is what failed players like Sunil Narine. If the grassroots was functioning as it should, there is no way he could have ended up at the highest level, pelting. Usually, that is caught early and remedied by older brothers, fathers, school teachers, village and club colleagues. It is failure at the grassroots level that has every West Indian batsman planted like poles and swiping at balls all over the place. the basics of batting are addressed at that level, and down there the Cricket West Indies has no place.
At the grassroots level many disciplines are taught. It is at that informal setting, apart from the basic skills of batting, bowling and fielding, but organizing, raising funds, leadership etc are learned and developed. If we fail down there, the product would be unable to perform against other competition.
How many of us are members of our same clubs that we started with as children? How many of us ensured that these structures remained alive and functioning? How many of us have left and did not even leave a pair of pads for the next generation to inherit? As soon as we stopped playing; as soon as we entered university; as soon as we joined that prestigious company, we did not continue our engagements with our roots. There was a time when we moved away, and the next generation did not have local role models to look up to.
A lot of folks believe that coming back after years of absence and staging a photo op with a few children in a school or community, and donating some cricket gears is giving back to the grassroots. No, the grassroots require continuous nurturing in order to remain stable and ever productive. No matter what we become, we must remain part of where we came from, everyday. In each of our communities, we have to ensure that we are part of that community, because we attract the next generation, just like we were attracted by our elders. if that chain breaks, then things fall apart.
The grassroots is like a natural habitat, very fertile and productive. However, it is a fragile place, and can easily collapse under any stress of unwanted interference, and or neglect. Like weeds, these unwanted interventions take over and destroy things. The grassroots can't be managed and directed by CWI or even local governments. The communities have to be willing to take charge, and with good lobbying can get what are needed for community development and stability. And, that does not only apply to cricket.
