04 Apr Junior Cricket at Barby CC
If last season is anything to go by then 2022 should be another fantastic year for Barby CC’s Junior section. Friday nights were buzzing as the club became the hub for the local community. The children’s faces told the story; they just wanted to be having fun, outside playing cricket, socialising and catching up for lost time. Something we all hope will continue this year!
We continue to invest in our Juniors’ cricket journey and development; it is without doubt, the bedrock of our club. Nothing is more powerful than true inspiration and so we are delighted that we will have two Ex professionals taking part in our Junior program for 2022.
With Mal Loye and Siviwe Gidana and in our ranks, we have both bowling and batting covered! They are with us as our Director of Cricket and Overseas professional respectively and both will be helping give guidance to our Juniors in their areas of expertise – really exciting times! Siviwe played First Class cricket for Eastern Province, SA and is now a top bowling coach. Mal played First Class County cricket in England, represented England in ODI’s and has a highest first-class score of 322 with a T20 century too. We are delighted that both are involved in Barby CC this year and that we will have the opportunity to learn so much from them.
Our Junior ranks are organized accordingly:
All Stars:
Our youngest group where are our Juniors often start playing cricket for the first time. They learn the fundamentals of cricket using fun techniques with a recommended age range is 5-8. All Stars is a very popular group.
Dynamos:
Again, a very popular group of around 30 girls and boys. The purpose of this group is to harness and develop the skills they have learnt to date and bring them into a safe cricket game-play environment. Dynamos caters for new starters too so there is no need to worry if your child has not come through All Stars. All we ask for is enthusiasm! Dynamos play with a softball where pads and helmet are not necessary. The recommended age group is 8-10 years of age.
U11 – Hard Ball:
This is where the boys and girls get really excited! They play their first competitive matches and get to wear the full kit (essential for protection!) and use a junior leather cricket ball – the real deal! We usually have some exciting matches with close finishes, playing against other local clubs. This is where the parents get really involved cheering on from the boundary.
U13 and U15 – Hard Ball:
A continuation and development of the hard ball cricket learnt to date. Our U13’s and U15’s are excellent breeding grounds for our senior teams too. As they say, if you are good enough, you are old enough. Conforming to ECB rules, our Juniors can play from the age of 13 in our Senior teams (12 years if they are part of County pathways). We believe strongly that playing in one of our Junior teams should be open to all and progressive. Unlike some clubs, we don’t stream Juniors into A and B teams. Winning and losing is part of life and we expect our Juniors to encounter both in equal measures whilst enjoying the challenges and success that are part and parcel of that process.
This year we will also be starting the process of establishing a girls side.
As an ECB Clubmark cricket club, our coaches are DBS checked, ECB Qualified, have undertaken First Aid and Safeguarding courses and we have our own Club Welfare Officer who is in attendance. Safety is our number priority.
As always, this season promises to be another exciting year at Barby and we look forward to welcoming all new and existing youngsters back for the forthcoming season….and do let us know if you would like to get involved in volunteering or coaching at the club. We will support you and welcome you with open arms.