Wasn't quite sure where to post this, so apologies if it's in the wrong place.
My daughter has played under 11s county cricket for the last 2a seasons and I would love to hear about others experience with their children's county pathways.
She has really enjoyed her last couple of seasons and is fortunate enough to potential still play for the u11s county side again next year as she first got in when she was in year 4.
While there are lots of positives the the setup that she is in, there are also things that could be done better.
Firstly in my opinion the squad of over 30 girls is too many. It's one squad and matches are shared equally with all girls getting to play roughly a third if the fixtures. This also dilutes down the quality of the coaching at training too. In fairness my daughter benefitted last year from this format as the you great player and one of the weaker ones, but this year as missed out to accommodate others. This changing of the team to allow all to play offers opportunities but also at times as merely provided cannon fodder to the opposition.
Having chatted to parents from other counties it would appear that some have a squad within the larger squad. This means all players train together, but the stronger ones play the majority of matches.
In matches, the mindset of the county is that all players get to bowl, this means that all players bowl 2/3 overs. While this allows all girls to take part and have a bowl, it does not help those who are bowlers. On the flip side, the batting order doesn't reflect this with similar players batting in the top order. This means that some girls rarely get to bat at all. I'm fully behind this batting decision as you either need to set a score or chase one. It just seems frustrating that the bowlers are not allowed to bowl and either restrict or defend a total in the name of fairness.
Other counties seem to be more traditional in their approach, with bowlers bowling and batters batting. This means they post or chase well and defend or restrict better.
I also find there is little to no connection to the county itself. Despite paying several hundred pounds a year in training and match fees, county kit and recently £300 for a festival there seems to be no real connection to the county. The county can't Ben be bothered to put the players onto Play Cricket or their matches either. This only happens when the opposition live score The girls don't get to train or play at the county ground. There is never any links between the other age groups for example why not get the county spin / keeper coach down to a session with all the age group spinners or keepers for example. There isn't even an end of season disco / presentation night for example at the county ground. Also, they don't even get offered a ticket to watch a match. Seems to me to be be a no brainer to offer the juniors a match ticket or even junior membership. They're going to have to go with an adult, so the county makes the money back that way.
Having moaned, I do have to say that my daughter's confidence has rocketed through meeting and working with so many new people and her cricket skills and knowledge has vastly improved regularly training and playing with girls of a real good cricketing standard.
Am I expecting too much, is your experience similar to my daughter?
I would love to hear your thoughts about your child's county experiences both good and bad and what you did if anything to make positive changes.
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Topic: Junior County Cricket Pathways and Your Feedback. (Read 1186 times)