Cricket Development
Progress Report July-December 2016
The July – December 2016 period was a very productive one for Cricket Development across South Dublin County Council area. There are many strands to the development work from introductory schoolyard sessions, and working with people of all abilities via Table Cricket and representative squad teams.
Primary School Kwik Cricket
With weekly and regular schoolyard kwik-cricket sessions for close to 2,000 schoolchildren and young people were carried during the autumn school term.
During the sessions as well as helping, the children play and learn about cricket, there is an emphasis on the importance of an active outdoor lifestyle and proper diet. We also reinforce the enjoyment of playing casual sport outdoors, because nowadays, a number of children we encounter seem to think, adults organize all sport when in fact this is not the case. In our experience, once children learn the rules of a particular game and they are given some direction and encouragement from mentors they will then play that sport for themselves in their own environments. This is important to foster a lifelong active lifestyle.
Adamstown Cricket Academy
Working and assisting local cricket clubs is also very important to continue to develop cricket and community togetherness. Adamstown C.C. run a successful cricket Academy every Sunday morning during the school term. Regular assistance was provided by staff to help develop the club coaching structures and skills, to continue to develop this very worthwhile venture. This is one of the few regular youth community sporting programmes that takes place in the Adamstown area.
Community Summer Camps
Every summer Cricket Leinster coaches assist South Dublin community department with delivering their youth community summer camp programmes. These camps take place at two central venues:
The camps take place during the school summer holidays. Each day of camps the children and their leaders from all over the SDCC area visit the Leisure Centres to play different sports including cricket. Cricket is always popular among the boys and girls and leaders and often times they continue playing back in their summer projects and community spaces during the rest of the summer holidays. This year was no different and the cricket activity at Clondalkin and Tallaght Leisure Centres was very enjoyable for all participants.
Table Cricket
This game for people with all abilities is becoming a more and more popular game in the SDCC area. We held a very successful and enjoyable end of year tournament at St. Michaels House in Templeogue. Six different teams from all over the county participated in this tournament to round off their regular games of Table cricket at their respective centres. These sessions are delivered by SDCC supported Cricket Leinster coaches.
Transition Year Programme
During the Autumn school term we undertook a new venture. This is a programme specifically aimed at Transition Year (TY) students. After 4 weeks of attendance the students are able to gain a certificate in Kwik Cricket Coaching and Leadership. These classes are delivered during the school PE periods with the assistance of the school PE teachers. Thus much experience is gained by the teachers who are then comfortable delivering Kwik Cricket sessions with students of other years usually 1st and 2nd years. Three SDCC schools have so far participated in this programme in late 2016. They were:
A total of 200 TY students across these schools achieved the Certificate of Attendance for this 4 week module. Students learned how to deliver favourite school yard cricket games like pairs cricket, diamond cricket, continuous cricket and the Lords game.
Under 12 District Competition
In July and August the SDCC U12 representative team took part in the Dublin District tournament which involves 4 teams from each of the local authority areas in Dublin. The SDCC part of the tournament took place at Tymon Park at the new ground used by Clondalkin C.C. The standard this year was the highest it has been so far in the short history of the event. It is the first step on the pathway to higher representative honours (Leinster and Ireland) for many players who have played in club and school (Leprechaun Cup) competitions. Players from SDCC clubs including Adamstown, Clondalkin and Terenure C.C. represented the team. Players from Rathfarnham Parish NS also played on the team.
Active School Flag
Many schools are actively trying to gain an ‘Active Flag’ to display outside their school. This is awarded by the Department of Education to schools who promote and encourage an active and physical lifestyle in their school environment. From time to time schools across the county ask for assistance in gaining the much sought after ‘Active Flag’. We help with delivering sessions to pupils and helping to train teachers in some of the kwik cricket games so they can continue to play it as part of the regular PE timetable. During the autumn period, we assisted St Kevin’s NS, Balrothery with gaining their Active Flag.
Sports Capital Programme
In December 2016, the Minister for Sport announced details of the Sports Capital Programme (SCP). Since then, we have advised the clubs in the area of the programme, given advice on how to apply, and suggested projects that would be of assistance in increasing participation and standards which the SCP might be able to support. The deadline for applications is in February 2017.
New Facilities
During this period a purpose built indoor cricket centre called ‘Urban Cricket’ opened during December at the Long Mile Road / Walkinstown Avenue crossroads (where SDCC and DCC meet). We freely gave advice to the centre management as regards the best netting and artificial turf options available to them. This centre is now up and running, and is proving a popular training centre with cricketers of all ages and backgrounds, especially those from South West Dublin where there was a need for a cricket facility like this.
Friday Night Coaching
Every Friday evening during the school-term Leinster training squads and ‘Open’ groups are able to avail of top quality coaching sessions. Ages catered for range from under 11 to under 17 groups. Many of these sessions take place at Kings Hospital school hall, Palmerstown and at St. Columba’s College hall, Rathfarnham. The cricket development staff at SDCC help coach and organise these sessions. The players who are deemed good enough for representative Leinster squads then progress to these sessions. These sessions take place at different venues sometimes in SDCC but also at North County hall (the Cricket Ireland indoor Training Centre).
Introductory Coaching Courses
During this period we ran 2 Introductory Cricket Coaching courses in the county. One was held at Fettercairn Community Centre in West Tallaght for the second successive year. Participants from this year’s Sportivate Training Course took part and all of them completed the course. There were 12 participants. We also held an Introductory Course at Kings Hospital school in Palmerstown. This was run in December and aimed at TY students from across the county. Some pupils who had earlier been introduced to cricket via the specific TY Kwik Cricket programme came then to the Intro. Course. We had 25 participants on the day. We were assisted with these 2 courses by Cricket Ireland Coach Education Officer Michael Hingston and wish to record our thanks to him.
Kenny Carroll
Cricket Development Officer
Cricket Leinster/South Dublin County Council
January 2017