One of the key requisites to growing women and girls’ cricket is to bring more female coaches into the game. Our recent Level 1 Foundation coaching course over two weekends in late February and early March was specifically targeted at increasing the number of female coaches in the West Midlands. Twelve of the fourteen participants were women, with all the participants intending to coach women and girls’ cricket as part or all of their coaching role. Whilst they shared this common objective, their stories and journeys into cricket are quite different. Hearing what brought them to the course provides a deeper insight into coaching and the women’s game - and will also hopefully inspire others to follow in their footsteps with a coaching qualification.
Bahana Laskor
“I have stumbled into coaching really. My nine year old son Adiyy plays cricket at Castle Bromwich CC and the coach put a message on the parents’ WhatsApp group to ask if any of the parents wanted to take a coaching course and help at training. I thought it would be a good idea as it would help me practise drills with my son, having taken him to training and watched for a year. I have also put my name down for a ladies’ team at the club, which is hopefully starting up soon. So, I haven’t actually played cricket myself yet, which makes me wonder if I’ve done this all in the wrong order!
Being from an ethnic minority, I was conscious I would be a good role model for women and girls coming into the game. It’s also good for me to think about my own health and fitness. I want to be an active mum and for my children to see me being active and playing sport. I think there is a lack of awareness amongst most girls that cricket can be a game for them. That is gradually changing – before Xmas there was only one girl at our junior training sessions and now there are three or four.
We are not what you would call a cricketing family. In fact, my husband laughed when I told him I had enrolled on the coaching course. He was supportive but thought it was funny because I hadn’t played. Actually, I have discovered on this course, being relatively new to cricket doesn’t matter. Our family journey in cricket only started when our son Adiyy started playing at Castle Bromwich CC with All Stars a couple of years ago, after we heard about it from another family. Adiyy was very motivated to play cricket when the England men won the World Cup. He must have watched that match over 50 times, he was so passionate about it. It will be great to show an interest and support Adiyy, as well as the ladies’ team at the club.”
Claire Hammond
“I play ladies softball cricket at Claverdon CC. What’s great about women’s softball cricket at Claverdon is that those of us who love cricket now have an opportunity to play the game that we didn’t have when we were younger. It’s a great group and we all really enjoy it. Having this coaching qualification will help develop women’s cricket at our club.
I have always loved cricket, ever since my uncle took me to see Yorkshire play against Durham when I was quite young. He usually took my brother, but on one occasion my brother couldn’t go, and I got to go instead. I remember watching cricket avidly and getting even more hooked when I was studying for my GCSEs. I eventually went to Leeds University, where I spent a lot of time at Headingley. Although I played cricket at primary school, once I went to secondary school there were no opportunities there to actually play cricket.”
Polly Starkie
Polly, aged 17, is co-host of the Noughtie Child Women’s Cricket Podcast and also plays cricket at Halesowen CC. Half the participants on this Level 1 course are Polly’s age or slightly older. Many, like Polly, will have been encouraged by a parent to undertake a coaching qualification.
“Dad encouraged me, but the first person to mention it to me was Central Sparks player Thea Brookes when she coached me at Halesowen CC. Thea inspired me by telling me about all the amazing opportunities she had been able to take through being a qualified cricket coach.
Hosting the podcast has also brought me into contact with many professional players, who have talked about coaching qualifications positively in their interviews. I could see from talking to players like Thea Brookes and Eve Jones, and from their social media, how much they enjoyed coaching and found it rewarding. So, I decided to enrol myself.”
Polly has written her own case study about taking her Level 1 Foundation coaching qualification and it can be found in the article accompanying this one.
Leigh Thompson
Leigh is one of the two men on this coaching course and shares the commitment on the course to growing the women’s game.
“My daughter Lucia plays U13 girls’ cricket at Leamington CC. I volunteered to take the Level 1 Foundation course to increase the number of coaches at the girls’ sessions, as a way of supporting Lucia and the group. This was my suggestion, but it was well received at the club, as they are keen to grow the number of club coaches in the women and girls’ section of the club. I am keen to learn the basics of coaching and have enjoyed coming on this course.”
Lianne Pap
“I am a big cricket fan and have been involved in cricket at Ambleside CC for some time. My son has played there since he was eight and is now one of a group of 16 year olds playing regularly in one of the five adult teams. I have always helped out where I can, for example scoring on a Saturday. My husband is from Croatia, and has no idea about cricket, so in our family I have been the one supporting my son most in his cricket.
When the club decided to set up sessions for girls last summer, the coaches asked me to come and help because I have a good knowledge of the game.
Coming on this course will enable me to assist at girls’ coaching sessions and hopefully help grow the numbers. The biggest challenge last year with the girls was the huge age range in the coaching group. It is difficult with small numbers when the age range in a group is from five years old up to twelve. When numbers grow, it means you can put girls of a similar age into more focused coaching groups. We are hoping to establish a strong girls’ section at Ambleside CC, giving girls the option to either play alongside the boys or in girls only sessions.
Getting girls interested in cricket in the first place is the major challenge. It is not a sport that girls naturally fall into at a captive age. Many come to the game because their parents are interested in cricket, but they don’t get the opportunity to play at school. It’s important that we show cricket is a sport that is available to girls and to let them try it so they can decide if it’s a sport they want to continue.”
Summary – Alex Roslyn
This course was one of many organised by WCB Cricket Development Officer Alex Roslyn, working alongside fellow coach development colleagues Mina Zahoor and Chris Kenny. Alex was delighted with the progress made by the group.
“I am proud of the group, both in how much they have learnt and also how much they wanted to improve their coaching skills and help the players they are coaching. Courses like this will provide a step change in developing women and girls’ cricket across Warwickshire. We now have 14 more people out in Warwickshire clubs this summer, committed to growing the women and girls’ game. I hope some of them consider undertaking their Level 2 qualification in the near future.
It is brilliant that about half the participants were 17/18 years old (in fact I coached some of them at U13 and U15 level) and that they have decided to add coaching to their skillsets going forward. For those heading into further education, being able to coach in their holidays will be useful both financially but also in terms of gaining valuable life experience. Overall, this winter, we will have delivered around 10 coaching courses in six months, and that can only be good news for the game as a whole in Warwickshire and Birmingham.”
