Playing cricket at inner-city schools might be easier than you think

Revolutionary net system from Dem Sports is bringing cricket to children in the capital

Joe Root’s men kick-off a huge year for English cricket in the Caribbean before the World Cup and Ashes are hosted on our shores. Expectations have never been higher with ECB CEO Tom Harrison describing the summer as a “once in a generation opportunity.”

Exactly which generation will be inspired is up for debate. With only a limited amount of cricket on terrestrial television, budding young cricketers will be hard-pressed to watch their heroes in action. And many children in inner-city schools will then struggle to find a safe environment to play the game.

Hope is on the horizon through Dem Sports, a company who specialise in cricket ground equipment, and their recently developed Concertina Cricket Cage. This unique netting system can expand and retract with ease. When secured against a wall or post it protrudes only 50cm, but when pulled out it can be a 10m-long fully enclosed net. 

John Loveday, from Dem Sports, has high hopes for this space-saving design.

“We can really start enhancing cricket in restricted areas such as inner-city schools and really get into the grass roots of the game. Some of these children can now go on to play for clubs or even their county.”

The key is introducing children to cricket who may not have otherwise come across it. Providing them with this initial experience could encourage them to join a local club and ignite a passion for the game.

And the Concertina Cricket Cage is an ideal facility for any school. All that is needed is a wall on which to secure the cage and a 10m space in front for the nets to roll out into. It is fully enclosed, so balls won’t be hit out of the top meaning children not participating in the net activity can still play safely.

^{The Dem Sports Concertina Cricket Cage}

Dem Sports have a working partnership with Capital Kids Cricket, a charity who aim to bring a range of sporting and social activities to children in deprived parts of London. The schools who have a Dem Sports net now have access to a cricket coach, provided by Capital Kids Cricket.

“Capital Kids Cricket offer a lot because they actually get coaches into the schools on a full-time basis, meaning they can coach football or other sports depending on the season. The double net system, which we have just launched works perfectly for this. You can play tennis, football or cricket in them. This gives a real multi-sport effect in the playground.”

As well as providing schools with net facilities, through their partnership with Capital Kids Cricket, Dem Sports ensure they are used productively and sport is regularly played in them.

John has ideas for the Concertina that extends beyond improving a cover drive.

“We want to turn this into an educational tool. You could pin numbers on the side of the net, such as one, two, three, four, 6 and out, and the children have to hit them – avoiding the 'out' of course! This can be used as a coaching tool to practice their shots, if they play a cover drive along the floor they get four runs, but also as a mental arithmetic exercise. Children have to add the score up as they go and keep it in their head. We also want to do the same with countries, where children have to try and hit the top cricket-playing nations.”

“It allows children to interact with sport and makes education fun. We saw it as a maths tool initially, but with the countries idea there is so much more we could do. It gets them outside enjoying themselves without a phone in their hand.”

The Dem Sports philosophy, particularly for the multi-sports nets, revolves around fun and practicality. In many city schools, finding enough space to just bowl and hit a ball safely is difficult but Dem Sports’ net systems make cricket accessible to all. 

Nick Mallender, head teacher at Grasmere Primary School in London, could not be more approving of the product.

"It is a very good size. With two full cricket nets and the fact it can also be used for tennis, netball, and small-scale activities, it really is a fantastic piece of equipment for sports across the school." 

For more information, call 01354 610353, email contact@demsports.com, or visit www.demsports.com