Cricket for Change takes Blind Cricket to the USA

Jan 20, 2010

Leading community cricket charity, ‘Cricket for Change’ has been asked by the United States Cricket Association (USACA) and Visions (a US based charity for the blind) to help set up Blind Cricket in the USA with a link to the World Blind Cricket Council who run the Blind Cricket World Cup, with the next world cup due to be in the UK in 2011.

The programme in the USA is being made possible through the support of British Airways who are flying out the Cricket for Change Development Team which will be led by the charity’s Director of Programmes, Andy Dalby-Welsh, who is himself visually impaired and who played in two world cups for the England Blind Cricket Team.

The plan is to launch Blind Cricket in the USA on Saturday 30th January 2010 with a demonstration of the sport at an indoor venue in Manhattan followed by a one day introductory training programme for coaches from the USACA and blind players from Visions.

Following the January launch the plan is to run a four day coaching programme running from April 23rd to 26th 2010 with each of the USA’s state cricket associations sending coaching delegates to New York for the training. The USACA and Visions have both said that they are very excited about this project for two reasons; (1) There are very few team sports that are suitable for blind people to play and; (2) there are even fewer team sports for blind people that involve regular international competition.

Cricket for Change President, Phil Tufnell said, “Our development team do some brilliant work overseas and this will be the about the tenth country we have introduced blind cricket into. I just wish I was going to New York with them but they haven’t invited me!”

Andy Dalby-Welsh, Cricket for Change Director of Programmes, said, “Having lost my sight when I was twenty.  Blind Cricket changed my life.  It gave me the opportunity to compete in an international team game and travel the world.  I hope that thousands of visually impaired Americans will soon have the same opportunity.”

Clifford Hinds from the United States Cricket Association (USACA) said, “This is a great opportunity for the USACA to reach out to a group that has not had the opportunity to participate in sports of any kind. We are confident that the programme will be a success and that it will grow from New York to many other major cities of the USA. Thank you, Cricket for Change”.

  - Ends -

Notes to Editors:

  • ‘Cricket for Change’ – “Using cricket to change the lives of disadvantaged young people" - have improve the lives of disadvantaged young people in London and worldwide for 30 years.  
  • ‘Cricket for Change’ was born as the London Community Cricket Association (LCCA) in the aftermath of the 1981 Brixton riots to use cricket to bring back some harmony among the different ethnic groups in the Inner City. It has since become the world's leading community cricket charity.
  • The main work of ‘Cricket for Change’ is carried out through its ‘Street20’ and ‘Hit the Top’ programmes, both within the UK and internationally. In the last 18 months they have worked with the ICC and UNICEF developing programmes in Israel, Sri Lanka, Jamaica and they are shortly heading to New York to use their expertise to introduce the game of Blind Cricket to America through support from British Airways. 
  • ‘Hit the Top’ is a world leading and groundbreaking programme for young people with a disability. With Hit The Top, young people with a disability are able to access cricket provision comparable to their able-bodied peers.
  • The ‘Hit The Top’ programme has been developed by Cricket for Change’s Director of Programmes Andy Dalby-Welsh.  Andy is visually impaired and was recently awarded a Pride of Britain Award for his successes in increasing opportunities for young people with a disability. 
  • Cricket for Change set up and ran the England Blind Cricket Team for 10 years and were also one of the founding members of the World Blind Cricket Council.
  • Over the last 5 years we have helped set up blind cricket programmes in Uganda, Panama, Cuba, Rwanda and Zimbabwe as well as throughout the Caribbean where we helped set up the West Indies Blind Cricket Team who competed in the last World Cup and who have become a powerful pressure group for blind people in the region. The programmes in Africa were in conjunction with Sightsavers International who used the programmes to promote their work both in the UK and in Africa.
  • Website: www.cricketforchange.org.uk and E-mail: office@cricketforchange.org.uk
  • The United States Cricket Association (USACA) is an Associate Member of The International Cricket Council responsible for promoting, encouraging and developing an interest and knowledge in the game of cricket throughout the United States of America.
  • Website: www.usaca.org

 Contact Details
UK - Andy Dalby-Welsh, Cricket For Change Director of Programmes
Tel No: 07786 238168
E-mail: andydw@cricketforchange.org.uk

USA - Clifford Hinds – United States Cricket Association
Tel: 001 862 224 8662
E-Mails: hindsclifford@hotmail.com

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