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ICC Awards – Best Junior Cricket Initiative
Estonian Cricket Association – School Cricket Programme
Background
The ECA recognises youth cricket development as a cornerstone of their strategy to develop Estonian national players for the future and to increase their player base. A team of dedicated ECA members was formed to develop school cricket, lead by Mike Tiffin and Mart Tammoja.
At the beginning of 2009, most Estonian school children had never played cricket. Kwik cricket sets, specially designed for children’s cricket, were donated to schools by the Estonian Cricket Association (ECA). However, the ECA realised that a lot more effort was required to introduce cricket into the school system and to get children playing regularly in a country where cricket is not a mainstream sport.
School management needed to be convinced of the positive aspects of introducing cricket into their schools. Teachers needed to be given on-going training and mentoring to ensure that cricket was played in schools. Competition was required to keep the children’s attention and give them motivation to improve their skills.
The School Cricket Initiative
The ECA school cricket team decided to focus on six schools based in and around the capital city, Tallinn. A focused approach allowed the team to concentrate their attention on the children attending these schools and to visit the schools regularly, giving coaching lessons and explaining the intricacies of the game.
Step 1 – Teacher buy-in
The first step was to meet with the school leadership and physical education teachers to explain the benefits of cricket as a team sport, with specific emphasis on the spirit with which the game is played.
Step 2 – Get the children playing
The next stage was to introduce cricket to the school children, explain the rules and show basic techniques of the game. It was important to get the children playing mini cricket games as soon as possible, to keep their attention and to get them having fun. Every time the team returned to the schools they were met with enthusiastic school children that wanted to play cricket and learn more about the game.
Step 3 – Create a competition to keep their attention
Step three was to organise the first inter-school school cricket tournament and create some inter-school competition. Three schools were selected and asked to pick their best team. The competition between the schools helped to create even more awareness and interest in the game amongst the pupils.
English College was the eventual winner of the tournament, hitting the winning runs off the final over, there was excitement right to the end of the game. As can be seen from the video, cricket was played in the true spirit of the game and the ECA could not have asked for a better advertisement.
A promotional video of the tournament was made, to help promote school cricket and introduce the game to more schools.
Link: 
Step 4 – Partner with a nationally recognized organisation
The ECA school cricket team then met with the Estonian School Sport Union (ESSU) in order to be part of a national program of developing school sport. The ESSU is recognised by Estonian schools and gives the ECA more credibility throughout Estonia.
The ESSU held a competition in which every Estonian School participated in a draw for cricket equipment and training. The competition helped to advertise the ECA’s school cricket development programme and to increase the awareness of cricket.
It is the ECA’s goal to entrench cricket as an official school sport in Estonian schools. The ECA school cricket team has managed to convince the ESSU of the benefits of introducing cricket as a team sport and now the ESSU will help the ECA to introduce cricket as a school sport.
Conclusion
The success of the ECA’s school cricket campaign would never have been possible without the dedicated, hard work of the ECA school cricket team. The focused approach helped concentrate the resources and allow regular visits to the same schools, eventually converting the teachers and children into cricket fanatics.
The tournament created a competitive spirit that motivated everyone to learn the game and improve their skills. At all times the emphasis was on having fun, showing sportsmanship, keeping to the values and principles of the spirit of cricket. The foundation has been laid for further competition between the schools next year.
Establishing a working partnership with a recognised national body, the ESSU, has given the ECA a credible “voice” to promote cricket to schools.
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