Kent Cricket News ----------------------------- www.kent.cricket.org ---------- Tue 01 Sep 1998 KENT CCC END OF SEASON DINNER: Wed 23rd Sept. Wednesday 23rd Sept, 7pm for 7.30pm at the St.Lawrence Ground, Canterbury 35 pounds per ticket (lounge suits) Individually or tables of 8/10 4 course meal plus Guest Speaker and The John Watson Roadshow For further details please contact the club on (01227) 456886 or collect an application form from the main office. Kent CCC email address: kent_cricket@msn.com ----------------------------------------------- KENT CRICKET DEVELOPMENT NEWS, by BILL DOVER Director of Cricket Development at Kent CCC Life in the Development Office continues to be hectic. David Sear has been continuing with his fantastic programme of stimulating youngsters to play cricket, whilst I have been finding my feet in the job, looking at the best way of linking David's work with my responsibilities for the older age groups, examining the coaching and development of our county youth squads and looking at where we need to go from here. Before I present a round-up of David's work, we would both like to say a big thank you to our sponsors, Seeboard, Shepherd Neame and Invicta FM for their continued support. We hope that they are impressed by the information below. CRICKET IN SCHOOLS Seven players on the county staff did a fantastic job by coaching nearly three thousand children in 85 primary schools and 12 secondary schools during a concentrated 4 week period in the spring. The numbers of schools visited by each player are as follows: Martin McCague 42, Alan Wells 29, Simon Willis 29, Robert Key 24, Darren Scot 15, David Fulton 2 and Matthew Walker 42. 250 eight a side primary school teams played in 19 District Kwik Cricket Festivals. The Kwik Cricket County Finals (sponsored by Wrigley) took place at the St.Lawrence Ground on Sunday 5th July attended by 24 teams, including Chauny from France. The winners were Riverview from Gravesend. Over 350 boys and girls in 37 teams (16 girls, 21 boys) from 22 secondary schools played a total of 120 matches during the two Seeboard Super 8's Festivals. Over 7,500 boys and girls from 200 primary schools were introduced to cricket through the Cricket Coaching Scheme sponsored by Seeboard and supported by Sportsmatch and ten of Kent's (cricketing county) eighteen local authorities. Twenty coaches delivered the courses. 500 children from 14 of the 200 schools participating in the Seeboard scheme enjoyed the half day coaching visits to the St.Lawrence Ground in May and June. Three hundred children have enrolled on the twelve Seeboard 'Players with Potential' courses scheduled for Autumn 1998. Swanley based financial group Jackson Batten raised nearly £1000 in sponsored to enable 120 young disabled people aged between 10 and 19 from twelve Kent special schools to enjoy a cricket taster day at Cobdown Sports and Social Club, Ditton, near Aylesford. The event was also supported by the English Sports Council (South East Region). HOLIDAY AND OTHER COACHING The Shepherd Neame Youth Cricket Coaching Scheme has seen a significant increase in the numbers taking part in the Easter and Summer holiday courses this year. A total of 850 boys and girls have been involved compared with 620 in 1997. The Invicta FM Junior Membership of Kent CCC which includes coaching on Saturdays and Sundays, has attracted over 300 new members. A staggering total of 1000 have enrolled to take part in the 13 coaching days this year. COACH EDUCATION Over 250 adults (club cricketers, teachers, student teachers and parents) attended twenty-six coaching award courses at offering instruction at various levels. Particularly successful were the new courses for parents held at Beverley CC and Bexley CC. GIRLS CRICKET Congratulations to the Kent Under 13 Team who have had an outstanding season by winning all seven of their matches played. They beat Middlesex (twice), Essex, West Sussex, East Sussex, Hertfordshire and London Schools. CLUB COLTS DEVELOPMENT Four new Club Colts sections have been formed this year - Wingham, Edenbridge, Stowting and Old Stacians Girls as a result of CDO input and financial support from the KCB. Having now been here for 6 months I feel that I am in a reasonble position to make judgments on how we approach the future. David Sear has produced an unrivalled base fom which to go forward since there are probably more youngsters playing cricket in Kent than in any other county, except Yorkshire. We now judge the time to be right to direct more effort and resorces towards the older age groups. I have implemented a county-wide coaching scheme, complemeting what is already being done by the AKCC, which seeks to make high level coaching available to many more youngsters. It will also form a good link with David's work with the lower age groups. Coaches will be recommending the best players to me for further assessment with the possibility of them joining one of the county squads. This scheme will replace the county trials that were held at Canterbury last year. The coaches, who are working in every Local Authority and receiving excellent support from them, also have responsibilities for improving club/school links, helping clubs to develop youth sections and coaching in schools. I need more funds to operate this scheme at full capacity so any ideas on how to get some more money would be welcomed! I am also proposing the introduction of Area and District youth cricket competitions at U10-U13, U14, U16 and U18 levels. These competitions would have identification, development and county squad selection functions and would also allow for a large reduction of the county youth team fixture list. In addition to District / Area cricket, it is planned to introduce a number of club U16 festivals to fit in with the overall development of young players. Finally, I intend to shirt the balance of the county youth squad coaching effort towards Summer coaching. Winter coaching, although very important from a technical viewpoint, will be reduced, whilst more time will be spent coaching on the field, which is where cricket is best learned, confirming the Winter coaching lessons and generally learning the skills of the game such as fielding, throwing, running betwen the wickets, fielding placing etc. I am on the point of writing a report to the County Club outlining my impressions over the last 6 months and my vision for the future. I look forward to reporting the outcome to you. Bill Dover, Director of Cricket Development ----------------------------------------------- SUPPORTERS' COACH TO SUNDAY LEAGUE GAME Kent's penultimate Sunday League game is with Surrey at The Oval this weekend (6th September) As usual a coach will be going to the game, with pickups in Whitstable (9am), Canterbury (9.15) and along the A2 and M25. If you are interested in travelling please contact Mr.John Eldridge on Canterbury (01227) 456973 beforehand. -----------------------------------------------