IT’S MOORE THE MERRIER!

JENNY MOORE is Staffordshire Cricket’s club and community development officer. Here she explains why the job isn’t just one for the summer...

‘YOU must be quiet in the winter?’ is one of the most common questions that I get asked when volunteers talk about the role that we play within the game.

In all honesty it couldn’t be further from the truth and this winter interest in the game has gone to another level.

Enthusiasm is high and from a much wider audience than I’ve seen in the 10 years that I’ve been involved.

Yes, Covid has probably played a part in the increased levels of activity with people wanting to get outdoors and socialise again, but there is a real appetite for the game and it’s lovely to see.

As we head quickly towards the start of the season, we go there having trained almost 150 new coaches during the winter months.

The new ECB Coach

Development courses have gone well with many courses sold out.

We need new volunteers in the game who are given the ideas, inspiration and encouragement to go out there and coach keen and lively children to love the game as much as we all do.

The women and girls game continues to thrive across Staffordshire with 50 clubs now having a women’s and/or girls’ section. With three-part time W&G’S officers in place across the county, we can ensure that we work closely with those clubs who need support as well as encouraging new ones to take the steps in starting a W&G section.

We recently ran six workshops which aimed to inspire those who wanted to get more involved, as well as giving more established clubs a few more ideas about how they could develop further.

Clubs continue to be at the very heart of the work that we do, and they will always be our main priority.

Regular phone calls, emails and face-to-face meetings with volunteers is at the forefront of the work we do and we’re there to help them with all areas of the game.

All clubs with a junior section have been tasked by the ECB with being a part of the new Safe Hands Management System which aims to ensure high safeguarding standards across the game.

The 72 Clubmarked clubs will also ensure that they meet the high standards required when running a successful junior section this season and we will work closely to help them with this.

And finally, the ECB national programmes, All Stars Cricket and Dynamos Cricket, continue to thrive with 68 clubs encouraging new children to join this year.

Sign-ups tipped over 1,500 in March and that will continue to grow as we head to May when it all begins again for the fifth year.