Event - Big Birmingham Bikes

25 November 2016

Written by Haris, this report summaries what a great afternoon Year 6 had with the Big Birmingham Bikes team:

The company Big Birmingham bikes came to school to class 6US. They came because they wanted to see how well children could by taking the role of an adult. This is how they did it, the children were told on Friday that some adults would come to learn how to ride a bike and the children had to teach them how to do it.

Before they had to teach adults, they still needed some practise, so what happened was the people that worked at Big Birmingham bikes (Keeth, Keeth, Sandash and Sue) came on Tuesday so they could practise with each other. The people who knew how to ride a bike needed to teach the people that didn't know how to ride one as if they were adults. Firstly, they started to scoot with two legs at the same time. A little while after, they were scooting in a different way and it looked like they were walking while sitting on a bike. Whatever they did, they took long strides.

When it was a Friday, it was the childrens chance to teach the adults how to ride a bicycle. 12 adults came and there were 16 bicycles, also there was a press officer to take some photos of children and adults. Most of the adults didn't know how to ride a bike. Normally, it would take about a week to learn how to ride a bike, but for the adults it only took about two hours. At the end of the day, everyone was given a certificate for teaching people how to ride a bicycle so well.

Both children and adults had fun on Friday and they were very proud of themselves for doing good things.

Report by Haris Mahmood, 6US

Ateeq – who has recently been appointed as a Community Ambassador for the club – took a school assembly as part of the Warwickshire Cricket Board's Chance to Shine programme, where he gave children an insight to cricket and presented each one with a plastic bat to continue playing the game.

Speaking at the event, Ateeq said: "I'm keen to spend as much time as possible with the Warwickshire Cricket Board and our community team this winter to help grow the game across the county, and use my experience to support young cricketers."

Ateeq (25) first played cricket at Prince Albert Primary School in Aston, where he got to work with Warwickshire Cricket Board coaches and join the club's Development of Excellence programme at under 10s level. He progressed through the county age group teams during his time with Aston Manor Secondary School and into the club academy, before making his senior team debut aged 17.

"Cricket helped me appreciate what it's like to be part of a team and playing the game was all that I wanted to do as a youngster," he said. "There are lots of opportunities for youngsters to get involved and hopefully today's assembly will encourage many of these Clifton Primary School children to get involved in the game, not just at school but by joining clubs and other Warwickshire Cricket Board programmes."

The Warwickshire Cricket Board's Chance to Shine programme is open to primary and secondary schools across the region, who can receive coaching sessions and entry to cricket festivals through linking with a club; in this case Moseley Ashfield CC.

Robin Simpson, Schools Games Organiser at Clifton Primary School, said: "Ateeq's journey into the professional game is a great story that many of the children here today could relate to. We're very keen to give Clifton Primary School children the best possible opportunity to experience play sport and experience the many different skills that cricket presents. We're very grateful to Ateeq and the Warwickshire Cricket Board for providing such a fantastic session for the school."

The children enjoying teaching adults how to ride a bike.

Year 6 children supporting each other with their balance.