Chance 2 Shine
The 2008 season will see six clubs/districts from Wiltshire taking part in the Chance to Shine project. These are Biddestone, Calne, Corsham, Potterne, Salisbury District and Trowbridge. As part of the Chance to Shine project the six clubs will deliver 280 hours of free cricket coaching to local primary and secondary schools at an average of 20 hours per week during the summer term.
Six clubs taking part this year shows a rise from three clubs last year and will mean that many more children get access to cricket coaching this summer than in previous years. Chance to Shine is an excellent initiative which aims to regenerate competitive cricket in state schools. It also offers an opportunity for club coaches to further their coaching experience and receive training on working in schools.
As a part of the scheme each club has six or seven schools that are signed up to take part in the project. The commitment from each school is, firstly, that they actively support the project through sending at least one teacher on a cricket specific teacher training day. This helps with the overall sustainability of cricket coaching in schools for years to come. Secondly, schools must commit to playing five competitive matches against other schools over the course of the summer. This means that the children get an opportunity to put all of their coaching experience into match situations.
Chance to Shine is a growing venture which, rightly so, is deemed very important by the ECB. Therefore, it is our hope that we will see many more than six clubs taking part in the project in coming years. This can only be good news for cricket in Wiltshire as we will see a great increase in participation and hopefully a great increase in the number of young children joining local clubs.
