An educational charity has teamed up with Sussex County Cricket Club to create tailored courses for sixth formers in Brighton and Hove.
The Aldridge Foundation, which was set up by Portslade old boy Sir Rod Aldridge, aims to enable help promising cricketers to train without missing out on academic qualifications.
The foundation sponsors the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) in Falmer and the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) in Mile Oak.
It opened a cricket academy in April with the county club and the Sussex Cricket Board under the guidance of former Sussex and England player James Kirtley.
Adam Newman, a Level 3 England and Wales Cricket Board qualified head coach and Sussex Premier League player, leads the intensive cricket coaching programmes for boys and girls.
The coaching programme is integrated with A-level studies at the academy sixth forms.
The aim is to give students the chance to develop their sporting talent and academic qualifications together rather than having to choose between the two. It also avoids students having the stress of dealing with conflicting training and college work schedules.
Training programmes are individually tailored to suit the needs of every cricketer using techniques endorsed by Sussex CCC.
On the courses students receive up to 20 hours a week of academic teaching time, including sport theory and development, and at least 8 hours of cricket training.
Students can choose from a full range of arts and science A-level subjects to study alongside an A-level equivalent sports qualification, the cricket coaching and competitive matches.
The foundation hopes that the courses will appeal not only to students who want to play high level cricket.
They are also pitched at those aiming to build a career in cricket coaching, sports science, psychology, management or teaching after university.
The Sussex CCC cricket performance manager Keith Greenfield, a former player and Falmer pupil, said: “Talented young people should take advantage of the excellent opportunities provided by these sixth form courses.
“Through its partnership with Sussex County Cricket Club, the Aldridge Cricket Academy offers ambitious male and female players an unparalleled learning experience combining exceptional cricket training and state of the art facilities with academic study.”
Sir Rod Aldridge said: “We have big ambitions for our students.
“We want to give talented young players at state-funded schools the same opportunities as those in private education.
“Our aim is that boys and girls will go on from the programme to play representative cricket for Sussex and to aspire to reaching international standards in the game.”
The new courses start in September next year and students are now being enrolled.
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