Exeter cricket coach honoured

Andy Baylis a cricket coach from Exeter, was rewarded for his work promoting grassroots cricket after receiving the MCC Spirit of Cricket Award at the Chance to Shine Annual Awards last week (7th October).

The awards lunch at Nomura Bank in London celebrated and rewarded the achievements of people involved in the Chance to Shine Schools programme.

Special guests included England and Kent rising star Sam Billings alongside England women coaching ambassadors Tammy Beaumont and Kate Cross and Chance to Shine Vice-President Mark Nicholas who hosted the event.

Since 2005 the Chance to Shine Schools programme has helped reverse the decline in cricket in state schools. Working in close partnership with all 39 County Cricket Boards and hundreds of local cricket clubs, the charity has got over two and a half million boys and girls in over 11,000 schools playing and learning through cricket.

The judges highlighted how Andy had delivered a number of spirit of cricket assemblies, games, and curriculum coaching sessions at a local school. This year he helped to drive a ‘Cricket Tea Party’ at the school. He helped run the tea party element of the event in the afternoon, he then stayed and ran cricket throughout the evening. He then supervised the evening and stayed in the morning to run more cricket themed events. They praised how he has embedded cricket within the school and has really embraced the spirit of cricket with this project.
Andy said, “I am delighted and it is fantastic to win this award. It gives me great motivation to keep delivering and continue putting smiles on the kids’ faces.”

Thanks to Gray-Nicolls, England and Kent cricketer Sam Billings attended to show his support for Chance to Shine. Speaking about the awards he said, “It’s been a cracking event to celebrate people who have volunteered and worked to spread the word about cricket in schools. A lot of the hard work that goes into grassroots cricket goes unnoticed. It’s a great day to give those people recognition and show their work is massively appreciated. Hopefully Chance to Shine gets bigger each year especially with the help of these people.

“It’s important to spread the word about cricket and giving people the opportunity to play. I’ve been really lucky to be able to play the game from a young age and it’s only fair that kids get that same opportunity. Hopefully the charity can get as many children involved as possible.”

Chance to Shine Coaching Ambassador Kate Cross said, “It’s been a wonderful chance for us to praise the vital work of people who give countless hours for Chance to Shine. As coaching ambassadors, we go around the country and see the impact people like our winners have in inspiring children around the country to play and enjoy the game.”

Commenting on the awards, Chance to Shine Chief Executive, Luke Swanson, added, “Each one of our award-winners is living proof of the power of cricket to inspire children to develop and grow, as players and as people. The awards are our chance to thank them for everything they do for the game, for young people and for their communities. We are proud to be associated with them."