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"Cricket for Change has enabled me to make good friends, to experience things that I never thought possible; it has given me confidence in challenging life situations."
Press Releases
Pride of C4C Paralympic Torch Bearers
Congratulations to Beth Evans and 5 members of the first ever all female Visually Impaired cricket team in England who have all been nominated to be Paralympic Torch bearers for the London 2012 games.
Beth, who has been nominated through the partnership with StreetChance, is a Cricket for Change Development Coach and Hit the Top Peer Leader and is also the coach to that first ever all female Visually Impaired (VI) cricket team in England.
The 5 members (along with 4 guide dogs) of the VI team taking part are: Theresa Robberts, Dianne marks, Danielle Garratt, Sarah Clare and Ramona Williams.
Everyone at Cricket for Change is extremely proud of them all and would like to wish them all the very best on their respective torch bearing journeys.
Details of where they will be carrying the Paralympic flame will follow at a later date.
C4C lends support to 'Beyond Sport Young Advisory Panel'
Cricket for Change will be working alongside Beyond Sport as it launches its very first 'Young Advisory Panel'. This Young Advisory Panel, will each year provide young leaders involved in sport and development the opportunity to participate and add their views to the Summit and receive support from Beyond Sport’s partners. C4C will be providing a 'Mentoring package' as part of the overall scheme.
This year, the Young Advisory Panel will be made up of a group of individuals based in London, nominated by their affiliated organisation. The nomination process is now open the final panellists will be announced at the end of May 2012.
For further information about The Beyond Sport Young Advisory Panel, click on the logo below:
India makes a lasting impression on C4C Development Coach
Stefan McKenzie, C4C Development Coach, provides us with his thoughts on his first overseas development trip with C4C, teaching 'Street20' in Mumbai with the charity Magic Bus in April 2012. Stefan worked alongside his colleagues Danny Baker and Beth Evans.
Myself, Danny (Baker) and Beth (Evans) all went to Mumbai, India to train up some young coaches from another charity called ‘Magic Bus’ to teach them how we use 'Street20' to change the lives of disadvantaged young people in London (and the UK) as well as giving them some ideas as to how they can use 'Street20' for their own programmes.
This was my first development trip with C4C as a trainer and from the off, I could see that the way we operate is very different to how our counterparts from India operate.
On the first day we ran, ‘Street20’ games and workshops to engage the young coaches on the programme. I learnt a lot from watching how Danny and Beth were talking to the group and many of the Indians spoke good English which helped a lot with the training. Also some of the coaches didn’t like cricket which for me was very interesting.
At the end of the first day, we went to a slum in downtown Mumbai to watch a session of ‘Magic Bus’ coaching. It was the most fascinating trip I had ever made and really made me realise how lucky most of us all are back in UK.
On Day Two, we looked at different cricket games and drills with the young coaches and showed them how they could teach these to the young people at their sessions. Back home, I would ring a Sports Centre and book it, whereas 'Magic Bus' just play cricket in a local park, where there are over 100 people using the same plot of land for 100 different things!
We also played a little cricket with the older young people, which was nice.
On our way back to our hotel we went past where they were going to have their regional, ‘Street20’ competition, where up to 60 teams were going to take part and have a lot of fun. It looked a great venue and it was a shame that we weren’t going to be there to help out, maybe next time......
Day Three, was all about Youth work and we had the chance to show share our ways and experiences of delivering that kind of work back in the UK. This was great as many of the coaches enjoyed this much more than the training.
Magic Bus work differently to us but aim to help disadvantaged young people just like us, which was great to know.
This week for me was amazing and I met some great people along the way and hope to get another opportunity to learn from the rest of the C4C Development Team. I hope some of the Magic Bus coaches can come to the UK as it would be great to show them how we work.
It’s back to a busy summer for me now but India is a country that I will never forget!
Stefan, a Level 2 coach, has worked for C4C for a couple of years now and also used to be a Hit the Top Peer Leader - Click here to learn more about him and about Hit the Top
Success for 'VI Inclusive and Awareness Day'
At the end of April, Cricket for Change and the Greater London Fund for the Blind held a 'Visually Impaired Inclusive & Awareness' at the MCC Indoor Cricket Academy at Lord’s. The day proved to be a great success as many schools and organisations attended the day's exciting itinerary.
The day saw an amazing 49 young people (plus their teachers and supporters) with a visual impairment attend from all around London. The day, kindly funded by the Greater London Fund for the Blind, provided youngsters with an opportunity to play the great sport at the home of cricket and it was real delight that so many were able to attend this very special event.
For the majority, this was their first experience of the cricket and we are sure for many, it won’t be their last. It is hoped that after the fantastic feedback received about people’s experiences, that some of the young people have been inspired into joining their local Hit The Top Visually Impaired (V.I) cricket clubs.
For the young people, the day involved a mixture of exciting events. The day was made even more special because there were 5 players from the England Blind squad (Matt Dean, Mark Bond, Joe Harrison, Dan Field & Ryan Jones) who joined everyone and provided great encouragement and inspiration. They assisted with the morning’s coaching session which involved an assortment of catching, ground fielding, batting and bowling.
Also along to provide encouragement and inspiration, particularly for the significant number of girls who attended the day, were Theresa Robberts and Sarah Clare (from the first ever England Visually Impaired girls cricket squad and team). They led a fantastic presentation/Q&A session just for the girls on the balcony over lunch. This was a great success and resulted in a number of them requesting details for the girls-only Hit The Top V.I club.
The day also doubled up as teacher training, where school staff involved in the delivery of physical education for students with a visual impairment could learn techniques for making their lessons more inclusive. This was a hugely significant part of the day as it means more teachers are now aware of how can they can include visually impaired young people they teach into their lessons, so they too can enjoy the benefit of sport.
Alan Styles, Support Teacher for Visually-Impaired Students at Sydenham School, found the day extremely beneficial said, "I would like to thank you and all who helped on the day, on behalf of our two students who attended the above event, for making the occasion possible. I am sure the enthusiasm and expertise of the team presenting the activities was an inspiration to the attendees".
Tracey Galloway from Oxted School also said, "just to convey a big thank you from us all. Our students had a great day, and so did we! A big thumbs up all round".
Si Ledwith, C4C Assistant Development Manager, armed with a bag of simulation goggles, led the fun and informative session for the adults which incorporated a mix of practical and theoretical teaching.
The afternoon saw the day discover a competitive edge with 6 randomly selected teams formed to battle it out to win the 2012. This gave all the young people were given the chance to bat, field and bowl in the games which was the most important thing.
Everyone who took part was a champion and before they went home they were all presented with a certificate which had been signed by England’s Joe Harrison.
The C4C Hit the Top Peer Leaders, Khush Patel, Daniel Mynott & Fred Bridges who all did an outstanding job in pulling the day together are also very grateful for the help they received in making this day a success. Thank you so much to Matt Dean, Joe Harrison, Dan Field, Mark Bond, Ryan Jones, Theresa Robberts, Sarah Clare, Beth Evans, Si Ledwith, Louise Rose, Andy Dalby-Welsh, the Greater London Fund for the Blind team & all the staff at the MCC Indoor Academy.
Looking forward to the next one!
