This week Chance to Shine has been celebrating National Cricket Week.
Independent charity Chance to Shine is on a mission to inspire young people through cricket.
Since 2005, it has brought cricket to over six million children in schools and communities across England, Wales and Scotland, helping them to learn a love of the game and find a sense of belonging through the sport; developing their wider wellbeing and life skills to help fulfil their potential.
Much of their year-round delivery is focused in areas where children have had fewer opportunities to play and were missing out on the personal, physical, social and mental health benefits.
This week (17-21 June) Chance to Shine has been celebrating National Cricket Week – an opportunity to showcase the sport, raise awareness of the charity’s work, inspire children, and show them why cricket is a game for everyone.
To mark the beginning of National Cricket Week, Chance to Shine has taken over Lord’s Cricket Ground for their annual Schools Open Day. Over 400 children from 16 state schools who have received Chance to Shine’s primary schools programme descended on the Home of Cricket for a day of cricket activities, building on the skills they’ve developed with their coach at school.
Those in attendance were among the 4,000 state primary schools to receive a ‘half-term of cricket’ from Chance to Shine’s coaches over the last year. In each lesson, pupils develop their cricket, physical and life skills. For many of those involved, it is their first experience of the game, but by the end of the programme, 85% of children surveyed by the charity agreed that they liked cricket.
In an effort to ensure that cricket continues to be played in school once the coaches have left, the charity offer specialist teacher training and have also designed a vast set of resources to support teachers to deliver cricket themselves. The offer has proven successful with four in five primary school teachers saying they would include cricket in the curriculum next year.
The Chance to Shine team has been expanding their offer during National Cricket Week, launching ‘Here come the Bright Sparks’, a new set of resources aimed at children under five.
Pupils at Bentley Heath Primary School in Solihull were the first to try the resources when they received a special visit from ex-pupil and England fast bowler Issy Wong. The package includes four cricket-themed short stories which encourage children to explore their physical development.
Elsewhere, the charity headed to Bristol to visit the Chance to Shine Street Young Adults champions, Easton Street Club. A media team took on two teams from the club in a game of Street20, a format of the game with just 20 balls an innings and played with plastic bats and a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape.
Anyone who would like to know more can sign up for the Chance to Shine Portal where the charity houses their bank of teaching resources. Visit teachers.chancetoshine.org. You don’t need to be a cricket expert to get involved.