Yorkshire Cricket Board

The charity – which uses cricket to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and bring smiles to the faces of 1000s of children each year - is looking for enthusiastic people to go on projects to five African countries in 2016.
Trips are typically two weeks long and include coaching in schools, training local teachers and running cricket festivals.
No cricketing experience is required as full training is provided before you go.
French teacher Anouck Brenot had never played or coached the game before visiting Kenya with CWB in Autumn 2015.
She enjoyed the trip so much that she is heading out to Cameroon later this year.
Anouck said: “It was amazing and I couldn’t wait to experience it all over again. The feeling you get when you arrive at a school and see hundreds of smiling kids is something that stays with you.
“The children are so enthusiastic and you feel you are making a real difference. I would recommend volunteering with CWB to anyone.
“Before going I was a bit apprehensive because I didn’t have any cricket knowledge but the focus is on keeping the messages simple and making sure the children have fun and you pick it up really quickly.”
In 2016 CWB is returning to Cameroon, Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda with projects running in both the spring and autumn.
They are all led by an ECB qualified tutor and contain a mix of experienced coaches and people who are new to cricket.
John Colley, who runs his own coaching business – Shine Coaching - said that volunteering with CWB was not only incredibly fulfilling but could help develop even the most experienced coach.
He said: “It’s very rewarding and it was great to coach in a completely different setting. You learn how to adapt sessions for larger numbers, make the best use of your resources and come up with different ways to get your message across.
“It is great fun and I think coaches of any age or experience would learn something from the experience.”

With an estimated 23.5 million people (69% of the global AIDS burden) living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, CWB is committed to using cricket as a tool to deliver vital HIV/AIDS awareness messages. Previous projects have also seen the charity help communities in Rwanda continue their recovery from civil war and use cricket to rehabilitate former child soldiers in northern Uganda.
Earlier this year CWB sent a special project to Laikipia, a remote rural part of Kenya to use cricket to try and empower women and girls and end the practice of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation).
On the field CWB – which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2015 – has seen a number of players they have introduced to the game go on to play international cricket.

The charity is also looking for ECB qualified tutors to lead the cricket delivery in schools and run coach education courses on each project.The ECB’s Regional Head of Performance (South) Steve Williams – who was team tutor for last autumn’s Uganda trip said: “Being a tutor on a CWB project really gets you out of your comfort zone, sharpens up your decision making and encourages innovation.
“For experienced tutors it gets you thinking outside the box and is a great way of refreshing your skills. For younger tutors it will challenge you to find different ways of applying your knowledge and getting the key messages across.”
“It was a great experience, a really great charity and something I would be really keen to do again."

To find out more information about volunteering with CWB please visit the Charity's website CLICK HERE

You can also view videos from past projects by CLICKING HERE.