Kent’s cricketers went into schools last week to teach the youngsters about playing “hard but fair”, as part of the Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week.

Last week saw Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week commence nationwide, and this year it focused on enforcing the concept of “Play Hard, Play Fair”, with students being taught the importance of respect for teammates, the umpire, and their opponents.

Coaches and players – past and present – from all counties teamed up to travel across the country, visiting over 1,500 schools in order to hijack lessons and give them a cricket-infused spin. Curriculum activities included taking on the role of both umpire and scorer to solve math puzzles as well as designing cricket strips and flags in arts and crafts, all in the name of the charity Chance to Shine.

The Kent Cricket Development Team, led by Andy Griffiths, were warmly welcomed in schools across the county as they spread the Spirit of Cricket and taught students the skills of the game. Students were also given the opportunity to question players about their own introduction into the sport as well as expressing, somewhat surprisingly, their love for Test Matches due to the game’s unpredictable and tactical nature.

Griffiths, Cricket Development Manager at Kent Cricket Board, said “It has been a fantastic week meeting pupils and teachers from various schools across our County.  My team have given everything this week, early starts, late finishes and lots of energy channelled into inspiring boys and girls into playing our wonderful game! The Kent players were equally as brilliant and engaged well with the children answering some challenging questions from Years 3 to 6.”

“We delivered the message of Spirit of Cricket, combined maths, art and crafts with a cricket theme and the children loved it, teachers have asked for our resources which is pleasing.”

Players from Kent Cricket accompanied the Development Team on Monday helping to encourage boys and girls to take up the game.  Doug Bollinger, Darren Stevens and captain Rob Key were among the players who got involved and assisted in cricket coaching sessions with children from Years 3 to 6.  They also enjoyed a Q and A session where pupils had the chance to grill them about being professional cricketers.

Kent Cricket will be hosting a ‘Schools Day Out’ inviting all Primary and Secondary Schools to attend the 3^rd days play of the LV=CC match v’s Derbyshire on Tuesday 24^th June.  The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence will be very lively with colour banners and excited children, and any schools that would still like to get involved and attend can do so by getting in touch with [email protected].

The aim of the Chance to Shine charity, since its establishment in 2005, has been to reverse the decline of school cricket and has succeeded in educating 2 million students in over 7,000 schools across the country about the nature of the game and the spirit of cricket. Supporters of the charity include England captain Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Mark Nicholas and even actor Stephen Fry; calling it ‘magnificent’. Looking to the future, Chance to Shine and its supporters hope to continue to educate students throughout England and Wales until every child in every school has been reached.