Ross McCreath, a Grade 11 pupil at St Andrew’s College, will soon be speaking at the veritable home of cricket – Lord’s of London.
Ross McCreath, a Grade 11 pupil at St Andrew’s College, will soon be speaking at the veritable home of cricket – Lord’s of London.
He has been invited by the International Award’s World Fellowship to share his innovative project at a dinner to be attended by HRH, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh; the founder of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.
McCreath’s story began a few years ago when he decided to help form a township cricket team in Bathurst over the December holidays.
With about 40 enthusiastic beginners to the game, the Tiger Titans Cricket Club was born. McCreath has since organised a few matches for the side and began looking for help with equipment as well as upgrading the cricket field where they sometimes play alongside grazing cattle.
“Amazing,” is how Mc- Creath described being asked to speak at Lord’s, although he said it is quite a daunting task to be speaking in front of 120 people, not to mention Prince Philip himself.
“It’s something you never imagine doing your whole life,” said McCreath, adding that one sees games at Lords but does not think of ever getting a chance to be there.
The first thing he plans on doing when he gets there is to “check out the Long Room and check what all the rave is about”.
Other highlights since forming the Titans include being awarded second place in the Jack Cheetham Awards in 2008, receiving R50 000 which is administered through the Tiger Titans Sports Trust for the development of the team; as well as seeing the team players growing in a myriad ways.
McCreath will speak on how the President’s Award affected him and got him thinking about the community.
Being part of the President’s Award has allowed him to “show that one can do something and make a difference even as a youngster”.
McCreath became involved in the social innovation project as part of his participation in the President’s Award for Youth Empowerment Programme.
He has achieved the bronze and silver levels and is currently actively involved at the Gold Level. Through his continued involvement with the award programme at the Gold Level, he extended his project by
developing an informal soccer team in the township near Bathurst which is strongly aligned with the country’s focus for the 2010 World Cup.
The headmaster of St Andrew’s College, Paul Edey said: “We are enormously proud of Ross and know that
he will represent St Andrew’s College, the Eastern Cape and indeed, South Africa, with dignity and aplomb.”
