Table Cricket Programme 2019
The disability cricket programme ran by the DCB has continued to grow in 2019/20 with the DCB working closely with The Lord’s Taverners. We expanded our programme to work with around 180 special needs children from 18 schools giving them access to a different form of physical activity. All of the schools involved received 6 weeks of free Table Cricket sessions.
During these sessions, our community coaches delivered a variety of fundamental cricket skills and table cricket depending on the age range and the capabilities of the students. Many of the schools found the programme to be very rewarding and often engaged children with the most challenging disabilities. Some schools have since been looking to buy some Table Cricket sets for their school so that the pupils can continue to play all year round.
After all of our sessions were delivered we invited all the schools to enter a team into one of our Table Cricket Competitions. We successfully ran the joint-most Table Cricket Competitions in the Country with 3 regional competitions that fed into the East Midlands Competition which is to be hosted at Derbyshire CCC in April. Across the 3 days, we had 13 teams enter from 10 different schools. Special thanks go to St Mary’s High School who hosted our 1st competition. Ashgate Croft School came out the winners from this. Derbyshire CCC were the hosts for our other 2 competitions. Holbrook School for Autism played very well on the first day and as a result, became our 2nd winners of 2020. Our last competition in the hall at Derbyshire CCC for the schools in and around Derby city. St Clares were our 3rd and final winners of 2020, having defended their crown from 2019! As a result, they were the 3rd team to qualify for regionals. Congratulations to all of our winners and good luck in the East Midlands finals!!
In January we ran some Young Leaders training for Special Schools to assist at our Table Cricket Competitions. These were aimed at providing the children and young adults with not only umpiring and scoring skills but key social and communication skills.
In 2020/21 we will continue to try and give more children with disabilities access to Cricket. With hopefully a bigger and better off than ever before!!
