South Dublin Schools Cricket

At the start of September the schools were very unsure as to whether they would let Cricket Leinster, or any other organisation, come in to deliver to their students. However, as Covid-19 policies were exchanged and questions answered we have now managed to start cricket with just over 550 students from schools in the South Dublin County Council area. We will be continuing these sessions as well as starting sessions with a further 277 students between now and the end of October.

We are fortunate that social distancing is possible with cricket, as is non-contact. The teachers in schools that we are delivering in have said they “have been delighted with the sessions so far from both an enjoyment perspective and from a COVID point of view too in terms of keeping everyone safe. Kids loving them” and “it’s great, they were actually really good at social distancing! It’s so well set up for them to do a good few different fundamental movement skills”.

We have designed the sessions so that each pod has a station. They do throwing and catching games first followed by striking skills. All the time they are in their pods. Each week they gain more knowledge of the rules of the game, like how a batter can be out, and they practice new skills like bowling. One teacher reflective on how inclusive it was for one of her students that uses a wheelchair but does get out of it from time to time. “This has been so inclusive, most of the PE that we can run within the guidelines at the minute has excluded AJ from taking part.” Another teacher remarked on how restrictive Covid-19 protocols has been as using equipment and the cleaning processes can be so time consuming. “We’re just not doing PE at the moment at all because we just don’t have time for cleaning down the equipment all the time. It’s great when you’re in because we can just focus on the kids and they learn so much. They’re loving these sessions.”

As Saturday gone, 10^th October, marked World Mental Health Day we hope to continue our sessions in schools and improve kids access to sports so they can keep their body and mind happy and healthy.

Naomi Scott-Hayward

South Leinster Development Manager

October 2020