West House diversity makes school a carnival of cricket fandom

Plan to spread passion for sport to other local schools

According to Andrew Lloyd, the secret to West House's successful cricket programme is simple: passion. 

The sport is at the heart of life at the Birmingham-based prep school, with five ECB-qualified coaches delivering sessions from year one upwards. 

Pupils initially work on basic skills before benefiting from three sessions per week, regular matches and extra-curricular opportunities in the junior school, with no fewer than 17 teams, catering for around 40 pupils per year group, competing across the summer term. 

"The ethos is for everyone to participate, have a go and be a team player," explains Lloyd, West House’s senior coach. 

"We have a lot of boys who’ve gone from school cricket to club cricket and into county cricket [but] all of the boys, regardless of what sport, have the opportunity to represent the school. You can see that togetherness – they all want to know how each other’s teams have got on. 

"Generally, there’s no issue with boys wanting to participate. I run a coaching programme throughout the year, and we offer coaching in a group environment or one-to-one – lots of old boys come back for cricket sessions. I even run sessions on the weekend. [It's available] for any boy who wants to improve their game. We adapt to the abilities we have and try to give each pupil a certain target or goal."

^{Passion is at the heart of West House's attitude to cricket}

That passion for cricket isn't just limited to playing the game either. Thanks to its diverse intake, the school is transformed into a carnival of cricket fandom during major global tournaments. 

"We get lots of boys cheering a lot of teams; you get the same number of boys cheering for England as India or Pakistan, which brings great excitement and plenty of banter. It's great – every game matters for someone," Lloyd adds. 

Furthermore, West House plans to spread that passion by relaunching their outreach programme within local schools. 

"We go out once a week and deliver free coaching sessions to introduce cricket. I did it for five years before the pandemic [and] our headteacher has plans in place to get that up and running [again]," Lloyd says. 

"I used to go out to St John’s, Ladywood. Those kids haven't had the opportunity to learn the game and you see them enjoying it, you see one or two who have some talent. It's important to try and get the game out there for [everyone]; it's important from our point of view to share that opportunity."