Platform Cricket (THYSF)

Who we are

THE PROGRAMME

The Platform Cricket Programme is an exciting initiative aimed at supporting more young people from deprived and BAME backgrounds in London to develop in and through cricket. The areas we work in bring us into contact with some of the most marginalised, vulnerable, and disadvantaged children in the UK.

We create new “Pop Up” youth cricket clubs in areas where there is currently little to no provision, working directly with schools to recruit new participants. These activities are set-up to remove as many of the known barriers to voluntary participation as possible but importantly, they also feature opportunities for young people to positively replace and address the reasons why they may otherwise fall into poor health, antisocial behaviour, and crime in later years.

The community-based activities aim to incubate young peoples’ interest in the game and develop their skills adequately so that transition into an established, mainstream cricket club becomes more likely from 11 years old and upwards.

In 2020-21 we worked with 18,378 children in 322 schools across 16 London Boroughs. 927 of those children took up a place in our community provision, of which 76% were from a BAME background, 42% were female and 38% were from a disadvantaged background.