Hythe Cricket & Squash Club

Project Overview:

Hythe Cricket and Squash Club offers cricket, squash, football, golf and social events through the year. Squash sessions can be enjoyed through friendly games or more competitively in monthly leagues and annual club tournaments.  

The club joined the England Squash Stars initiative, a six-week programme delivered by clubs to introduce children aged 5-9 years to the game. The funding was used to deliver mini squash to local schools to encourage children to join the free taster sessions at the club. Promotional flyers were made and a dedicated Instagram account was set up for the club’s junior coaching sessions.   

Impact: 

• Provided the community with more opportunities to be active 

• Helped families be active together 

• Helped us develop new relationships and partner with other organisations 

• Helped us attract new participants and wider awareness from the local community 

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“We have worked very closely with local schools to keep the children active and inspire the next generation of players”.

Baz Hodson, Director

“We have also seen some parents take up the sport off the back of kids being involved in the game”.

Hythe Cricket & Squash Club Member

Key Learnings: 

Plan ahead:  Working with schools requires a lot of forward planning. Some schools may prefer sessions to take place during the school day whilst others prefer after school, be flexible to meet the needs of the school and students.  

Taster sessions: Taster sessions are a great way to introduce new participants to the sport. They’re a fantastic way to showcase what the club can offer the local community.  

Cost of Living: The increased cost of living has led to people changing their activity behaviour. Sport England have collated guidance on how organisations can adapt to get people active at a low cost.  

Next Steps: 

The club have now developed a dedicated young junior beginners’ group during school term time and continue to promote these via social media. They’re also creating more networks with local community groups to focus on increasing adult participation. 

To find out more please visit the Hythe Cricket and Squash website.