Amid great fanfare with the school band on show and with many important dignitaries the new practice nets at Mae On High School were officially opened at the start of a busy day which also saw a softball tournament involving six schools.
The Headmaster cut the tape on the school’s new facility as the English and Sports teachers watched alongside the council head, and the three lane net built on the school playground with a new artificial mat has already been put to good use by coaches Martin and Puy Papworth, as well as by Jun Aryi, a junior coach who is developing as a wonderful left-arm fast bowler for the Lanna senior and junior teams.
Martin, of course, put most of the work in building the net himself as well as arranging the funding which was generously provided by the San Miguel Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes. Tokyo Dingbats provided the portable bowling machine which Martin was able to demonstrate to children and special guests alike.
Pupils from the school will get good use of the new nets as well as other schools in the district such as Sahagon Song and Huai Kaew who were also playing in the Sawasdee Cricket tournament as the coaches seek to find the next generation of young Thai cricketers. Even David Buck from Prem International School which had a young team in the competition was impressed by the progress made at a school he had first visited more than ten years before.
This is the third net to be built with funding from the San Miguel Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes to stand alongside facilities at Gymkhana Club and at Muangwak School in Lamphun and it is no coincidence that the Thai youngsters who use these nets are improving so fast they are now regularly visiting Bangkok to play in Premier League matches as well as playing for Lanna Juniors in the Chiang Mai Senior League.