When I stepped into this role, one of our targets was to get 2,000 young people volunteering in Lancashire by 2028. It’s ambitious, but early on we identified a promising route: the idea of running volunteer camps that teach young people skills, give them experience, and help them feel confident to go back to their clubs and communities ready to volunteer.
A few weeks ago, at Burnage Academy in south Manchester, we staged our fourth volunteer camp since last summer. The feedback we’ve received continues to reinforce our belief that we’re onto something here. “I really enjoyed the course,” one participant told us. “It was really fun and informative.”
Another said: “I feel like I’ve come out of it with much more knowledge.”
Understanding the need
Originally, this all started in early 2025, when we spoke to local clubs about the support they needed the most. The main thing was coaches. At the same time, we realised there are a lot of young people hanging around at cricket clubs, in the nets or on the sidelines. It felt like the perfect opportunity to support them to do something helpful that benefits them in later life.
Piloting the first camps
Our first volunteer camps, aimed at 14-24-year-olds, were piloted in the summer. We linked the main sections to some of the ECB’s national programmes. And we developed workshops based on conversations with young people, schools, and clubs about what support they need.
Within those first two camps, which were held in Salford and Liverpool, we delivered a Young Activators course, a Young Officials course, and workshops on safeguarding, social media, and marketing. But we knew if we were to really maximise the impact, we had to get detailed feedback from the attendees – and then act on it.
Oliver, one of our February attendees, told us: “I love doing warm-up activities because they’re fun and engaging for younger children and adults.”
We learned that the practical coaching and umpiring aspects were popular, but other parts had mixed reviews. We also discovered that our volunteers found it tricky to practice what they’d learned on each other. Coaching peers, they said, was harder than coaching children.
Adapting based on feedback
By the time we ran the next pilot in October, we’d changed the structure. Attendees spent half a day training before delivering a session to a group of 16 children aged between eight and 11. Once they worked with the children, it was like a switch had flicked. They were engaging, enthusiastic, and the children looked up to them. It was really exciting to see.
However, the feedback from that camp told us that particular day was too long. So, for our latest camp we split it up, doing four hours of training on day one and four hours of delivery on day two. That gave the volunteers enough planning time, while still keeping delivery manageable.
Many of the young people coming to these camps live and breathe cricket. So rather than teaching them cricket, we’re teaching them how to work with young people: how to coach, score, and use umpire signals to engage participants.
Building a flexible model
We understand that young people respond best to flexibility and understanding, so we’re trying to move away from a rigid programme or expectation. These camps provide training without a heavy commitment, and we’re also about to launch a Young Volunteers Academy so our attendees can access future opportunities with us.
Everything we do is based on a test-and-learn approach. We don’t want to create something that doesn’t fit what young people actually want. Each camp can change based on previous feedback, and we also use expression-of-interest forms to understand what attendees want while still supporting clubs that need volunteers.
Leadership Days for girls
Another of our projects is Leadership Days for local girls. We did six of these days at different schools before Christmas. Each school is different, so we adapt the sessions to the group in front of us, trying to balance classroom learning, written tasks, practical cricket, and coaching delivery.
Often, the girls didn’t have a lot of cricket knowledge, so we’ve made an introductory booklet that explains cricket to them, and then we go through warm-ups, batting, bowling, and fielding. After that, they take some time to plan and deliver their own coaching activity, so they’re already acting like a leader.
We also teach them how to play Dynamos Cricket, with the idea that they then go to help with our girls’ festivals. Earlier this year, we had a festival for local primary schools and the girls that had been through these Leadership Days played a huge part in its success.
There are so many cricket volunteering opportunities for young people. Programmes like the Young Cricket Collective and The Cricket Collective Awards are brilliant for engaging and recognising volunteers. Hopefully we’re playing our part in Lancashire!
Click here to find out if your local cricket board is offering a Young Cricket Collective programme.