Youth Coordinator Tony Wake Looks At The 2010 Youth Season
Article Date: 18th October 2010
And let us start with some facts.
- This year, there were 135 registered youth players
- There are 16 coaches with a large number of parent/ helpers running 7 teams ranging from the Under 17s to the U7s, U8s & U9s.
- And by my reckoning there have been over 50 pitches prepared for our home games
So can I please start my presentation with huge thanks to Lisa Graham for her organisation of us coaches and also to Steve and Tom Febry for their hard work as Groundsmen.
I would also like to thank the other shrinking violets that help make the youth section run. So can you please put your hands together again for Sue Febry, to Tony Brown and to all the other parents and helpers who are the unsung heroes who give us their time and energies in umpiring, scoring, supporting and generally ensuring that Chipping Sodbury have a youth section to be proud of.
This represents a huge investment BY the club as well as being a huge investment FOR the club (as well as a huge revenue stream and so should not be underestimated or ignored).
So how has the season gone for the various teams?
Under 7s/8s/9s (Lisa Graham / Raj Mistry / Richard Sayer)
Under 9's had a very good season, with 34 players split between 3 age groups (U9's, U8's & U7's).
In total, 8 games were played; 2 teams entered in the Kwick Cricket tournament, ensuring that all the children played in some sort of competitive cricket, where the players showed lots of good team spirit and the behaviour was very impressive throughout the season.
During the season, some of our senior youth ran the Bronze/Silver/Gold Skill Award scheme, which again were well received by the children
The other awards that worked really well again this year were the Weekly Achievement medals that were received by a number of children, again emphasising the importance of enjoyment as well as recognition.
Under 11Bs (Malcolm Doody / Simon Cox / Jerry Swatton)
The U10s have trained hard all season. This was done with good spirits despite only winning two of the 11 matches played this season. They were consistently outclassed by the opposition, often, but not always, teams that were a whole year older and more experienced than our lads.
Even so, there were some excellent individual performances with both with the bat and the ball:
Names for the future with the bat are Dan Whittaker, Lucas Lingham, Jake Templeton, Ravi Mistry and James Robinson.
On the bowling side, good performances came from Cain Smith, Ravi Mistry and James Robinson and Dan Whittaker.
And for the records …U10 Spirit of Cricket: Sam King with U10 Player of the Year: Joe Sands
Under 11As (Jerry Ross)
There has been a great deal of progress made by all the players this year, as they focused on structured batting, bowling in the right areas, improving the overall standard of fielding, and establishing natural leaders … whilst striving to keep training interesting with lots of fun and laughter, but still with a focus on winning.
Team stats:
Matches; League won 5. Lost 2. Cup lost 1. [Came back and hammered them in the league]
5 players were chosen for district/county trials .
3 players were picked for BYCL rep match unfortunately the game was cancelled.
Under 13 (Mark Graham)
A successful season for the under 13s, with a number of the boys from our squad of 23, showing signs of being ready to play the longer form cricket, and make the jump to adult cricket next year.
The squad played 17 matches this season with the best performing players selected for competitive BYCL fixtures, and opportunities for other players provided through an extensive number of development games.
Team stats: League matches; won 5. Lost 2. finishing 3rd in their BYCL division
They also played 2 longer form games (40 overs) to examine this form of cricket for the U13s - these games proved a big success
Under 15 Blue (Craig Hambly)
The boys had a fantastic league season losing only 1 game and winning 5. They lost the least number of games out of all the CS youth teams. This was a great achievement considering all the boys were 14 years old.
There were some noticeable performances from Tom Makepeace with 2 fifties and Mat Bethell who took 9 wickets in his 1st 3 games. All the players contributed to a great season and they were ably led by Adam Febry.
Player of the Year: Adam Febry Sprit of Cricket: Dan Brown
Under 15 Gold (Neil Philpott / Mary Makepeace)
At last - after several seasons of finishing second, we have a winning team.
Well done to the U15s for winning the Urban Windows K.O.Cup, beating Old Bristolians in the final.
A fantastic season, with all players playing their part, and also all contributing to adult cricket, with 3 players (Chris Willoughby, Mason Poole & Will Christophi) making appearances for the 1st team.
Player of the Year: Chris Willoughby Sprit of Cricket: Jack Philpott
Under 17s (Marian Davis / Tony Wake)
Another successful season, although just one win away from getting proper recognition in both cup and league. Played 9 games in total, winning 6, losing 3.
A lot of notable moments and performances from Nick Wake, Jack Townsend, Mason Poole, Tom Clay, Jamie Pearson, Aaron Morgan, Tom Brown and Chris Willoughby to name but a few … all of whom have also made important contributions to senior cricket as well, with Nick Wake and the U15s Chris Willoughby and Mason Poole all making appearances for the 1st team.
As for memorable moments …they won’t get any more memorable than the game against the Pucklechurch Young Offenders, played behind locked doors – not only for the good natured sledging (“hey, that beamer could have killed the batsman” … “so what – I’m in here for 10 years anyway, what’s 10 years more !”) , but also for putting life and life’s opportunities into perspective.
Player of the Year: Jim Davis Sprit of Cricket: Mackenzie Wimbow
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So that’s what has happened to the teams.
As for youth development in general, this year we have started to improve the level of coaching we can offer, so that we can be more than just a bunch of child minders who can co-ordinate a few coaching sessions. We, as a club, have invested in bringing in coaching expert in the guise of Andy Stovold to ‘coach the coaches’ and to look towards raising the bar in not only the quality of coaching, but also in improving the quality of the end result –the youth teams.
The other thing we have attempted this year is to start to introduce our youth to the ‘longer game’ – the 30 or 40 over format, allowing them to learn with their peers and not just from the odd adult game … sorry, that should read the occasional adult game, not games played with odd adults.
And this is where we as youth team coaches believe that Chipping Sodbury Cricket Club should look to invest next year.
We should continue with the investment in Andy Stovold to further improve the quality of our coaches
We should look to send more coaches for their level 1 and level 2 badges over the winter months.
We, as coaches, need to improve our coaching in order to improve our young cricketers
We need more focus on being able to deliver coaching with targets to the talented as well as having the resources to provide advanced coaching and bigger targets for the outstanding talents
And lastly, we propose that more and more emphasise is done on preparing youth for a adult cricket
To achieve this, we propose that we enter an Under13 youth team into a Sunday league to set them up for the longer game, whilst the U15’s & U17’s can continue to provide support for the adult cricket on Sunday.
So …. In summary ….
You have to admit that from a youth point of view, this has been another pretty fantastic season (and I would hope for another round of applause at this point) …. So well done to all the players and many thanks to all the coaches and parents who have supported the youth set up this season.
I think however, the most telling contribution from a Chipping Sodbury Cricket Club point of view is noting that many if not all of the names that have been talked about tonight have already represented the adult teams, with 4 having represented the Saturday 1st team in league and cup competitions.
And I guess, as a club, that is what youth development is all about.
I applaud all the boys for their efforts, and the commitment from the club in making this happen.
Yes, there will be difficulties in continuing to integrate all these up and coming players into senior cricket next year (and the club will need to seriously think about how to accommodate this bow wave of junior talent coming through) …. But what a great problem to have.
Thank you.
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