How 'Guru Gary' is using cricket to keep slum kids away from drugs

Notorious for drugs and crime and afflicted by large-scale poverty, the Khayelitsha township here is better known for being one of the biggest slums on the planet. But World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten is attempting to change the image for good through cricket. The idea struck him when he returned to his home here after guiding India to a World Cup title in 2011. "When I came back from India, I wanted to have a look at cricket in our poorest neighbourhoods in Cape Town," Kirsten recalled in an interview with PTI. He ended up touring Khayelitsha, situated 30km south-east of Cape Town and considered one of the most unsafe areas where a majority of the inhabitants still live in shacks.

"I took a tour of the area with local school authorities and found that no cricket was happening which disappointed me a lot. I thought of this centre and we started with two concrete nets in two schools and then included three more schools," Kirsten said.

What ultimately shaped up was the Catch Trust Foundation, originally called the Gary Kirsten Foundation, in 2014 and its plan was to ensure that kids don't take the path of drugs and violence.

Much like his cricketing career, which was built on discipline and was defined by a voracious appetite for runs, Kirsten's foundation has also been gradually making a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of kids.

"It is helping me to avoid street things like smoking weed and helping me keep my body and lungs fit. I see myself as a future South African player," said 15-year-old Lukholo Malong, a trainee spinner whose parents work as domestic helps.

'Talent is universal, opportunity is not', reads the guiding principle of the foundation with the stated goal being to create sporting ecosystems