Surrey Cricket Foundation (SCF) held their annual Disability Day on Monday (May 15), where over 550 young people from special educational needs and disability (SEND) schools and community groups, along with their carers and teachers, enjoyed a brilliant day of activities at The Kia Oval.
Throughout the day, the attendees got the opportunity to take part in a wide range of accessible activities, including wheelchair cricket, visually impaired cricket, and table cricket, among other adapted cricket-oriented games. Furthermore, the participants got the chance to get clicked with the Surrey mascot, Caesar the Lion, as well as try out sports and activities like athletics, football, skateboarding, and face-painting.
SCF’s disability cricket sponsor, First Sentier Investors, supported the event and provided around 50 volunteers to help run the activities. Volunteers also joined in from Mazars, Ayer Associates, Ingeus and Prince’s Trust, in addition to the ambassadors from the Club.
Many of the activities that entertained the young people on the day were organised in association with Fulham FC Foundation, Palace for Life Foundation, Harlequins Rugby, Googly Cricket, Urban Studios and Shoot4Goal.
One of the central commitments of SCF is to make the physical and social benefits of playing cricket more accessible within Surrey and south London. To that effect, the foundation works with both mainstream and SEND schools to give those with disabilities the opportunity to play the sport.
In 2022, the foundation delivered coaching to over 34 SEND schools/schools with a SEND department, reaching out to more than 1,100 young people through their programmes. SCF also runs programmes such as the Lord’s Taverners Super 1’s that seek to address the gap in cricket provision for people with disabilities. There are currently nine Super 1’s hubs operating across the county.
Neil Bunting, Disability Development Officer at SCF, said: “The Disability Day is when we get the opportunity to invite young people with any additional needs to The Kia Oval, give them a nice day out and enjoy some cricket-related activities, and for it to be genuinely inclusive.
“We run a variety of programmes across the county, south London and rural Surrey throughout the year. We go and deliver cricket in SEND schools and mainstream schools that have a SEND component. We also run nine weekly, inclusive programmes, which are open to any young person up to the age of 25, to come along and play cricket.
Sarah Lynch, Cricket Participation Manager at SCF, said: “The Disability Day is one of the highlights of the foundation’s calendar. It is a visual demonstration of some of the impact that the foundation’s work has.
“Today has been a real celebration of everything the foundation does in disability cricket.”
Michael Sanderson, a PE teacher at Carew Academy, said: “To come to a place like the Oval, where England and Surrey play, it’s really good for the young people to experience it… and what they get out of it is pure and utter enjoyment.
“I’ll get [my students] back to school and tomorrow I’ll probably be playing cricket with them because that’s what they’ll want to do in their PE lesson… One of them already asked me if we’re coming again tomorrow!”
Find out more about the disability programmes run by the Surrey Cricket Foundation here.
