Cricket NSW at the School Heroes Program at Warrawong High School’s Intensive English Centre

For the past 4 weeks, Cricket NSW have been conducting a free School Heroes Program (SHP) at Warrawong High School’s Intensive English Centre.

The SHP, run by Cricket NSW staff members, is an inclusive, games based program to introduce schools and students, to the game of cricket. The program develops basic fundamental skills associated with cricket, while also covering other gross motor and movement skills.

The SHP was run for both male and female students from Warrawong Intensive English Centre that come for a wide multicultural background, including students from Thailand, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Burma and China. Warrawong Intensive English Centre, who provide educational services to many non-English speaking migrants, organised English language instruction for high school students with very little, or no knowledge of the English language.

The students, ranging from 11-20 years old, had never heard of cricket before the program, but were very quick and enthusiastic to learn a sport foreign to their background.

Kate Coban, a teacher at Warrawong commented on the importance of introducing the game of cricket to her students, showing that it was an inclusive game for both boys and girls of all ages and cultural backgrounds. “The students are really enjoying learning the cricket skills and are now using the skills learnt to play regular games of cricket at school. The Cricket NSW program is an important part of teaching the students about Australian culture and sport” she said.