CL NATIONAL PROGRAMMES UPDATE (JUNE 2023)

Although there has been plenty of cricket played so far this season, things are just starting to ramp up for the national programmes; Smash-It and It’s Wicket. Activator training has already taken place at The Hills CC and Pembroke CC with great numbers at both sessions. It's safe to say that any participants attending these sessions will thoroughly enjoy themselves and be going home with a participant pack that includes their own bat, ball, backpack and t-shirt so they can try out cricket at home.

Despite all the great weather so far, the recent rain has delayed some activator training with clubs such as Halverstown eagerly awaiting their activator training next Friday. While some clubs have been unable to commit to the programmes this year, it has been great to make contact with CL clubs by email and by phone or at the various youth & senior games to hear about some of the success stories at youth level or of recently trained coaches and activators.

Although these programmes rely heavily on a club having a certain number of volunteers to run coaching sessions, it’s important to acknowledge that we do understand the challenges that taking on a 6-8 week programme can have for a club. We are really looking forward to chatting with you all directly to see how we can be flexible in our approach to getting these programmes off the ground and hopefully building towards bigger and better programmes for 2024 throughout the province of Leinster.

Activator Training at Pembroke, Sydney Parade

It has been great to get such positive feedback as well from the activator trainings that have taken place to date and we are hoping to get some more expressions of interest from clubs in the next few weeks. Thank you to Bill and Mariosa Whaley at Pembroke CC who we know were delighted to receive the new hybrid cricket bats last Friday evening for It’s Wicket and to Lynn McGeehan who has helped get these programmes off the ground at The Hills CC for the first time this year.

Activator Training at The Hills, Skerries, Co Dublin

As the primary school year comes to a close and with youth cricket in full swing, it is a good time to consider whether Smash It or It’s Wicket is something that could be helpful for your club and give local children that positive introduction to the game we all love.

Players, coaches and parents alike could really benefit from the online and face-to-face activator training that we are providing so please do reach out to us if there are any questions and we will be more than happy to help:

Christina - christina.coulterreilly@cricketleinster.ie

or

Cormac - cormac.mcloughlingavin@cricketleinster.ie

We are really looking forward to meeting more of the Cricket Leinster community over the summer and we wish you all the best in supporting the next generation of cricketers across the province.

Christina & Cormac (Cricket Leinster)