There is one reliable rule when it comes to living well: eat healthily. Schezelle Fleming, rugby coach at the South East Port of Spain Secondary School in Trinidad and Tobago has ingested that lesson and now wants others to do the same.
In addition to teaching the basics of the fast-paced sport, Fleming enlightens the boys and girls of the benefits of healthy eating during rugby training. Giving health advise to children between the ages of 11 and 17 can promote lifelong healthy habits.
Talking about eating healthy is good but Fleming also wants to put it into practice and her food company 'Happy Oat' will make that possible after every training session.
"I plan on providing them with 'Happy Oat minis' when we start back training next year, as well as embark on some nutritional food projects with them," she said.
Fleming started the 'Happy Oat' in 2017. Happy Oat is a company that manufactures healthy treats. However, in 2018, Fleming went on a hiatus and the business stalled.
"The load was too overwhelming. It was challenging to manage my job, my son, rugby, and a business in all aspects," she admitted.
With all the downtime provided by the Covid-19 pandemic, Fleming revisited the venture but "this time in a much more organised manner."
The oatmeal muffins offered by the Happy Oat have an impressive selection of flavours, namely Banana Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Walnut, Cranberry, Mixed Nuts (Pecans, Brazil Nuts, Walnuts, and Almonds), Carrot Raisin and Coconut.
In addition, "Happy Oat muffins do not have any wheat, dairy, eggs or added refined sugar. They are also extremely moist and filling, but not heavy," said Fleming.
Recently, customers were given the option of adding agave, a plant-based sweetener, to their muffins for extra sweetness.
"As research shows, it [agave] is low on the glycemic index (which means it’s diabetic friendly)."
"I liked the agave because I didn’t have to use as much to sweeten unlike honey," she noted.
The general feedback from customers is positive.
Fleming says customers are blown away by how moist and tasty the muffins are for 'healthy food'.
She describes it as "the most precious feedback" because she loves being able to provide quality options, especially because she is the only person running the operation.
"Currently, the Happy Oat team is just me - the happy baker, social media marketing/content creator, manager etc," Fleming said.
Nevertheless, Happy Oat is growing. So much so that Fleming expects it to become one of the official sponsors of the South East Port of Spain Secondary School rugby team.
Happy Oat's delicious muffins are available at the recently opened Fitt Street Market. The Fitt Street Market supports local food businesses and is located at the corner of Fitt Street and Ariapita Avenue in Port of Spain.
Wanting more people to opt for healthy snacks is one thing but producing healthy snacks that put people in a good mood, rather than leaving a bad aftertaste is another and Fleming is glad she found the recipe.
Ambris hunting for 100s, hoping to secure permanent spot in Windies squad
West Indies vice-captain for the One Day International (ODI) team Sunil Ambris is hoping to stake his claim for a regular place in the first-team squad, by scoring at least one 100 in the upcoming tour of Bangladesh.
The 27-year-old Ambris was among several players unexpectedly named to the West Indies squad for the tour after 12 first-team players made themselves unavailable for the tour. Prior to that Ambris had last played for the team in February of last year, on the team’s tour of Sri Lanka. On that occasion, the player averaged 26 in three matches. He was not selected to the team for either of the team’s previous tours to England or New Zealand.
Ambris, in addition to providing support for less experienced players on the tour, hopes to push himself back in the conversation for regular selection.
“This is the first tour that I’m actually confident that I will be starting. So, I would like to use this tour to cement myself in the starting 11 for other tours,” Ambris told members of the media via an online press conference on Friday.
“I’d love to get at least one hundred out of these three games, I think that would do me a lot of good,” he added.
Call from legendary Lara helped Fletcher turn around bad run of batting form
Windies batsman, Andre Fletcher, has pointed to a call from legendary batsman Brian Lara as pivotal in helping to turn around his form in this season’s Big Bash League (BBL).
On Thursday, Fletcher smashed a brutal 89 for just 49 balls to underpin the Melbourne Stars massive 111 run win over Adelaide Strikers. The knock was timely for Fletcher as he had not passed 18 in his first nine BBL encounters.
The 33-year-old had previously also performed below expectations in a low-scoring Caribbean Premier League (CPL), where he scored 211 from 12 games despite his team St Lucia Zouks making it to the final. As it turns out, it was a call from the legendary West Indian batsman, who is on commentary duty at the BBL, which proved critical in helping Fletcher turn around that recent run of bad form.
"He called me, and I was surprised, to be honest," Fletcher said following his explosive performance.
"He was telling me that, looking from the outside, I've been striking the ball cleanly and he just told me to give myself that opportunity. Giving myself that chance and playing each ball on its merits,” he added.
"I'm an aggressive player so there's no need to go out there and look to [over] power the ball. To be honest, that's what I did today.
"I've met him before. He's a great guy. I told him over the phone, after what he told me I was like, 'So Brian, now I understand the reason you were so great'.
"He told me, feel free to call him any time I wish to, he's there, he's open for anything and willing to give me advice."
'WI selectors should not be fixated on conditions'- claims former fast bowler Gray
Former West Indies fast bowler, Tony Gray, believes it is a mistake for selectors to get caught up with selecting teams based on conditions.
Recently, Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors Roger Harper set off a firestorm with an explanation that promising fast bowler Chemar Holder had been left out of the Test squad for the Bangladesh tour, in order to include an extra spinner to exploit conditions.
For some, the decision was all the more vexing considering the absence of Jason Holder, who was typically part and parcel of a four-prong pace bowling attack, and Chemar Holder’s promising debut in New Zealand where he took two wickets in trying circumstances.
For his part, in addition to pointing out that Bangladesh were exceptional at handling spin, Gray pointed to the fact that a multitude of pace bowlers had done well on Asian pitches for several decades.
“I think that they (selectors) are fixated on the conditions, you cannot be fixated on the conditions,” Gray told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“I played my first Test series in Pakistan and I got 14 wickets in three games. You want the mindset to be there. If you are telling a young fast bowler, for example, who can bowl some 90 miles an hour deliveries, that you are not going to perform well because of bowling conditions that are not really suited to your pace and your style of bowling, then you are doing the wrong thing,” he added.
“So, I think they have been fixated on conditions and there are other things to take note of for example the strengths of the opposition, the Bangladeshis are very adept at playing spin bowling.”
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