20/11/2023
“If we do our job properly, these young people should be in a position where they’re playing cricket in their community, they love the game, and they can benefit from cricket for life”
Daisy spoke to Ross Jeavons from Chance to Shine about their work introducing cricket to young, diverse audiences and their plans for the future.
Read to the end to find out the most popular cricketer in the country*!
Ross: An ongoing battle for Chance to Shine is trying to change people’s overarching concept of what cricket is, and how success is defined.
We often hear “state school cricket is dead” but we’ve been in 50% of them, so that’s a lot of kids in state schools playing cricket! People think if schools aren’t playing in whites with hard balls on a field it’s not really cricket, but some of the greats like Wasim Akram started with tape ball cricket. We’ve had kids recently go from our Street Finals to the South Asian Cricket Academy – some bowling 70mph with tape balls in sports halls.
Say you’re a teenage girl and you’ve not had much experience, if your introduction to cricket is with a hard ball in a net that’s not necessarily going to get you falling in love with it – being chucked in the deep end isn’t going to help.
There’s a team in Yorkshire that plays glow in the dark cricket which has had a massive uptake from teenage girls. This is partly because it’s a demographic that tends to feel self conscious, and genuinely playing in the dark helps with that.
(Daisy opinion: Those concerned about the “death” of cricket you need to look closer at restrictive attitudes about what constitutes “real cricket” – if we can get people to accept cricket in all its forms we can definitely get more young people feeling like they belong, and ensure the longevity of the sport. If we knock people back because of the type of cricket they play, it’s more likely to die on its arse. With all the wonderful efforts of organisations like Chance to Shine, attitude change needs to come from the top down.)
What does success look like for Chance to Shine?
It’s not just about producing professional cricketers – realistically that’s such a small group of people compared to the number of young people we work with – we aim to reach 600,000 a year. The goal is for people to feel cricket is a significant, positive, part of their lives. That’s really important; something we’ve always been very good at, but it’s very hard to track and measure in terms of data.
If there’s one word that comes up again and again about the changes young people feel after these programmes it’s confidence. A good example is our secondary school girls programme, which functions a bit like a leadership programme – we get teenage girls used to playing cricket and develop their confidence to the point that we’ve got them delivering cricket skills to younger kids. Not only is this great for them more generally in terms of life skills, but it also helps build a culture of spreading the love of cricket more organically.
Is there an initial feeling among the young people you teach that a “certain type” of person plays cricket which they don’t match? What are their preconceived notions about the sport and how do you demystify it?
A huge part of our objective at Chance to Shine is to give children a wonderful first experience of cricket, so they can fall in love with the game. Often these children don’t have preconceptions, as they’ve never played the sport before and have not been exposed to it.
We do have some independent research, conducted by Canterbury Christchurch University – that had some interesting findings. This research was conducted around our Whole School Programme, where we deliver a free half-term of cricket. It focussed on schools that we target where over 40% of children are eligible for free school meals (and therefore likely to face the most barriers).
Before taking part in our Whole School Programme, 67% of children thought cricket was fun and 61% said they liked cricket. Only 1 in 10 played cricket outside of school. Quotes from teachers included “many children in the school don’t really know cricket” and “cricket is not something that the children are usually exposed to at the school”. After receiving our programme, 89% of kids thought cricket was fun and 88% said they liked cricket.
There have of course been unhelpful comments made in the past about certain groups of people having naturally less of an affinity for cricket and that’s why they aren’t playing. Independent research has shown that people who go to the economically challenged schools grow as much, if not more of, a love for cricket, if they’re given the opportunity. Over the last 17 years of what we’ve done, the numbers show that. It’s about having the equity of opportunity.
How does access to resources balance in getting young people into cricket compared to exposure to the sport and their idea of who plays cricket?
We know that resources (in terms of cost) can be a barrier to young people. All of our sessions are free at the point of entry, including our Street programme – which places clubs in economically disadvantaged areas where children are known to be inactive and lack access to affordable cricket.
Last year 84% of Street Crickets told us it was important that their sessions were free. It doesn’t just come down to cost of equipment – it could be the cost of transport or the practicalities of reaching sessions outside of their area. As such, our Street projects really need to be in walking distance of the people they’re meant to serve, to eliminate that barrier.
Formats also matter – hardball is clearly more expensive than tapeball cricket, for instance – which Street cricket focuses on.
Do you think enough is done to support young people from an introduction to cricket through Chance to Shine to whatever role cricket might take in their adult lives, professional or otherwise? What would you like to see done to retain the young people that you coach in cricket onto an adult level?
What we absolutely know at Chance to Shine is that cricket can have a sizeable impact on the personal, mental and social wellbeing of young people – as well as their physical wellbeing and of course their cricket skills. Our programmes aim to help young people develop and fulfil their potential, whether that be as a doctor, a cricket coach or a professional sports person – or whatever they choose to do in life.
In terms of taking that next step, Chance to Shine schools programmes are directly connected with All Stars and Dynamos programme in clubs, as well as our own Street projects in areas where club connections aren’t possible. Our Street programmes cater for young people up to the age of 24.
To answer the crux of the question – the hope is clearly that if we build a love for the game at a young age and provide clear transition points to club and community cricket, the foundations are there to continue playing cricket as an adult – even if we don’t reach beyond the age of 24 in the community.
Do you feel like Chance to Shine is well integrated into the schools and communities you serve; do you think you can build lasting relationships there? What are the barriers?
Absolutely. In schools, we focus on not just growing a love for cricket in pupils but leaving a legacy in the school – growing the confidence of teachers to continue to deliver the sport after our coach has left the building.
Before Chance to Shine, 42% of teachers surveyed agreed that they felt confident to deliver cricket by themselves, compared to 92% at the end of the programme. 82% actively told us they intended to have cricket in the curriculum for the following year.
In communities our determination is the same – it’s not just as simple as chucking a cricket project at a deprived area and crossing your fingers. Our coaches are often reflective of their communities they serve in terms of ethnicity, or even religion, something which is really important to build trust. You often see parents coming along themselves to sessions to help out, or younger siblings joining in.
The importance of understanding the nuances of the community you’re in can’t be understated, whether logistical or cultural. So much work goes on behind the scenes. For example, one of our partner organisations is Young Asian Voices up in Sunderland. They know the area well and are trusted locally, so they can integrate Chance to Shine into the community in a way that we couldn’t independently. We have a Ramadan League every year now. The Street Cricket starts at 10pm and finishes at midnight so the players can break fast before we start. We also put on a taxi to take them home. If we didn’t do that, nobody would be playing throughout those weeks.
Even with schools, so much of it is the planning behind it. So when we work with cricket boards to deliver programmes, we give them money, train their coaches and work with them to decide which schools to deliver in, which projects to start etc – and we may target high percentage of free school meals to make sure it’s going to the most deprived places.
In terms of barriers – they are of course numerous. In state schools, teachers have a curriculum to stick to and often are hamstrung by limited space and facilities. Independent Schools generally attract and consist of children from higher income families, with access to high quality cricket facilities and established links to county pathways – as well as more curriculum flexibility.
In communities there are the well-discussed economic barriers, but also a lack of access to traditional cricket clubs. Out of about 4227 clubs in England and Wales, only 300 in disadvantaged areas have junior sections. Cultural barriers can exist too – young people or families may have traditionally found themselves feeling out of place at clubs or community offerings where they cannot see relatable role models or peers from similar backgrounds.
Do you think the young people you coach would benefit from seeing more working-class/state educated people playing cricket at professional level?
Of course this is something that would be beneficial and we are looking at ways that we can help those talented young people in our programmes to transition where appropriate. That being said, from experience, it’s worth noting that it’s not that rare to find that young people in our programmes couldn’t name any professional cricketers. I was in a school in central Newcastle recently where only a handful of kids in the class had heard of Ben Stokes.
It does vary by community group. For example, the majority of participants in our Street programme are South Asian. We once had Usama Mir doing a Q&A and he was getting hit with very specific questions, like being asked why he bowled a particular ball at that point in that over of that match. Whereas in some other areas, the questions are more like “what do you earn” or “what’s your favourite colour?”.
We know if we put a bat and ball in their hands we can get them to fall in love with the game and reap its benefits. In that respect having a talented, inspirational coach is more important.
A few years back we did a survey of young people in our programmes to find out who their favourite cricketer was, and one of our coaches from the North East came out top – as so many young people had written down that ‘Phil the Coach’ was their favourite. Recently we had a group working with Ollie Robinson (the Durham one); they hadn’t heard of him but by the end of the day he was their favourite cricketer in the whole world as well as their best mate. It’s about the experience they had with the person rather than anything else.
Daisy says: Chance to Shine is a charity and relies on donations to keep legends like Phil the Coach bringing cricket to so many young people – just £6 can help introduce two primary school children to cricket through their six-week programme. Scan the QR code to chuck them your spare cash!
Chance to Shine is a charity registered in England and Wales (1123385)
By Ildikó Connell and Abbie Rhodes
Daisy Cutter 
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