COVERED 2024 Spring

29 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR ALL THE LATEST: TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK/MAILINGLIST ACE PROGRAMME There is plenty more to be said as we pull up in the school car park – in particular his work with the Marylebone Cricket Club Foundation (MCCF) Hub, based at Nottingham High School, where he has been coach and manager for nearly eight years and has 115 young boys signed up for 2024. The MCCF programme helps to give young people from state schools, low-income families or inner-city areas access to high quality coaching, training facilities, equipment and kit when they would otherwise have none. It is an initiative which shares many parallels with the work done by ACE. Moments after setting up in the sports hall, students file in and make a dash to the equipment. “You know what kids are like when they play cricket; they only ever really want to bat or bowl,” Patrick laughs. The regular attendees need no encour- agement to get started, with three or four bowlers lining up against the back “THE REALITY IS WE ARE ONLY AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THIS PROJECT. IN NOTTINGHAM WE HAVE ONLY HAD 12 MONTHS, BUT WE WILL REQUIRE YEARS TO SEE THE PROGRAMME’S POTENTIAL COME TO THE SURFACE.” Patrick Gada