Welcome to StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports

StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports is a three year project being delivered initially across ten London boroughs. The initiative uses cricket to engage young people from a range of backgrounds in areas affected by youth crime and anti-social behaviour. It is a partnership between Chance to shine, Barclays Spaces for Sports, Cricket for Change, Positive Futures and the Metropolitan Police Service.

The Programme

In each year of the project coaches are holding sessions with young people in ten boroughs for three hours each week (usually between 5pm and 8pm) over a 44 week period. The coaches have been trained in teaching 'Street 2O' cricket as well as a number of other skills such as how to safeguard children, develop communication skills and aggression management. These coaches are mostly young people (between 17 and 21 years of age). There will be a number of competitions held which will culminate in a 'finals' competition for all the teams involved in the project.

There is also an in-school programme that uses the model of the Cricket Foundation's Chance to shine programme. Each inner-city state school receives 25 hours of cricket coaching and Street 20 competition from professional cricket coaches within school hours during the summer term. Young people who participate in the project in school hours are encouraged to continue with the project out of school also. In the project's first year it will run across ten London boroughs: Brent, Chelsea and Kensington, Croydon, Ealing, Newham, Lewisham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Wandsworth.

'Street 20' cricket

StreetChance supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports will use Street 20, a quick, easy to play and accessible version of cricket that involves limited equipment. It is based on tape-ball cricket, which is widely played in Pakistan and South Africa, and uses a tennis ball covered in tape that makes it behave like a cricket ball but without the risk of damage to people or property. It has been formalised as a competitive game, Street 20, by Cricket for Change. Street 20 is even more fast-paced than Twenty 20, each innings have 20 balls. Everyone bats, bowls and games and Street 20 can be played anywhere with a flat surface.