Summer Coaching Camps at Durham CCC
Young cricketers have been given the opportunity to learn skills from professional Durham County Cricket Club coaches in a series of pre-match coaching camps which are being held throughout the summer. The sessions, are being run before Durham's home Friends Provident t20 and Clydesdale Bank 40 games this season as part of the Grassroots Sports Programme - sponsored by Tesco - which is part of the Durham County Cricket Foundation.
As part of the programme, a number of young people were recently selected from across Northumberland Sport's 'Sport Unlimited' programme, an exciting national programme, targeting 'semi-sporty' young people as part of the Government's government's drive to get more young people involved in sport outside of school between the ages of 10-19 years.
All participants, including the Sport Unlimited representatives, took part in a two hour coaching camp before the game then got to watch the Durham Dynamos in action. The children also get the opportunity to go onto the pitch to do a guard of honour for the players and be presented with a certificate and T-shirt for taking part.
Richard Hopper, the club's community coach, said: "Our Grassroots pre-match coaching camps are a great way to get children involved in the game. The fact that they are coached by professional Durham Cricket Club coaches and then get to watch a Dynamos match and meet the players really increases their enthusiasm and gives them a taste of what they can aspire too."
Neville Duncan, Sports Development Manager with Northumberland Sport said: "I would to thank the Durham County Cricket Foundation for providing this tremendous opportunity to some of our young participants involved in the Sport Unlimited programme. I know all the young people who attended had a great time and really appreciated the time spent with the professional coaches, which will hopefully have raised their confidence and encouraged them to keep on playing."
Northumberland Sport will continue to work closely with other sports and organisations to offer similar incentives for young people. In addition to these incentives all the young people who take part in activities across Northumberland during 20010/11 and attend a minimum of 6 sessions are being entered into a draw to win an iPod Touch other prizes worth up to £100. This is just another way we are trying to encourage young participants to attend enough sessions to inspire and motivate them to continue in the activity following the end of their chosen programme of activity.
