Chance 2 Shine
Friends Provident Chance to Shine Festival - Friday 10th July
Simon Jones, one of the stars of England’s successful 2005 Ashes campaign, was on hand on Friday 10th July at South Wiltshire Cricket Club as local Salisbury schools took part in the Friends Provident Chance to Shine Festival.
Over 60 children from Harnham, Nomansland & Hamptworth, St Mark’s , Wilton & Barford C of E Junior Schools and Woodlands County Primary School took part in the day, which was eventually won by St Mark’s who defeated Nomansland in the Final.
Throughout the day, Simon Jones put the children through their paces providing coaching tips and advice in between games, as well as presenting the Trophy to the winning school, “It’s great to see so many young kids getting involved in the game through Chance to Shine. Cricket really took off after we won the Ashes in 2005, and with all eyes focused on the current series, hopefully the lads will be able to win back the urn and give cricket another boost.”
Now in its fourth year, Chance to Shine recognises the power of cricket in helping young people acquire important skills, values and attitudes for their future lives. It is delivered through individual projects across England and Wales, with each project providing structured coaching and competition as well as equipment, facility development and training for teachers and coaches.
Karen Burrell, Head of Marketing Services at Friends Provident, commented “We are proud to be a supporter of the Chance to Shine initiative. It is a natural extension to our current cricket sponsorships from the Friends Provident Trophy, through to England Age Group sides and grass roots cricket with Chance to Shine. It also provides our staff with a great opportunity to be involved in the local community and we’ve had a number of FRIENDS® employees here today helping with scoring, umpiring and providing refreshments!”
Stuart Priscott, Chance to Shine’s Regional Manager for the South and South West added “It’s been a fantastic day for the kids – a good day’s cricket, coaching from an Ashes winner in Simon Jones and the opportunity to get up close to the Friends Provident Trophy. Who knows, in ten years time these kids might have their own chance to play in a Friends Provident Trophy Final at Lord’s!”.
This year, the Friends Provident Trophy Final is going to be a South Coast affair as the Hampshire Hawks take on the Sussex Sharks at Lord’s on Saturday 25th July – both sides have history in the competition with Hampshire returning to Lord’s for the third time in five years, while Sussex will be making their 10th appearance in a Trophy Final.
2009
The 2009 season will see seven clubs/districts from Wiltshire taking part in the Chance to Shine project. These are Biddestone, Calne, Corsham, Potterne, Salisbury District, Swindon and Trowbridge. As part of the Chance to Shine project the seven 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.
Seven 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 seven 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.
The clubs and schools involved in the Chance to Shine programme can be seen below
| Biddestone | Calne | Corsham | Potterne | Salisbury District | Swindon | Trowbridge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bybrook Valley | Cherhill | Corsham Primary | All Cannings | Dinton | Westlea | Keevil |
| Colerne | Derry Hill | Corsham Regis | Dauntsey's Primary | Harnham COE | St. Augustine's | |
| Hardenhuish | Fynamore | Neston | Devizes School | Morgan's Vale | The Clarendon College | |
| Kings Lodge | Priestly | St. Patricks | Five Lanes | Nomansland | The Mead Community | |
| Redland | Saint Edmund's | The Corsham School | Lavington School | St. Mark's | Trowbridge Longmeadow | |
| Sheldon | St. Dunston | St. Joseph's Cath. | Wylye Valley | West Ashton COE | ||
| St. Peter's | John Bentley | |||||
| Stanton St. Quintin |
