We know cricket should be a game for everyone, and we want to break down the barriers of inequality, provide new opportunities to young people, and foster empathy, understanding and celebration among our cities’ diverse communities.
That’s why we’re blazing a trail with the launch of the Hampshire Hawks City Academy .
When we looked at our existing pathway in Hampshire – how players can progress from playing as a child right through to being a professional - it was clear it worked very well for certain players. But others were missing out completely.
For example, there’s not a single junior cricket club in Southampton’s inner-city boundary. The only outdoor nets were at King Edward VI, which is the only private school that sits within the city boundary.
We wanted to provide a way for Southampton’s inner-city children to have access to cricket, including high-quality coaching and facilities, so we devised this idea of having new City Academies based at sites that would pick up children that might otherwise have found it tough to find a route into our existing pathway.
From there, we’d give them a chance to progress through to the Hampshire Cricket Academy.
Initially, though, we just didn’t know how to get the idea up and running. So, we started some research with the Hampshire Cricket Board. Then we identified the Wicketz programme – an urban cricket programme from Lord’s Taverners that’s been running for two or three years – and decided to invite its best players in school years seven, eight, and nine, to join the Hampshire Hawks City Academy (HHCA) in October 2021.
The HHCA is the umbrella, if you like. Within it sits the Southampton Hawks Academy, operating out of Cantell School. In the future, there’ll also be a Portsmouth or Basingstoke Hawks Academy.
So far, at Southampton Hawks Academy we’ve trained every Thursday morning for 14 weeks of the winter. We’ve just employed James Hibberd to run the programme full time, so there’ll be a morning session each week, an afternoon session each week, and a session every Sunday. That’s three contact points every week for these players within the Southampton Hawks Academy.
As well as the Wicketz programme, we may also tap into the Dynamos programme – for eight to 11 year olds - in time. This whole initiative is about broadening our selection pool and breaking down barriers like travel, facilities, language, and equipment for kids who might otherwise slip through cricket’s net.
The amalgamation of participation and performance, which are two things that have often been kept apart, is crucial in this project.
In its simplest terms, we now have a pathway from Wicketz through to HHCA, Hampshire Cricket Academy, the Hampshire First XI, and then on to England and full international honours.
By having this new city base at the Southampton Hawks Academy, we’ve removed the travel barriers that might have stopped these children progressing if they’d been identified through the Wicketz programme before the HHCA existed.
What does success look like?
We’re focused on four areas: inspiring a love of the game, building sustainable participation, developing potential, and achieving high performance. For me, it’s for children across the city understanding they have a clear route to professional cricket.
So, initially, we’re looking for increased player inclusion in our county age group squads. In five years’ time, real progress would be to have some of these players progress to such an extent that they are embedded in the Hampshire Cricket Academy.
There’s a lot to look forward to. By giving more opportunities to children from inner city backgrounds we can prove that cricket truly is a game for everyone.