Cricket Without Boundaries Kenya team, who will depart for the East African nation in February 2012, will be the third CWB group to work with the Maasai Warriors project in Nanyuki, continuing what has developed into one of the most successful partnerships in the history of CWB.

The project, which is run on a local level by South African Aliya Bauer, has become somewhat of a media sensation over the past month, after an article highlighting Bauer's work appeared in (amongst other publications) The Guardian newspaper's "Spin" blog (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/30/the-spin-cricket-maasai-warriors). This followed an initiative of the International Cricket Council, in conjunction with their ThinkWise HIV prevention initiative partners Unaids and Unicef, to make the team and the project a focus of World AIDS Day.

CWB's support, however, has been integral to the success of the Maasai project over the past few years. During CWB's initial visit in November 2010, 56 locals attended a coaching clinic in which CWB's highly-qualified coaching tutor and volunteer coaches put the trainee Maasai coaches through introductory sessions, equipping them with the skills to work with children in local schools. Such education was critical to enable development of the sport itself, and to facilitate the introduction of AIDS awareness messages as part of coaching sessions which are at the heart of CWB's work. Just as importantly, the team left behind enough equipment to allow the project to work with eight new schools in the area.

Seeing the potential for the project to be both successful and sustainable, CWB returned in February 2011, working with eight additional schools. Most importantly though, most of the coaches from the introductory course returned for another helping of CWB tuition, with many attaining the standard expected of a level one coach. Of course, more equipment was donated by the charity to ensure that there were plenty of bats and balls for the Maasai children to get their hands on.

As tangible evidence of the difference which has been made through the collective efforts of Aliya, CWB and the local coaches, cricket is now being played in twenty schools and by three youth groups in the area. The sport is quickly becoming the number one game in town, something which could barely have been envisaged just two years ago.

While pictures of the Maasai men throwing balls with the speed and accuracy they would a spear are fantastic images for the world to see, it is the community benefits which follow from the implementation of CWB's coaching methods into cricket development programmes in schools which are ultimately the reason CWB continues to invest in the project. With appetite for the game at an all time high amongst the Maasai people, CWB with the assistance of Cricket Kenya plans to make the visit in February 2012 its most successful yet.