 19 team Head Coach Naveed Navaz announced the launch of the camps in the presence of cricketing legend, Aravinda de Silva, Abhishek Jugran, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Far East Ltd, Saumindra Bhattacharya, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd and Sri Lanka Cricket officials. Also present at the function were provincial and district coaches and over 73 young cricketers from 125 schools across the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Puttlam.

Season three of the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway will begin in the capital city of Colombo and this year, Coca-Cola is planning to take the tournament to Jaffna and Galle as well.

Talking about the initiative, Coca-Cola Far East Limited Country Manager Abhishek Jugran said, “The Cricket Pathway camps are part of Coca-Cola’s efforts to encourage and promote cricketing talent amongst Sri Lankan youth at the grassroots level.

Coca-Cola believes in promoting a healthy active lifestyle and this initiative is a commitment in that direction. The camps provide an intense learning experience for all participants that helps them hone their cricketing skills and further develop themselves as Sri Lanka’s future cricketers.’

Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway Administrator and Aravinda de Silva Cricket Foundation Chairman Aravinda de Silva said, “We are very glad to be partnering with Coca-Cola for the third time in three years and we hope that Season three is as exciting as the last two camps. Young sportsmen need the right push to help them take up cricket seriously and the Coca-Cola Pathway camps provide the right amount of practice and training to help them learn new techniques of the game and play cricket at the national level.”

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. Country Manager Saumindra Bhattacharya, “The purpose of the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway camps is twofold. On one hand, it helps identify and promote young talent at the grassroots level and gives them a well charted course to make it big in sports, on the other; it helps us get young children out into sports arenas and grounds and lead active lifestyles.”

Coca-Cola’s Cricket Pathway Camp has seen years of continued success following its inception in 2008. Over the years, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Limited has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Aravinda de Silva foundation as well as the Sri Lanka Cricket Association. The collaboration has provided participants with a productive and competitive cricketing experience that enables them to develop their skills and expertise whilst realising their own potential.

As a result of the rigorous training received by veterans of the game, such as Aravinda de Silva and other prominent coaches, there have been many young, talented players who have emerged to play for the Sri Lankan National Under 19 Team.

The pathway has also seen a number of participants moving forward to join the Sri Lanka National Under 19 Team. Season 1 of the Coca-Cola Cricket Pathway boasted of 10 participants joining the Sri Lanka National Under 19 team and Season 2 contributed 13 players to the Sri Lanka National Under 19 pool.

Format of Coca-Cola Cricket Pathways Camps

Day one:  Participants complete a fitness test and are inculcated on some cricketing techniques.

Day two: All day training for participants. Each participant’s unique skills are identified and monitored to ensure the appropriate guidance and training will be provided to take their cricketing skills to the next level

Day three: The final day of the camp includes a specialised training session from which the 10 best players will be selected and rewarded.