Wisborough Green Cricket Development Plan:

2011- 2014

 Background

 During the last few years Wisborough Green Cricket Club, has developed into an excellent all round cricket club attracting senior players and colts alike.

 However, this has taken a lot of work from the cricket committee, as the senior cricket section did not have enough players to sustain 2 quality cricket teams. We had an excellent colts section, but the oldest colt section was under 12, and these players were too young to play senior league cricket. The 1st X1 were subsequently relegated to division 2 of the West Sussex Invitation league.

The following season, we managed to recruit a few players, and gained immediate promotion back to Division 1. The older colts managed to play in the 2nd X1 senior teams, and we were building a good structure from within the Club. The 2nd X1 accepted that as the colts were still quite young, we may not gain promotion from division 7, however it would be valuable experience for the young colts.

In 2011 season, we now have 2 under 16’s playing 1st x1 senior cricket, and numerous under 16’s and under 14’s playing 2nd X1 senior cricket, and the club is now in a good long term sustainable position, with colts emerging, every season.

The colts sections now have 6 teams from under 8, to under 16 and are coached by registered coaches, with level 1-2 qualifications. During the week and and Friday evenings, the number of colts attending practice exceeds 120

Junior Cricket;

Wisborough Green cricket club – junior selection development plan

History

A junior section at Wisborough Green has existed on and off for the last 20 years or so – usually around a single age group and a group of parents. Indeed some of the current crop of senior players has represented the club at junior level in the past. However about 6 years ago Wisborough Green only had a representative at u16 level and there was no other colt’s activity – an indication of keen Dad syndrome.

Six years ago, another couple of keen Dad’s started an under 9 team. From this humble beginning and through the involvement and commitment of the chairmen, links to other local clubs, and engagement with local schools this has developed and now we have 142 registered juniors (with an estimated 12 -15 still to be registered) . The majority of these are in the U6 to U12 group.

This influx of children and parents on a Friday evening and on junior match days is fantastic for the club, provides necessary income for the Sports Association over the bar, and for the cricket club through barbeques and social events. It has the potential to put the club at the heart of village life and create a vibrant sporting and social community. It is important we therefore build a robust and sustainable structure.

The Vision for the junior section


  • To create a vibrant junior section with enjoyment of, and participation in cricket at its heart. Through this to engage with parents to support the development of the club both in terms of participation and support of cricketing activities as well as support of social events and with club fund raising and sponsorship
  • To build an infrastructure that allows competitive cricket to be played by all age groups
  • To provide a ladder of progression that allows players to develop to their level by embracing both Northern Knights and Sussex structures as well other local clubs


  • To support the integration of juniors into senior cricket within the club, in either the Sunday, midweek or Saturday league teams
  • To create a junior section that becomes known for providing a fun and stimulating cricketing experience
  • To link with local primary and secondary schools
 

Our goal is to develop a junior section of 150 -180 juniors who are playing cricket at least once a week, where we measure success across a number of parameters


  •  
    1. Enjoyment – as measured by parent and children feedback
    2. Involvement – as measured by participation in competitive and friendly matches as well as participation at practice
    3. Development –as measured by success in terms of representative honours at age group level
    4. Development – as measured by participation in senior cricket


                   5.    Standard of coaching – as measured numbers of coaches, grades of coaches and support from outside coaches

 

Challenges

 
  • Wisborough Green cricket club has a glorious position on the village green at the heart of the village, however space is limited and does not allow for more than 2 junior matches over a weekend. We have 2 nets and the ground and facilities will need upgrading to allow juniors greater access to cricket and to be able to allow full participation in matches and training events
  • We would like to establish teams at every level from u8 to U16 – currently we only have teams at u10,u12,u14,u15 and u16 levels
    •  

  • Wisborough Green has a small senior playing section and therefore those who are skilled in cricket, and who could offer support in terms of coaching, coaching support, team management etc are limited
  • We want the coaching and engagement of young players to be of the highest order from the earliest using sources from inside and outside of the club to ensure quality of coaching. Currently we have 8 Grade 1 coaches spread across the age groups but this number needs to be increased, and the skill levels of coaching needs also to be increased.
  • We want to create a development pathway for the better players as they progress and through this allow them to play the highest level of cricket they wish to. Amongst those who have participated in the current U15 squad over the last 5 years (ie from U10 –U15);


    • 2 Players play for Sussex U15 and now represent the club first team
    • A further 3 players have represented Northern Knights
    • We are in discussion with Horsham regarding integration into the senior playing section of this club in the future
    • We have set up a relationship with East Melbourne Cricket Club in Australia which means in the future we can offer our players to them as overseas players (currently we have our overseas player from this club)
  • We need to ensure that all abilities are catered for and all those that participate enjoy their cricket – and this needs to be at the heart of all we do
  • We need to establish the best way to manage and include the increasing number of girls who are now members of the club. Should we develop a girl’s teams or just integrate both sexes in the same teams.
 

The 3 year plan Development of improved playing facilities We need to expand our playing area and two options exist – firstly to seek the support of other local cricket clubs eg Loxwood, Plaistow or Alfold; and secondly to expand playing areas within the village.

Currently we have been offered use of a field which is within walking distance of the green, has a “shed” with running water and electricity and is approximately 5 acres. We are hoping to use this to develop at least two cricket pitches and nets that can be used by the whole club.

Development of coaching infrastructure This is a four pronged approach.   

   To ensure coaches of each age group are trained to Grade 2 level (9 required). Alongside this we need to develop 10 –  15  Grade 1 coaches. This is a major emphasis over the next 2 years

 To engage the senior colts and first and second team players to participate in helpers at coaching sessions to allow small group practice to take place. This was introduced in 2011 and we have 7 U16s who come and give support (4 as part of Duke of Edinburgh Award). There is an offer for any of these teenagers to take coaching qualifications at the end of this season providing they agree to stay on to help for at least I year post the qualification. We also are lucky to have at least 8 first and second team players at each session who also allow us to break down age group coaching into small groups and again who are targeted for coaching qualifications if they wish to be involved

 To “capture” keen parents and allow them to help out and integrate them into coaching structure

  To ensure there is a link with county coaching and hold special events where these coaches deliver training sessions in the club.

Development of team management support

We need to identify and cultivate parents who are willing to give up time to support all the teams we wish to have Ideally we are looking for a manager, umpire, scorer and ground organiser for each team. This is essential in order for teams to run smoothly

Senior Cricket;

Cricket Objectives;

Sat 1st X1: Achieve top 3 finish, with 9 wins. To gain promotion to County league Division 3 as soon as possible, but ideally within 3 years.

Ensure there is a strong element of the teams attending practice on Tuesday evenings.

Sat 2nd X1: To gain promotion in 2011 season. Increase playing membership of the senior cricket, through networking Colts parents, and senior colts.

Sunday 1st X1: Support players  who are out of form by giving them as much game opportunities.

Give as many colts an opportunity in men's cricket and then into league cricket.

Try to win more games than we loose but by involving every member of the team.

Increase the number of part time players

  Sponsors:

To increase the number of sponsors, from 4 to 10 within 2 years. Therefore creating in excess of £2500 per year.

This will create additional cash flow needed to achieve better facilities.

Sunday Cricket:

Sunday friendly cricket should be used by players who need extra practice, and younger players wishing to emerge into senior cricket.

The fixtures will be graded as per the quality of the opposition. The team will be selected as per the grade applied.

Umpires:

We have sent our 2 umpires onto recognised ECB coaching courses, to improve their ability and understanding of umpiring.



Website

We have now set up a web site to increase the clubs communications. www.wisboroughgreencc.co.uk This acts as an excellent publicity tool for the Club and Village, and fixtures, stats, and reports are now available for all to see.

We are looking into other social communication tools, such as face book, and twitter, to expand our circulation to the young members.

Facilities:

There is a definite need to increase our clubs nets and practice facilities. The first stage of this is to attract Club Mark accreditation. From this we will approach various funding/grant organisations to asses how we can upgrade our facilities.

Current Kit:

We now have a Club kit set up, with all groups and ages wearing the same shirts, caps and pullovers. The shirts bear the name of the sponsors, and are sold by the Club, as a non profit item.

We like to recognise all achievements, and have a Club dinner at the end of the season. As part of our club development, we have decided to change to dinner from an all male event, to an end of season party, involving the older colts, wives, girlfriends, with a large award ceremony. We feel that the whole club should celebrate together.

Affiliation with Horsham Cricket Club. We have set up an affiliation with premier league Club Horsham. The idea of this affiliation is to ensure our better young cricketers who have a chance of playing cricket professionally, have an opportunity to play for a premier league club, when the time is right for them.

We will working closely with Horsham to ensure the development structure and future of our young players is assured.

Conclusion:

Wisborough Green Cricket Club, has an excellent future through substantial time and effort spent with the colts, and a sound structure for senior cricket.

We have an wonderful village location and one of the most picturesque grounds in the Country. We have a very proactive committee, who are looking at every opportunity to improve the Club, and the opportunities to play, and enjoy cricket at Wisborough Green.