| Name of research project |
| Walking Cricket |
| What is the project? |
| Under the banner of Cities Changing Diabetes, Leicestershire County Cricket Club (LCCC), along with the Leicester Diabetes Centre, Leicester City Council and the other community outreach arms of Leicester’s professional sports clubs signed a Diabetes Pledge.
By signing the document, LCCC showed its commitment to improving the city’s health by ensuring its health and wellbeing programmes were accessible, inclusive and tailored where possible. Walking sports are a slower paced version of popular sports, and are not new to Leicester. Leicester City in the Community have had great success with walking football to attract lovers of the game who may not be able to participate in regular football. Working alongside Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Walking Cricket was identified as a possible means to encourage physical activity and increase wellbeing amongst those aged over 50 and to engage black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities to take part due to the sport’s popularity in South Asia. The interactive 1.5 hour weekly sessions are delivered by a qualified coach from the cricket club and, working alongside the Centre for BME Health, the initiative was promoted and participants recruited. Walking Cricket has subsequently proved successful at engaging older South Asian men who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, or who are already living with type 2 diabetes. |
| What is the aim? |
| There is evidence to suggest that South Asians are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Low levels of physical activity is a risk factor for increased body weight and in turn increases the risk of type 2 diabetes further.
Walking Cricket aims to bring together older adults to an organised session of cricket where they can socialise and get more active through a team-based sport. |
| Who is involved? |
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| What are the benefits? |
| Research has shown that making small lifestyle changes for the better, such as increasing physical activity, can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. For those who have already been diagnosed making small changes to lifestyle could also help them to better manage their condition.
Walking Cricket has proved successful at engaging older South Asian men who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, or who are already living with the condition. Some participants reported that due to group exercise they no-longer felt isolated and attending the sessions gave them more confidence to be physically active elsewhere. They also said taking part had made them more determined to continue with a healthier lifestyle. |
| Contact |
| Sunny Rohit |
| Useful links |
| Cities Changing Diabetes |