Founded by former Yorkshire and Northamptonshire seamer Moin Ashraf, the MACC Academy offers winter coaching programmes for young cricketers, both boys and girls, from across Yorkshire and beyond, allowing talented players already playing club and/or representative cricket to hone their skills and take the step to the next level.
While offering high quality coaching, along with fitness, tactical, and mindset training, one thing the MACC Academy prides itself on is breaking down financial barriers and giving opportunities to young players who otherwise would not be able to afford these kinds of sessions.
鈥淲e have a scholarship scheme for players from underprivileged backgrounds who wouldn鈥檛 be able to afford coaching normally,鈥� says Ashraf, MACC Academy鈥檚 director.
鈥淚t鈥檚 something that鈥檚 close to my heart because as a young player growing up I didn鈥檛 have access to private coaching or one-to-one coaching. I had extensive support from my family, but we couldn鈥檛 afford the luxuries of private coaching.
鈥淭hat really resonated with me, coming from inner-city Bradford. What I want to do with the scholarship scheme is to help those mini Moins out there and give them a platform to succeed as part of the Academy.鈥�
To qualify for a MACC Academy scholarship, players need to attend a state school and be aged 11-17. Other factors such as eligibility for free school meals and other forms of benefits are also taken into account, but Ashraf stresses that just because a player doesn鈥檛 receive free school meals does not mean that they are not in a position where they could benefit from financial help, also considering criteria such as how deprived their background is in accordance with the UK鈥檚 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
鈥淲e had 31 scholars last year and we鈥檙e hoping to double that figure this year,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e have 10- and 11-year-olds on scholarships as well as 16- and 17-year-olds. Boys and girls.
鈥淚n terms of the applicants, we advise people to apply from all over the county [Yorkshire] and even into Lancashire as we have Academies now in Oldham and Blackburn.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a wide range, not just solely West Yorkshire. We will be giving scholarships to players in Sheffield this year from the applicants that I have seen already. We鈥檙e making sure we give them to a wide demographic as well as a wide geographical area.鈥�
The MACC Academy has several success stories already under its belt, scholars and non-scholars (the latter of whom pay to be part of the programme), such as Subhaan Ali, who plays for Bradford League champions New Farnley and is part of the Emerging Players Programme at Yorkshire and recently represented the North in the 春梦直播 Super Fours regional U18 tournament at Loughborough.
There鈥檚 also Safi Abrah, who captained the North at the Bunbury Festival, Max Chaplin who recently helped Scotland qualify for the U19 World Cup and Lois George who represented Yorkshire鈥檚 U18 women鈥檚 side this year aged just 13.
As well as winter coaching, there are also playing and touring opportunities available as part of the MACC Academy, with their U18 side earlier this summer going on tour to Rotterdam and facing the likes of the Netherlands and Denmark as part of their U19 World Cup preparations.
鈥淚t was a really good experience for them to play against international opposition,鈥� Ashraf said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 beat the Netherlands but we did beat Denmark and they had a really good experience out there.
鈥淥ur U15s went to Barnard Castle and played against Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Bedfordshire and another academy called Invicta and the U13s went on tour to Taunton where they played against a few counties such as Derbyshire and Durham.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had those opportunities and are looking to evolve. Next year we鈥檙e going to put a player development programme in place where players can play against county and national sides as part of a summer development programme.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at having teams from U11s all the way through to U18s. 2026 is hopefully going to be a big year for us.鈥�
On September 29, the MACC Academy will be having a presentation evening at Headingley Stadium with Michael Vaughan as a guest speaker where they will be raising funds for both the scholarship scheme as well the National Autistic Society.
If you want to get involved or find out more about the MACC Academy, or enquire about if there are any tickets left for their fund raising and presentation evening, contact info@themaccacademy.com.