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| Women's T10 champions Australia |
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Men's T10 champions West Indies
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MAD Productions had previously successfully hosted five national fund-raising events.
However, MAD Productions' spin-off organisation Sporting Pathways' co-founder Salma Bi decided to put a twist in the tale this Spring!
Inspired by the promotion of the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup, award-winning cricketer Salma decided to challenge herself once again.
Having hosted two T10 Indoor World Cup cricket tournaments already for ladies, Salma decided to not only stage a third such event, but also host a Men's tournament alongside the Women's.
So on April 5 and 6 Salma organised her sixth and seventh events back-to-back with a family fun day weekend.
As initial steps began on planning, Sporting Pathways decided to raise money to renovate a school in Pakistan.
Sohail Mughal, head teacher for Read Foundation School, decided this would be life-changing to provide for a less fortunate school which provides education for orphaned children.
Both Salma and Sohail agreed however big or small the donation is dedicated for the school to create better facilities or to provide equipment.
The build up began with plenty of PR work which involved guesting on the Saima Ajram Show-BBC Asian Network, attending Muslim Women's Network International Women's Day Talk, Muslimah Role Models as well as advertising on Unity FM and running a Sports Relief coaching day.
Sporting Pathways have so far set an excellent record of providing opportunities to all abilities in participation into sports.
With this mind set the theme was great just before the cricket season commences and whilst both men's and women's T20 World Cup Tournaments were taking place in Bangladesh, it was a perfect time to get more people into cricket and achieve new goals in life.
It was a privilege for Salma as she was given the opportunity to deliver a talk at the Sports Marketing Network Conference, which helped Sporting Pathways to get involved in other projects and to share more of what the company delivers.
A feature in the Birmingham Mail and an Islam Channel feature of Sporting Pathways previous World DodgeBall event created some hype and attracted new audience, setting a #GameFace Trailer with a BoomBoom Bat. Sporting Pathways always enjoy taking a more comical approach to the events.
Missing out on a invite to Lord's for the Asian Cricket Awards, this was something Salma would've loved to attend, however with the concept of looking for new talent and raising profiles it was a perfect goal for participants attending the event.
Six weeks of planning and delegating workload was a steady journey.
The Read Foundation aimed to attract a younger crowd, hence marketing for a family fun day, whilst Sporting Pathways attracted not only the usual suspects but on a bigger scale new players and male teams.
Saturday, April 5, saw 27 females take part in the Women's T10 World Cup. As always it's a pleasure to see players travel down to the event.
Players arrived as far as from London, Yorkshire, Walsall and Wales.
Overall winners were Australia who finished with a 100% record and were deserving champions for the second year in a row.
Sunday, April 6, catered for 24 men participating in a Mad Productions event and ready to make history!
Being a first of its kind, there was always a risk of who will attend and who will be up for the challenge?
Having only three teams on the day, it became almost a Tri-Series which worked out perfect! Travelling from Cardiff, West Indies T10 emerged as winners with a 100% record.
Overall another successful weekend, two back-to-back events which not only made history but raised a reasonable amount for the school.
It's a challenge to get people away from the television to get involved but it's a must to keep active too.
Sporting Pathways brings not only a community together but creates a path for each participant that attends.
Players either walk away with experience, new friends or a medallion they once thought they would never get the opportunity to achieve.
We don't rule anyone out and cater for all, we are grateful for the continued support!
Special thank you's too....
The Read Foundation Team and Volunteers
Ex-England player Suzanne Redfern
Sheikh Hameed, Security and boys for stepping into play to fill the gaps
Also thank you to umpires, stall holders & spectators but most importantly thank you to YOU for not only participating but believing you can compete & achieve new goals in life!
We've loved the feedback & will always aim to go one better.
Bring on next year and bring on bigger and better records still yet to set! #BoomBoom
