Young boy with hands on knees stands in ready to take a catch in the slips in a school sports hall

Chance to Shine

Chance to Shine logo

Chance to Shine is a national charity that aims to give all children the opportunity to play, learn and develop through cricket.

We believe that cricket can help to develop the personal, social and physical skills of the 600,000 children that we work with every year.

1.  Chance to Shine Schools

Chance to Shine works in schools to provide children with a brilliant first experience of cricket. We work with the 39 County Cricket Boards across England and Wales and Cricket Scotland to send specialist coaches into schools, once a week for six weeks, to support cricket coaching.

As well as the physical benefits of regular activity, we use cricket to teach children important key life skills that will help them beyond the playground. Through the values of cricket, we teach children about respect and fair play.

We believe that cricket is an inclusive sport, where girls and boys can play and learn together. We think that normalising female participation in cricket is a hugely important and valuable part of the work that we do. Of the five million children that Chance to Shine has reached since its foundation in 2005, 46% are girls and this figure is rising.

2. Chance to Shine Street

Chance to Shine Street cricket gives children and young adults in inner-city areas the opportunity to play the sport - 85% of players were not members of a traditional cricket club when they joined the sessions. Street offers a different way into the sport.

It’s played with a tapeball, a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape, plastic bats and matches last for just 20 minutes – it’s cricket’s answer to 5-a-side football!

The projects run after-school or at weekends, are completely free and players don’t need to bring any equipment. 

The sessions run in sports halls, community centres and schools for two age groups - Youths (8-15) and Young Adults (16-24).

Why are you involved with Play Their Way?

Chance to Shine has chosen to be involved with the CCC as we are advocates for and deliverers of holistic programmes which place the child at the centre of the experience. We know that coaches are the most vital part of the success of our programmes, and we have evidence from our Schools & Street programmes that when we allow children the opportunity to be creative, to ‘Play Their Way’ and take the lead – we not only enhance their learning but we also enable them to enjoy their experience to a deeper level.  

Group of smiling girls standing behind a Chance To Shine sign

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We are an organisation that has collaboration at the heart of what we do – and when we heard that there was a collective of like-minded organisations seeking to connect and develop a set of principles which not only support coaches but have the rights of the child as the key focus, we absolutely wanted to be on the journey.

A young cricketer puts his arm around the shoulder of a team-mate in celebration

The Children’s Coaching Collaborative has the power to make a significant difference to the experiences of the lives of many young people. We often hear about the amazing stories from sports people of the power of the coaches and teachers who influenced them early in their lives – coaches who had their best interests and motivations at their heart. Our challenge is to make this best practice become common practice – which will be achieved if coaches align their visions to supporting the rights of the child and allowing them to Play Their Way. When like minded people and organisations come together, great things can happen. It will be exciting to see where this journey goes and we at Chance to Shine are ready and willing to be a part of it."

Ian Gregory, Schools Programme Manager Chance to Shine

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