Warwickshire Cricket Foundation will once again host Skills Blast at Edgbaston later this month, an event which gives an opportunity for young coaches to test their skills and for Warwickshire and Birmingham school pupils to play cricket on the same pitch as their heroes.
Over 70 children, aged between five and 11, from local schools will be invited to attend and participate in a range of games and activities on the Edgbaston outfield on Sunday 26th July, between 10am and 1pm.
The drills are overseen by a number of newly qualified coaches, who are given a valuable opportunity to apply their skills to a real-life environment and build their confidence.
The plan is for up to ten newly qualified coaches to cover four stations on the Edgbaston pitch - for bowling, batting, catching and throwing - and the school pupils will be split up based on their ages. From there, they will rotate and engage in the different skill-sets.
Each coach will be paired with a senior coach provided by WCF, who will offer advice and support if needed, on the day.
Skills Blast is not only a vehicle to encourage and motivate young people to exercise and play more cricket, but to also help prospective young coaches realise their ambitions to find careers in sport.
It also serves as an opportunity to bring together communities and generations from differing backgrounds and from across the region.
One coach overseeing the event is Pritam Grewal, who was once a student coach himself before he began to volunteer with WCF and, eventually, accepted the offer to take up a coaching apprenticeship.
Having taken part in the event 12 months ago, Pritam is passionate about community cricket in all its forms and will be hands-on when Skills Blast takes place, fully appreciating the benefits that the event offers to aspiring young coaches.
“I did the Skills Blast last year when I had just arrived at Edgbaston, as a newly qualified coach,” Pritam said. “It was quite daunting because you’re on the Edgbaston pitch doing coaching, being in that environment - but you have people around you.
“You have so many great coaches there, who back you up - that support network is really encouraging.”
For any young coach who hopes to one day achieve a career in sport, they need look no further than Pritam for a source of inspiration.
“I began volunteering at Edgbaston, doing camps,” he recalled. “Sam [Wyles], the head of Workforce, was my coach during my level 2 [coaching course].
“He saw I was at camps volunteering and he knew I wanted to be a coach after my A-Levels. The Foundation wanted an apprentice to do coaching, so he phoned me one day and asked whether I would be interested - it was something I started straight after my A-Levels.
“I’ve been lucky as an apprentice to work across so many programmes that we deliver. Being able to get the full range of it, I can then bring in different aspects from what I’ve learned in one setting to another setting. That’s helped massively.”
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, is eager to see cricket in the communities across the region thrive. He offered a glowing endorsement of Skills Blast when he attended the event last year and he will be visiting Edgbaston again for this renewal.
“I remember speaking to the mayor last year,” Pritam added. “He was interested in what I do. It was great to talk with him and see how much he cared about community cricket and how much he is trying to grow it.”
