Kent Cricket Coaching Academy launches at Canterbury College

Students at Canterbury College will now have a unique opportunity to access world class cricket training as we launch our Kent Cricket Coaching Academy.

Working with the Club’s community partner, EKC Group, we have devised an exciting new scheme that will enable learners to enhance their cricket and coaching skills alongside the team at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

Drawing on the talent of coaches and players at the Club, students will also be able to enjoy match day experiences as well as the professional fitness and training facilities at the Ground.

The Kent Cricket Coaching Academy will particularly complement those on the Sport National Extended Diploma Level 3 in Sports Coaching and Development course, however it will not just be limited to those learners. Opportunities to enrol in the Academy are extended to students at the new EKC Sixth Form College, also based at Canterbury College.

In fact, the wider Group will benefit because – as part of the Academy – coaches of the future will have the chance to create and run fun coaching sessions for the primary schools of the Multi-Academy Trust, EKC Schools Trust. This collaboration between Colleges and Schools has already proven fruitful, having led to successful inter-school football and cricket tournaments.

Canterbury College Principal Victoria Copp-Crawley said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Kent Cricket to provide a fantastic and unique opportunity for young people to join the Kent Cricket Coaching Academy, we will be combining an outstanding education experience with a professional sports coaching and performance programme.

“We are passionate about engaging sports enthusiasts to experience professional sport in the state-of-the-art Kent Cricket facilities with professional coaches, players, and facilities, whilst gaining an education through a vocational coaching route or academic sixth form offer, with first-class facilities and teachers at Canterbury College.
“Students of Kent Cricket Coaching Academy will have the opportunity to draw on first-hand professional training, match day experiences and community coaching engagement, to support their progression and their next steps into employment or university.”

Kent Cricket’s Head of Community Cricket, James Reid, said: “We’re really excited to begin this extension of our already strong partnership with EKC Group.

“One of our main aims at Kent Cricket is to make our game accessible to all and this is another step in the right direction for us. We hope to see the barriers of playing cricket become smaller and smaller in the long term around our local area – having access to top coaches and facilities is one of those barriers that this coaching academy will break down.

“Of course, we hope to see talented players that we may not have seen come through our age groups before enter into cricket through this new avenue, too.”