Chance to shine - Educating through cricket

StreetChance London

StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports is an extension of Chance to Shine for inner-city areas where there is often a lack of cricket clubs.

The project uses cricket to engage young people from a range of backgrounds in areas affected by youth crime and anti-social behaviour. It’s a partnership between The Cricket Foundation, Barclays Spaces for Sports, Cricket for Change, Positive Futures, a Home Office social inclusion scheme, and the Metropolitan Police Service. Kent, Middlesex and Surrey County Cricket Boards also help to deliver the programme.

StreetChance involves in-school activity, based on the Chance to Shine model of professional coaching and competition during the summer term. Out of school hours, young people between eight and 18 can attend three-hour community cricket sessions every week for 35 weeks of the year.

These sessions use Street 20, a fast-paced version of tape-ball cricket, where each innings last for 20 balls and games last for just 20 minutes. It’s very accessible and can be played with limited equipment, using a tennis ball bound with tape to replicate a cricket ball.

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www.streetchance.co.uk

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StreetChance Birmingham

On 30 July 2010, The Cricket Foundation expanded StreetChance beyond London.   Targeting areas in Birmingham with high levels of deprivation, unemployment, and high ethnic minority populations, StreetChance community projects not only aim to improve cricket provision, but also help promote community cohesion.

StreetChance Birmingham is a partnership between The Cricket Foundation, West Midlands Police and Warwickshire County Cricket Board. The initiative provides free coaching in local state schools as well as regular community coaching and competition for young people aged 8 to 18 from Warwickshire County Cricket Board coaches.

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MCC Spirit of Cricket

This is an exciting partnership between the Cricket Foundation and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) that will introduce tens of thousands of children to the key MCC Spirit of Cricket messages enshrined in the Laws of the game.  The scheme is part of the wider MCC Spirit of Cricket campaign to encourage children to play hard and play fair.

Chance to Shine coaches are delivering two hours on the MCC Spirit of Cricket message within the core Chance to Shine programme. A special MCC Spirit of Cricket DVD resource has been commissioned for the classroom and as part of the wet weather package.

Each Chance to Shine school is provided with an MCC Spirit of Cricket Trophy to support intra school competition. The aim is for Chance to Shine schools to organise a competition that allows the children to put into practice what has been learnt in the classroom. All matches will be scored and umpired, ideally, by the children so that they get used to these important facets of the game.

Working through the County Cricket Boards, the Cricket Foundation and MCC also deliver a three-day summer camp experience for children across five regions, the North, London & East, South West, Midlands and Wales.
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Hospital Schools

The Cricket Foundation is proud to have introduced a pioneering cricket coaching scheme at Great Ormond Street Hospital’s school in 2008. Following its success, the project was expanded to the Evelina Children's Hospital school at St Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in 2010.

Led by a dynamic coaching duo, Denise O’Neill and Ray Tudor, the project has benefited a number of sick youngsters, many of whom would not get the chance to be involved with games and PE in a hospital environment.

The Chance to Shine sessions use games and skills that can be adapted to suit a wide range of ages and capabilities. Some children have severely debilitating illnesses. “To see them come out of their shells and see them with a smile on their face, I feel I’ve achieved something”, says Ray.

Sessions involving batting, throwing and catching in the classroom or playground are followed by ward visits to work with young people who are too sick to make the trip down to the hospital school. Denise says, “coaching in hospitals is totally different to anything I’ve ever experienced. I’d love to do it every day.”

There are many cases where Chance to Shine has made a real difference to children’s lives, none more so than Jake, an 11 year old receiving treatment for leukaemia at Great Ormond Street, who looks forward to the sessions every week. His mother has no doubts about the benefits of the scheme. She says, “having the opportunity to come down to the school and be outside and play cricket. It makes it a whole lot more bearable for Jake.”

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Prince’s Trust xl scheme

The Cricket Foundation and The Prince’s Trust forged a unique partnership in 2008 to help young people develop many ‘soft skills’ through the game of cricket.

Following a pilot scheme in 2008, the xl and Chance to Shine partnership has expanded and now covers a number of areas across England, from Cornwall to Yorkshire. 

xl is a network of clubs running in schools (over 1,000 in England, Scotland and Wales) which aim to re-engage young people in their last two years of compulsory education. The clubs run for about three hours a week during school time, have 12-15 members and are supported by an xl Advisor. xl club members are young people who may be encountering particular difficulty at school, either academically or socially, or may simply be turned off by school.

Each xl group receives a minimum of eight cricket sessions with a Chance to Shine coach and at the end of the programme all the schools are brought together for a cricket festival and inter-xl tournament.

www.princes-trust.org.uk

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England Women Coaching Ambassadors for Chance to Shine

Since April 2008, members of the World Cup winning England women’s squad, including captain Charlotte Edwards, have worked as Chance to Shine coaches, encouraging more young girls to play cricket.Through the Chance to Shine programme, the players helped develop girls’ sections at clubs and support local competition structures, allowing a further generation of World Cup winners to be cultivated. 

The ECB report that the overall increase for recreational cricket in that year was 27%, with 45% increase in women and girls’ cricket.

The participating players are: Caroline Atkins, Katherine Brunt, Charlotte Edwards, Lydia Greenway, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell

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