KTN Age Innovators - Episode 3: The Medicine of Cricket

Innovate UK

Episode 3 — The Medicine of Cricket

Can sport break down the barriers around ethnicity, age, and gender? In this, the third episode of Age Innovators, host Helen Crampin, Innovation and Technology Lead from the Innovate UK Healthy Ageing Challenge, talks to Alosh K Jose, co-founder and CEO of Newcastle-based Cricketqube, to explore this question and more.

Cricketqube is an evidence- and data-backed Community Interest Company. The company’s aim is to make cricket accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Founders Anish John— a former international indoor cricketer who has represented India at the senior level—and former schools cricketer, Alosh K Jose, identified that the older South Asian members of their local community in Newcastle lacked access to accessible—and affordable–activities that could maintain and increase their health and fitness.

“When there is a financial crisis, paying for physical activity is one of the first things to be cut. The South Asian community in the UK, especially Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, have the lowest median income across any ethnic group in the UK, so paying for activities is out of the question.” - Alosh K Jose, co-founder and CEO of Cricketqube

With their understanding of the different cultural nuances, religious sentiments, and connections within the wider South Asian community, Cricketqube has tailored an innovative programme that’s successfully encouraging their target audience to participate in games of cricket as a way to stay fit and well.

“I wanted to democratise access to cricket and make sure anyone who wants to can play, whether they’ve got access to a club or don’t have the hundreds of pounds you need to buy the kit.” - Alosh K Jose, co-founder and CEO of Cricketqube

• Discover how Alosh and Anish’s approach has managed to change people’s perceptions and behaviours within the South Asian community.
• Listen to how they’ve nurtured a growing community space where people of all ages and from all religions and subcultures are sharing skills, sharing food, and making new friends and connections.
• And learn how evidence and data from the project and its resulting collaborations are driving new and similar projects—including the development of an app—to ensure exercise and activity is accessible and available to minority communities across the UK.

Click here to download the episode transcript.