Sheffield teenager wins national cricket award

Zoeya Ahmed won at the national Chance to Shine Awards after helping young people in Sheffield at a street cricket session.

Most of the players at the project are from South-Asian backgrounds and are girls and Zoeya was described a brilliant role model for them.

Now studying to be a medic, she credits what she learnt in cricket as helping her in her career and still finds time to come back to Sheffield at weekends to help with the cricket coaching when she can.

Zoeya was recognised during an awards evening hosted by BBC’s Aatif Nawaz at Lord’s Cricket Ground and received her award from Chance to Shine trustee, Ebony Rainford-Brent.

The judging panel were impressed by Zoeya’s desire to support the younger participants at the Sheffield project.

Following the ease in restrictions after lockdown, Zoeya played a key role in supporting the return of the project, ensuring that sessions had a particular focus on physical activity in reflection of parent’s concerns about their children’s fitness levels.

“Seeing the smiles on the little kids faces has really helped me grow as a person. It’s made me more open and being able to help them has made me feel a sense of worth,” said Zoeya.

"I’d like to see more kids coming through those doors, train them up and hopefully see them go on to play cricket for the county and national teams.”