Youth Participation in Open Competitions
Although we have nothing to compare it with yet, the number of youth players competing in Open Competitions would suggest that the links between youth and adult cricket are strong and that most clubs have effective structures in place for assisting young cricketers make the transition to senior cricket. Of course only so much can be learnt from the figures but at least they provide a baseline for Cricket Leinster and individual clubs to assess how they are doing.
The registration of players for Open Competitions has allowed us for the first time to look closely at how youth players are performing at senior level. Over time the information will build up and we will hopefully be able to identify trends and patterns so that we can prepare better to deal with participation issues, drop out rates, over exposure and burn out, links between clubs and schools and much more.It will also be of benefit to coaches and selectors involved with representative teams.
Overall there were 462 youth [U19] players who took part in Open Competitions in 2014. This represents nearly 23% of the total number of players in OC. On the basis of the number of matches played, however, the figures are much lower - less than 9%. This would suggest that many youth players were not regular selections on teams.
It is perhaps interesting to note that three players took part in 40 or more matches this season, and all were youth players. Indeed the top four places in terms of matches played were held by youth players and of the 47 cricketers who played in 30 or more matches this season, 16 were U19.
A breakdown has been provided in terms of participation rates:
Hyper Active [30 or more] 16
High [20 - 29] 89
Regular [10 - 19] 122
Occasional [5-9] 86
Infrequent / trying out [<5] 149
The full details of youth participation broken down by club and age group is set out in the table below.
| | | | | Age Cohorts |
| Club | Players | Matches | M/P | U13 [U11]* | U15 | U17 | U19 |
| Adamstown | 7 | 72 | 10.29 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ashbourne | 2 | 2 | 1.00 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Bagenalstown | 10 | 44 | 4.40 | 2[1] | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Balbriggan | 13 | 128 | 9.85 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Castleknock | 4 | 74 | 18.50 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Civil Service | 18 | 168 | 9.33 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 3 |
| Clontarf | 30 | 422 | 14.07 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Cork County | 5 | 29 | 5.80 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Dublin Univ | 4 | 24 | 6.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Dundlak | 5 | 59 | 11.80 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Greystones | 9 | 45 | 5.00 | 4[1] | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Halverstown | 4 | 27 | 6.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Knockharley | 17 | 158 | 9.29 | 2[1] | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| Laois | 7 | 63 | 9.00 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Leinster | 41 | 439 | 10.71 | 4 | 12 | 15 | 10 |
| Longford | 7 | 126 | 18.00 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Lucan | 1 | 4 | 4.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Malahide | 21 | 262 | 12.48 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Merrion | 25 | 260 | 10.40 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 4 |
| Mullingar | 18 | 215 | 11.94 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| North County | 25 | 414 | 16.56 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 2 |
| North Kildare | 13 | 76 | 5.85 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Pembroke | 30 | 403 | 13.43 | 7[2] | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| Phoenix | 32 | 314 | 9.81 | 3[1] | 3 | 18 | 8 |
| Railway Union | 13 | 162 | 12.46 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Ringcommons | 3 | 33 | 11.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Rush | 15 | 193 | 12.87 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Sandyford | 2 | 5 | 2.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Slieve Bloom | 5 | 16 | 3.20 | [1] | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Swords | 2 | 16 | 8.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Terenure | 20 | 330 | 16.50 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
| The Hills | 14 | 213 | 15.21 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
| Wexford | 3 | 17 | 5.67 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| YMCA | 37 | 580 | 15.68 | 5[2] | 14 | 7 | 11 |
| Total | 462 | 5393 | 11.67 | 56[9] | 134 | 152 | 120 |
| * Included within U13 figure | | | | | | | |