Enhancing the lives of disabled and disadvantaged youth through sport

Building on the wonderful platform established by Lord’s Taverners 75 years ago, in less than a decade, Lord’s Taverners South Africa (LTSA) has forged its own path of enhancing the lives of hundreds of disabled and disadvantaged youth through sport.

Sport is vital for disabled individuals as it provides crucial physical and mental health benefits, including improved stamina, strength, and reduced risk of certain diseases. Beyond health, sport fosters significant social development by creating opportunities for teamwork, confidence, a sense of belonging, and positive social interactions. It also empowers disabled individuals, helping them to realise their potential, gain independence, and challenge societal stigma by participating and interacting with others in a positive context. 

Though much loved by South Africans, accessing and playing cricket presents several challenges for disabled and disadvantaged youth. Lord’s Taverners South Africa has developed innovative solutions to some of these challenges.

The most innovative of these is the development and roll-out of the brilliant game of table cricket. Table cricket is an adapted version of cricket played on a table tennis table and specially designed to give young people with a disability the chance to play and compete in the sport we love.

Proteas cricket star and Spirit Community Foundation General Manager, Steve Palframan, explains how it works.

“This is a very strategic game! There are different scoring zones around the table, and just like in regular cricket, fielders have to be carefully positioned to prevent runs or to get the batter out.

Teams of six take it in turn to bowl or bat, with the bowler using a ramp to deliver the ball (either a regular ball that runs true or a weighted one that swings around). The batter scores by hitting the ball into the scoring zones, avoiding the fielders if they can!”

Steve adds,

“Cricket has been a major part of my life, and in particular representing my country at the highest level, but I can honestly say that the impact LTSA table cricket has on our young disabled players is nothing short of miraculous.”

LTSA Founder and Chairman, Ian Kilbride, comments,

“I come from a sporting family, with my father representing England at national level and I too played competitive sport. So, what I really wanted in establishing LTSA was to provide the opportunity for disabled and disadvantaged youth to experience the joy and fulfilment of playing cricket in an adapted format.”

Alongside the enjoyment of playing the game and competing, table cricket has been shown to develop teamwork and social skills among players. It also helps coordination and cognitive skills.

The game is played by young people with both learning and physical disabilities. It enables young people to understand tactics, draw the best out of team players and to build a social life. For the young volunteers involved in coaching and umpiring, table cricket helps to develop self-confidence, leadership skills and enhances their future employment prospects.

We have now established a LTSA table cricket league and along with the sheer joy of playing the game, our teams are proving every bit as competitive as the Proteas!

If you’d like to know more about Lord’s Taverners South Africa and support our work, please visit our website: https://lordstaverners.org.za/