Captaining the 4th XI, I get quite a lot of juniors come through me before going on to higher teams, and it's usually their first taste of adult cricket. The key is to encourage them and make them feel welcome.
Depending on whether the bat or bowl you have different ways to manage them.
I like to put the batsman up the order, around 3 or 4, so they have the opportunity to play themselves in, rather than let them go in at 6/7 when they might be coming in near the death.
Bowlers, I usually like to bring on first change, especially if we've got off to a good start, give them a few overs and give them a break before bringing them back on for a spell before I bring on the end of innings bowlers.
The key with both is to get their ideas. It's all well and good saying "I want you to block for 10 overs" or "bowl on offstump" you need to get their input, see what they are thinking and trying to do. If you tell them what to do, they won't respond as well as if you give them a bit of licence to play their naturaly game.
The main thing I try to get into them though is to enjoy it and have fun.
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Topic: Youth Development - retaining junior players (Read 1662 times)