By Mikayla van Loon
What was the experience of a lifetime for nine young people from India also had a transformative impact on those at the Mooroolbark Cricket Club.
Hosting players from the Don Bosco Cricket Academy (DBCA) over 10 days from 11 September, Mooroolbark club president Danny Martin said it “absolutely exceeded expectations”.
“When they got over here, how appreciative they were, and then to see how our kids interacted with them, we weren’t expecting how great it was,” he said.
“They’ve made lifelong friendships. At some points it got fairly emotional because it really showed the community spirit more than we were expecting.”
Having had a conversation with Benjamin Thomas, a recruit for the Mooroolbark seniors and the man who runs DBCA, Danny said from late February the club worked to put this tour together.
“He was talking about his academy and he said, ‘I’d love the kids to be able to experience what I do over here’.”
Working with vice president Briony Polkinghorne, Danny said over six months they recruited sponsors and “through a lot of hard work and a lot of support from [them] and just people at the club” they managed to pull off getting these kids to Australia.
“We probably didn’t realise the enormity of what we were doing,” Danny said.
“That was really evident the first couple nights when we saw how gracious and appreciative some of these Indian kids were to be over here and doing it and then hearing some of their stories, some of them come from very poor families.”
Arriving in Melbourne on Monday night, the nine players and support staff were greeted at the airport by Mooroolbark Cricket Club and then spent two nights at the Don Bosco retreat in Lysterfield before a big schedule of cricket.
First starting out at the Croydon Indoor Centre and an initial dinner with Mooroolbark’s players, coaches and staff, the guests travelled to regional Victoria for a training camp.
“They went up to a place called The Village Green which is a cricket oval and pavilion facility in Strath Creek which is one of the most magnificent cricket facilities I’ve probably ever seen,” Danny said.
Needing 11 players to make a side, Danny said some of Mooroolbark’s under 16s rotated in and out of playing with the DBCA players when they versed Maribyrnong Sports College.
Heading back to the outer eastern suburbs, DBCA had the chance to play in a 40 over match against Croydon’s representative side, two games against Richmond’s junior team in Cranbourne, as well as a friendly match against Port Melbourne Junior Club.
Danny said “realising the magnitude of the impact this had on our kids and their kids” it has made the club want to do this every year.
“We’re actually sending 13 of our kids to India next year as well, so it’s going to be an exchange type thing,” he said.
“But that’s probably unchartered territory for clubs. So we’re really looking at being leaders of the pack.”
Seeing the turn out at the final goodbye dinner, Danny said, was incredibly humbling and rewarding watching the relationships that have formed in just 10 days.
“By the end everyone knew each other, the kids were all getting along. It was just really clear they were starting to form really strong bonds.
“All the kids wanted to swap their own cricket tops which was an initiative by them and also when we serve the meals, all of our tables are set up at our club where they’re in rows and you get about six on each table.
“The kids themselves, our juniors and the Don Bosco juniors grabbed the chairs and joined them all together. So they were sitting across from each other like a family.”
