Super Stars visit local schools
Local primary schools had two special visitors last week, Melbourne Stars players Tess Flintoff and Nicole Faltum.
The pair of cricket players visited a number of schools, including Trafalgar Primary School, Yarragon Primary School and Drouin Primary School on Tuesday and Wednesday.
They ran workshops with the students in each school, teaching them about the game they know and love.
Kids were taught to throw balls and encouraged to join in with fun games that had them working together in teams.
The trip was extra special for Faltum, who grew up in Moe and attended Trafalgar High School and Trafalgar Primary School, and played cricket for Trafalgar Cricket Club.
Twenty-two-year-old Faltum is a wicketkeeper and batter and has played 53 matches for the Stars. She has a strike rate of 93.28, and an average batting rate of 7.40.
Flintoff, 19, grew up in Wantirna South. She has played both football and cricket and has a batting strike rate of 99.22. Flintoff has scored 22 wickets in her time with the Stars.
Faltum said one of her favourite parts of running the workshops is explaining how fast Flintoff bowls.
"You say 115, 120 kilometres per hour at the start and the kids look at you and they've got absolutely no idea how fast that is."
"And then finally you explain it, it's just a little bit faster than what you go on the freeway, and their jaws literally just drop," she said.
"It's very, very cute."
The Melbourne Stars players have split up into groups of five to run the workshops. They are currently spread across Victoria.
Faltum said her group has been operating in areas from Drouin to Orbost.
Flintoff said one of her favourite moments was earlier in the week when a young girl at a primary school approached the pair and told them "how keen she was to get into cricket." Faltum agreed.
"For the little girls sitting and participating in cricket, for them to see two role models that are females standing in front of them - I think it's a pretty cool thing," she said.
"To visit some of my local schools and especially my primary school this morning was really, really cool."
At the moment, the Stars are gearing up for the Big Bash, which they haven't been able to do in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic.
"We haven't played Big Bash for two seasons so it's been over 1000 days," Faltam said.
This season they are set to play two games a Ted Summerton Reserve in Moe. The matches are scheduled for Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20. On Saturday the team will play the Perth Scorchers, and on Sunday they will face up against Brisbane Heat.