The below report was written on January 8th 2018 for The Lord's Taverners Ireland by Naomi Scott-Hayward (CCDO South Dublin). There have been some slight changes made to it for the website. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness for the game and acknowledge the continued generous support of The Lord's Taverners Ireland.

CLICK HERE for more on The Lord's Taverners Ireland and information on how to support them (attend events or become a member for only €60/year).

Reflection on 2017

There were 571 recorded youth participation in table cricket and Cricket4All sessions throughout the year across Leinster. In addition, there would have been unrecorded sessions that the IWA delivered throughout Ireland as they have one of our sets and are continuously using it. There are also a large number of Older Adults playing table cricket as well as adaptive cricket. Which will continue and grow with Go For Life, a section of Age & Opportunity Ireland, on board.

From what I can see on previous years reports, there were 139 recorded youth participation in table cricket activities in 2016. Therefore, if this is accurate data from 2016, it would suggest that there has been an increase of 432 youth participation in the game (310%). We would however have to take into account repetition. However, this is comparing like with like from one year to the next. We have now created a more accurate reporting system for 2018 and beyond that will take into account repetition.

Targeted schools and organisations (Jan – Dec 2018)

We have a list of just over 20 schools/organisation, in the Leinster region, which we aim to deliver Table Cricket sessions in by the end of 2018. The delivery of these session are all thanks to the support of The Lord's Taverners Ireland and will be mainly delivered by the Cricket in the Community Development Officers (CCDOs) in their area.

The majority of sessions will be complete between January – June and between September – December.

Targeted Clubs for Cricket 4 All Programmes

During June, July and August we will concentrate on assisting the clubs in Leinster to be inclusive. Malahide CC are now working with Reinhardt Strydom (Fingal CCDO) to develop an inclusive programme there. This is spearheaded by Gary Stewart who works in the National Sports Centre. He has seen, first hand, Table Cricket being delivered by our Cricket Leinster coaches at their Inclusive sports camps in 2017. Terenure CC and North Kildare CC will be continuing their inclusive sessions in their clubs as well. We are calling these ‘Cricket 4 All’ programmes that are being run by clubs. They will aim to meet the needs of the local children by creating a social and competitive learning environment through table cricket and adapted cricket skills sessions.

In addition, in the past, we have worked with organisation like the SBHI and Vision Sports Ireland to offer out sessions to their network for anyone in the Leinster area. We hope to be able to direct them to their nearest inclusive cricket club.

If your club is interested in being a hub for children with disabilities in your community, please contact me at Naomi.scotthayward@cricketleinster.ie.

‘Leinster Table Cricket Leaders’ Courses

Scoil Mochua, Clondalkin, will be receiving a ‘Leinster Table Cricket Leaders Course’ during the early part of 2018. As will St. Raphael’s Special School, Celbridge. These are to be done using the Croke Park hours and therefore will mean full participation from all members of staff in the schools. Scoil Mochua had arranged one with me in October 2017, however it got postponed due to storm Ophelia. We hope that we can use these as examples for other schools and get more schools interested. This is with a view of lending out table cricket sets, or encouraging the schools to acquire sets themselves. Scoil Mochua purchased their own set in 2017 and have already been delivering sessions independently.

Meath Sports Partnership have just confirmed that they will be purchasing a set, in the near future, thanks to Sports Capital funding. We will help train them and they will introduce Table Cricket into community groups, schools and organisations that are interested in the game (youth and adult participants).

The group of South Dublin Sportivate trainees that have completed the course in December 2017, will be encouraged to attend blitzes and upcoming sessions to gain work experience. The idea of this is that they will gain confidence in the skills they have learnt so that in the future, within the sports jobs that they apply for, they will be confident to deliver a table cricket session themselves. They will also spread the word of the game.

I am in consultation with The King’s Hospital school in Palmerstown to train up a number of Transition Year students. They will be able to help out at South Dublin events and bring their knowledge into their work experience. As well as this, they have a historic link with Stewart’s Hospital which they complete a Transition Year module with in their day care centre each year.

@cricketleinster school visits supported by @sdublincoco & @LordsTaverners.Lovely day with Scoil Mochua playing Table Cricket in #Clondalkin pic.twitter.com/ATNRhwZeTZ

— CricketLeinsterYouth (@LeinsterYouth) June 6, 2017