Junior Newsletter
April 4, 2010
To all junior boys, girls and parents,
The new season is almost upon us and after a busy winter schedule we are preparing for probably our busiest summer ever, with over 100 competitive junior fixtures to play, plus Kwik cricket and girls matches.
This newsletter will give you information about the coming summer, outline our successful player pathways from the youngest beginner through to adult and representative cricket, inform you about the continuing development of the club and ground, and set the scene for the social calendar.
REGISTRATION NIGHT
Registration night for all age groups is on Friday 23rd April from 6 pm. The bar will be open and a BBQ available weather permitting. While this will not be a full coaching session, cricket activities will be put on for juniors, and you are invited to spend the evening at the ground.
The first Friday night coaching will be on 30th April and Tuesday nights starting on 27th April.
From a junior perspective, 2009 saw the move of younger groups training to Friday nights, and we believe it was both a cricketing and social success. It is fair to say that we were surprised by the immediate popularity of the Friday ‘club night’, but I hope you will agree your coaching team reacted quickly to this challenge and effectively reorganised the coaching groups. For the coming season we have moved our U12 players to Tuesday nights, where they will train with the U13s & U14s.
Newsline . . . For safety and logistical reasons we must introduce a lower age limit of 5+ (year 1 school). This is due to pressure on our available parent helpers, qualified coaches and space on the cricket field.
Newsline . . . As soon as practicable we have responded to the unusually large number of U10s playing hard ball cricket that were not getting matches last summer, by entering a second team now at U11 age group for this coming season in the league.
2009 was a special year with the under 10s winning their league, success at Kwik and girls cricket, and a large group of juniors enjoying the unique experience of acting as mascots at Trent Bridge for the World Twenty20 cup match between South Africa and Pakistan.
Call for parent helpers
We are very much in need of committed parent volunteers to assist in supervising our 5–8 year olds, so that our ECB Level 1 and 2 qualified coaches can concentrate on Kwik, pre hard ball and hard ball core cricket skills. This assistance is the introduction to the enjoyment of cricket and requires no prior technical knowledge. In recent years, one or two parent helpers have continued from the early years supervision through to formal ECB training following their children through the age groups. With this assistance we can provide a structured coaching pathway through to hardball cricket, so that your child’s development receives the best attention we can provide. Please contact either Dave White or Rosemary Dove if you are willing to join us even if it is only on an adhoc basis, in what is a very enjoyable experience in early cricket skills.
PLAYER PATHWAYS
Our group reorganisation on Friday nights includes a player pathway from FUNDAMENTALS introduction to cricket for children below 8 to U11 (junior school) level hard ball coaching.
For the last 2 seasons Plumtree 1st XI has played in the Nottinghamshire Premier League, thereby being one of the 12 best teams in the County. The 2nd XI were promoted to Division B of the South Nottinghamshire League last year, and are therefore playing at a level which only a handful of second teams are playing at across the County.
While these achievements are a result of great effort within the adult section of the club they are actually rooted within the success of the junior section over the years.
Of all clubs in the County there can be few, if any, where young players get such good opportunities to progress into adult cricket like they can at Plumtree; it is clubs with strong junior sections who feed into adult teams which can thrive and develop. Cricket is competing with lots of other activities for attention, and our clubs strength lies in the ability to develop talented juniors to a level where they can step into adult cricket and participate to the full. We do not play young players to make up the numbers!
Our U13s play Saturday 3rd XI in the village league, and Sunday teams are provided where youth development continues and where we look to provide focused development into senior cricket and the longer forms of the game.
On Friday nights the player pathway from beginner, through Kwik cricket to hard ball teams is clear to see, and this continues through the older age groups and into adult cricket from 13 onwards for the most capable players. Generally we seek to place juniors with players of their own year group, but are ready to promote where players need stretching.
The pathway at Plumtree does go beyond the club into representative cricket. As a club we are proud of the number of players we have had selected for Nottinghamshire County age group teams ,and we are particularly pleased that this winter Ewan Marks and Albert Carter in under 11s and under 10s respectively have added to that tally. Good luck to them in the coming season. We currently have Declan Marks in the County under 14s, Bobby Gamble and Chris Kerrison in under 15s, Ross Carnelly in Lincs under 15s, and at various stages we have had 5 of our current under 16s and 17s boys in their County age group sides.
Our girls are also achieving with Katy Howie in the U15’s County, Amy Brook and Anya Barnes in the U13 Country training squad, and Zara Barnes in the U12 Zonal.
The pathway then goes beyond county to regional cricket where Ben Milnes and Bobby Gamble have represented the Midlands in an annual national tournament in Taunton. Ben was the clubs first player into the Nottinghamshire Academy which is the transfer from the recreational side of the County into the professional side, and last Autumn Bobby was also awarded a place being the youngest current member. This shows that players who started out playing in our youngest group in front of the pavilion at Plumtree can progress to the verge of the professional game. All the players who have represented the County would confirm that the key to their success has been their experience at Plumtree and the love of the game they developed here.
We are delighted to say that our Sub County, County age group and Academy young cricketers, without obligation, join our coaching team to add their growing expertise, and critically they act as role models to younger players in the club.
We have also had numerous players play representative cricket at Sub County, District and League representative team levels, which again gives them a broader upbringing in the game, and importantly helps them grow as individuals.
Obviously while the pathways exist, all players will progress at different rates and will find their own levels. It is our intention that all juniors will enjoy their sessions at the club, and will benefit from the opportunities provided to them in terms of coaching or matches to develop as cricketers and people.
Newsline . . . In this newsletter you will see that the club is committed to junior cricket and continues to invest time and funding in improving our offer. However, we are mindful that we are located where there are a number of other clubs within 10–15 minutes drive offering junior cricket, and we wish to ensure that our investment in our juniors is retained for the benefit of the club. The league we play in does not allow juniors to play for 2 different clubs in the same age group league, and it is our view that any player registered with Plumtree should not play for any other club at a different age group either, and this is the policy we will be adopting this season. By registering with us, it is therefore expected that juniors will be confirming that they will commit to train and play their junior cricket at our club. Clearly after registering should any player feel that they are not satisfied with any aspect of being a Plumtree member and wishes to move during the season to another club, we will be happy to deregister them to allow that to happen.
COACHING PATHWAYS
Over the winter, the club have continued to widen our coaching base with more candidates passing through coaching awards. Notably, we have Jim Rayner for taking ECB Club Coach Award, who is coaching U14 Sub County players as well as coaching at Plumtree. This will benefit all our juniors, and will have a wider benefit in helping our other coaches who can learn from Jim’s knowledge. We now boast several ECB level 1 and level 2 coaches in Plumtree CC, and treat coach development seriously as part of Plumtree’s continual development. Any person interested in joining our coaching team can talk to any of our coaches for advice and current information, and then contact Tracey Prosser for course applications.
The club has also benefitted over the winter with Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell coaching our junior players, and Nottinghamshire professional player Matt Wood coaching our youth players at senior nets.
As well as coaching at the club, we also venture into local schools with Rosemary Dove running successful after school programmes at South Wolds, Crossdale and Tollerton.
CLUB DEVELOPMENT
Plumtree CC is the first and so far only Cricket Club in Nottinghamshire to be reaccredited with CLUBMARK status. This accreditation means that the club is recognised by the ECB and Nottinghamshire County Cricket board in striving for excellence at all levels of club development.
Newsline . . . Plumtree CC strives towards continuous improvement, and as ever, this winter the main Committee and junior sections have been working towards improving the experience of our members and visitors. The club continues to invest both on the ground and pavilion, with our new nets having been the last large investment, which have provided an excellent facility for juniors and adults. Focus is now turning to the pavilion with changes ongoing in the club room where you will see a large screen TV this season for World Cup and other screenings.
Through the months of May, June and July Plumtree cricket field will be in virtually constant use, so let’s hope for the BBQ summer we were promised last year. We are very lucky to be able to play in such beautiful surroundings, and for the juniors teams be able to play on grass pitches on the main square. We are thankful to Dick Fowkes, our groundsman, for looking after the square so well to enable the volume of games to be played.
SOCIAL CALENDAR
As ever the club will be running a diary of social events, and all are asked to consult the club website for details as the season progresses, www.plumtreecc.co.uk.
It was great to see so many parents and helpers with junior links at the recent Dinner, which was a terrific success, and your continued support for events and the club is appreciated.
Immediate dates for your diary are:
16th April Meet the Pro evening and curry (for juniors playing
in senior cricket)
23rd April Junior registration evening
7th June PCC Golf day
Benters bar will be open on all Friday evenings with BBQ catering as last year. Please come along and enjoy a wind down to the weekend with good company, beautiful surroundings and quality refreshments.
TEAMS AND MANAGERS 2010
Teams to compete in the NYCL in 2010 with managers are as follows:
U10s Ken Carter
U11s A Neil Gamble
U11s B Dave Johnson
U12s Matt Dring/Nick Palmer (pairs and 11 a side)
U13s Ken Carter/Phil McDonald
U14s Jim Rayner/Tracey Prosser
U15s Dave White/Mark Milnes
U15s Girls Rosemary Dove/Sue Cuttle and Jim Rayner
Additional cricket
Kwik (boys) 2 teams to be run by Debbie Rayner, Russell Tuffin and parent helpers
Kwik (girls) 1 team to be run by Rosemary Dove and parent helpers
PRACTICE NIGHTS
Under 11s and younger – Friday nights
Under 12s, 13s, 14s – Tuesday nights
Under 15s and above – with adults on Wednesday nights.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Membership – £15
Match tax/training subs – £2
Looking forward to a great season’s cricket.
From the Junior Committee
March 2010.
