Andre Jackson believes encouraging progress is being made in terms of engagement in cricket with young people of African and Caribbean heritage in Sheffield.
Jackson is the development officer for the ACE Programme charity in the Steel City, based out of the Sheffield Caribbean Cricket Club.
ACE was launched at the start of 2020, founded by former England women’s cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent, the first black woman to play for England.
ACE has a presence in a variety of cities across England as they bid to grow the game; London, Bristol, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Sheffield.
Jackson’s remit sees him first of all deliver coaching sessions in schools across Sheffield, hopefully setting up children for a love affair with cricket.
“This year, we’ve gone into six schools in total, and we’re trying for more,” he said. “Ideally, 10 would be perfect. That’s the aim.
“We deliver coaching sessions to mainly Year 5 in primary schools, that’s the target age. But we do go into secondary schools as well.
Andre Jackson, the ACE Development Officer in Sheffield.
“We’re just trying to introduce the kids to the sport and get them to enjoy it so they can carry on playing if they want.
“Most of the schools we’ve been in, the majority of children having played the game before, so it’s about us assessing the raw talent, which is exciting to see because you can always work with that.
“The aim is to get into schools, spot the raw talent and and then get them to our weekly hub sessions, where we can help develop them further. From there, they can go to development stage and then into our Academy.”
As Jackson indicates, after talent spotting in schools, youngsters are invited to weekly coaching sessions before those who catch the eye further are taken into a development stage and potentially then onto Academy level with ACE.
The programme was first taken to Sheffield in late 2022, but the city does not yet have one of ACE’s full Academies like neighbouring cities Nottingham and Manchester do. Those players highlighted for further progression will, for now, head to either of those two cities.
Jackson hopes a full ACE Academy will be set up in Sheffield around this time next year.
As for talent spotting elsewhere around Yorkshire, open trials are run by the charity, and the next one will be held at Nottinghamshire’s Trent Bridge home (Hadlee Hall) on Saturday November 23.
Andre Jackson, the ACE Development Officer delivers a coaching session in Sheffield.
“At the moment, we have one kid who is at development stage who we have hopes for,” said Jackson.
ACE aims to do a similar development work to that of the South Asian Cricket Academy, who have helped pave the way for a number of players of that background to break through into county and, in Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafar Chohan’s case, international cricket.
ACE aren’t quite as far down the line as that just yet, but Jackson is “very happy” with the progress being made: “This year we’ve gone into three new schools that we’ve never been in before, all in Sheffield. It’s going great, I would say.
“It’s a long process.
“Ideally, each city that has the programme going, I think the ideal is to get at least four players each into county set-ups in the next five years or so, by 2030. Hopefully that can be the case.
“One or two have done that already across the country, so we’re definitely getting there.”
Jackson, 36, is a cricket enthusiast Jamaican who came to England aged 17. He plays first-team cricket at Sheffield Caribbean as an all-rounder who plays the game in the style of Marlon Samuels.
Des Smith, chair of Sheffield Caribbean CC, won the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of Year Unsung Hero award. Here he is with Sheffield Caribbean product, the former England fast bowler, Devon Malcolm.
“I bowl off-spin and bat in the top order,” he continued.
“I was born in Jamaica, got introduced to the game over there, and as soon as I came over here to England I tried to find the nearest cricket club to get involved with. That was Sheffield Caribbean, and I’ve been there ever since. I love it.
“That’s where it all started for me, and I said, ‘I’m going to give coaching a go’. So I did my Level One coaching badge, did some coaching at the club, and then the ACE job came up. I got my Level Two a couple of years ago.
“When I first started hub sessions, a lot of these kids had never played the game. But this summer, a lot of them have progressed from softball to hardball.
“The Caribbean Sports Club where I am has a junior section, and I encourage a lot of the kids to go and play cricket there.
“That means not as many will come to my weekly sessions, but they will be going to Caribbean and play cricket on a regular basis. That helps with their development a lot, and that’s progress for us.
“Doing indoor sessions once a week can only get you so far. Playing and learning as you go in-game is massive.”
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Former England women’s international Ebony Rainford-Brent was the founder of the ACE Programme charity.
Jackson also praised the support given by Yorkshire CCC, the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation and also the Root Academy, which is based in Sheffield.
“Yorkshire as a club have helped us a lot with tickets for games, including the Hundred,” he added. “I’m a big believer that watching the game live is a huge thing for a player’s development. So that’s been a massive thing for us.
“We have a great relationship with the Root Academy and Nick Gaywood, who runs things there. We do some sessions together, and they’ve run a T20 tournament for the last two years.
“I will invite some of the cricketers across from Manchester, for example, to play, and four came across for the one they had in August.
“They’ve been a huge help, as have the Foundation.”
For more details about how to get involved with ACE in Sheffield, or for details of next month’s Open trial at Nottingham, contract Andre on [email protected]
