Nottinghamshire Recreational Cricket

Case Study Credit: Chrysalis Research

Bringing cricket to children from refugee and migrant families in Nottingham

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club’s work with refugee and migrant children started with an email from a local charity, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum (NNRF). The charity was trying to help a child who was struggling to settle in this country and asked if the club could help the boy because ‘cricket was his love and all he wanted to do was to play cricket’. One of the local clubs provided a year’s worth of funding and a kit to enable the boy to follow his passion for cricket and help him integrate. This also started conversations about opportunities that can be offered to children from refugee and migrant families, many of them from Afghanistan and therefore ‘massively into cricket’.

Through Sky funding for Dynamos Intros, as well dedicated additional funding support for this work from ECB, the club was able to offer refugee and migrant children a chance to try cricket and to continue playing as they settle in this country.

Zahra and Hassan’s story

Zahra, aged 10, and her 7-year-old brother Hassan are originally from Iraq. Only a couple of months into their new life in Britain and still living in temporary accommodation, the children were offered an opportunity to try the free Dynamos Intros and All Stars sessions organised for them by Notts CCC. Even though neither the children nor their parents played cricket before the family decided to try the sessions, hoping the experience would be positive and uplifting for Zahra and Hassan, to help them recover from the recent hardships and the challenges they had experienced.
The sessions exceeded all their expectations. When interviewed, their dad, who watched the children to play cricket throughout the entire programme, said:

"My children are very happy here. They feel safe. They are really enjoying themselves. After the first session, they kept asking if they could come and do it again."
Father

Speaking for herself and her brother who does not speak much English yet, Zahra echoed her father describing how much she enjoyed being part of Dynamos Intros.

"People are really nice to me here. [The sessions] are fun. And the food is great too! If I could, I would come here every day, to play cricket and have fun, it’s so good!"
Zahra, 10

The children’s father noticed with pride how much his children learnt about cricket and developed their skills over the course of the programme.

"During the first session, they didn’t understand anything and couldn’t do anything. Look at them today – they are so good now."
Father

For Hassan, the sessions had an additional benefit. With no experience of schooling in his native country, the boy initially struggled to understand how to behave in an organised learning environment, something which most children tend to learn during their first year of primary school. During the cricket sessions, Hassan was able to learn to follow common instructions, even as simple as ‘line up by the door’, he learnt to listen to adults who led the sessions and be aware of and respectful to other children in the group. His father and coaches leading the sessions thought that Hassan’s improved social skills and understanding of boundaries would really help him to settle at school in England which he was due to start in the new academic year.

The children were delighted to receive the bats and kit at the end of the programme. As they were leaving, they were busy discussing where they might be able to play, recalling the public parks and green spaces they had seen near the place where they stay.

[i]They will continue to play: they like cricket.
Father[/i]

Alia’s story

Alia is 11 and originally from Afghanistan. Having never played cricket and generally not too ‘sporty’, to start with, Alia struggled to keep up with the energetic pace of the session. She found even some of the most simple cricket skills hard to master, which she looked embarrassed about. Being new to this country and her English skills still being quite low, she looked confused at times, unsure what to do. She tried to keep slightly away from the other children, chatting to her cousin in her native language instead. The two girls looked a bit out of place and like they did not really belong there during the initial activities.

The coaches were gentle but persistent, with one of them keeping an eye on Alia at all times and helping her where needed, encouraging her to practise again and again, praising her for every small success and for her perseverance. They invited all other children to cheer when she did well. Next, the children worked on different skills in small groups, each supported by a coach or activator. The adults modelled being positive when making mistakes or struggling with a new skill, as well as being encouraging and supportive towards others, an attitude which children quickly adopted. As the activities progressed and the coaches changed the teams multiple times, Alia had to cope without her cousin at her side. The girl became visibly more confident, smiling and chatting to the children around her.

At the very end of the last programme session, just as parents and families were gathering for the celebration ceremony, Alia did well when batting in front of the large crowd, and looked very pleased about her father and grandfather loudly cheering her.

Removing barriers – and providing lunch

When setting up the programme, a lot of thought has gone into removing barriers and helping children and their families to feel part of the community and feel welcome. For example, with travel and access to transport being really difficult for the asylum seeker families, the club decided to opt for longer sessions but fewer of them, so that it wasn’t too big an ask on the families. A venue that is central and easy to get to yet has a real community feel was selected for the sessions.

"[Our aim was] to engage the children and give them that first experience of cricket and to make them feel part of a community and that's exactly what this location and our project's about."
Cricket Development Officer, Notts CCC

There has been a lot of support from the local community. In particular, a local Afghan restaurant provided a tasty lunch for all the children, their families who came to the sessions as well as the coaches and activators, helping create a welcoming atmosphere and ensuring the children are all fed and ready to learn

By working with local partner organisations, the club was able to fill almost all the 24 places they had available for each group, with 20 children attending the Dynamos Intros sessions and a similar number attending All Stars. The sessions were mixed groups, so that boys and girls, children of different physical ability, all played and learned about cricket together. Virtually none of them had any prior experience of playing cricket. Many did not know about it at all.

Providing children with personalised kit, with their names on the shirts, was another example of where attention to detail made a real difference. Not only did this help the children to feel part of the group and helped them feel like they were playing ‘the proper game’, it was essential to enable the coaches and activators to learn the children’s names (many of which were unfamiliar at first and therefore hard for the adults to remember) and start using them really quickly. The coaches felt that addressing each child by their name from the first session helped build rapport between the adults and the children. The children got to know each other quickly too. Learning to play cricket together and having fun as they were doing it helped them quickly form friendships and feel a sense of acceptance and belonging.

"One of the children came earlier and said, 'This is my new sister' [even though they only met] yesterday but they got on really well and that for us is probably the nicest thing to see, the kids have got on so well. They don't know each other but they've just gelled and clicked really nicely. Best thing about meeting people at their age, it's really easy for them to make friends and no pre-judgements and that's the best thing for us about the kit, they're in the same kit, they're all the same, they're all equal, no matter what."
Cricket Development Officer, Notts CCC

The club’s efforts to support refugee and migrant children’s engagement with cricket did not stop after the final session of Dynamos Intros. The coaches were in discussions with the children’s families and case workers and charities supporting them, trying to identify the best opportunities for each individual child to enable them to continue playing and learning cricket if they wanted. In some cases, the coaches were able to tell the parents that the school that their child or children were going to was involved in other projects or activity led by the club so they could continue learning to play cricket at school. In others, it was making sure that the families could be notified of their local clubs once they become settled and move into permanent accommodation.

Chrysalis Research
November 2022