Full Time Development Officer Now In Place -
Newly-appointed Cricket Development Officer for All Stars Cricket (ASC), Gareth Isaac, is determined to build on the success the programme had in its first year.
Over 37,000 juniors were introduced to ASC, which aims to inspire 5 to 8-year-olds to take up cricket, in the opening year, this summer, with 460 children across 22 centres taking part in Nottinghamshire alone.
Each Club that signed up in 2017 got a kitbag full of the necessary equipment, worth £500, and extra support options will be looked at for the coming year.
“We enjoyed a great opening year with Clubs trialing the new entry level programme and they responded well to the tight deadlines as well as showing great determination to make year 1 successful,” said Isaac, who was an All Stars Champion during the first year of the programme.
“All Stars Cricket has provided many of those Clubs with a new lease of life in their existing junior set up, increased numbers of children playing, introduced new volunteers and created a buzz around the venues.
“The sessions are designed to be fun, engaging and work on a child’s fundamental movement skills by using cricket as the tool to do so.
“Unfortunately we did lose some Clubs along the way, and some centres had to delay their launch to allow them more time to promote the sessions.
“I have come on board as a full time officer now dedicated to support Clubs, both existing and new, through the ASC programme and as a Board we are committed to making year 2 even more successful.
“We see talking to Clubs, and understanding the reasons why they were hesitant to take part or didn’t quite have the infrastructure to be involved this year, as a key focus over the winter.”
On signing up to be an All Star, each child receives their own personalised T-shirt, backpack, ball, water bottle and cap, and is sent weekly communications with games to play at home.
On top of that, each participant in the County received 2 tickets to the Notts Outlaws’ NatWest T20 Blast match encounter against the Worcestershire Rapids, whilst over 100 children took part in the match day activities when England played South Africa and West Indies at Trent Bridge.
“We have had some great success stories over the summer, which we would love to see happen more and more,” added Isaac.
“Clubs saw a great return in new volunteers, coaches and families returning to cricket and in some cases All Stars parents ended up playing league cricket on a Saturday to help out.
“Another big advantage over the summer has been the parent engagement that the programme encourages, with some helping ASC activators throughout a session.
“My aims are to continue growing ASC by supporting the Clubs across Nottinghamshire and making the programme accessible for everyone aged 5-8 to enjoy.
“The growth of the programme will in turn support junior sections and hopefully increase the numbers of people playing cricket in the future.”
The ECB will be holding roadshows in the New Year to outline their plans for the 2018 summer, and to find out more about the programme visit https://www.ecb.co.uk/play/all-stars.
If you wish to find out anymore about All Stars Cricket or how to go about setting up a new centre in 2018, please email gareth.isaac@nottsccc.co.uk.
Meet The All Stars Cricket Development Officer
Name: Gareth Isaac
Job Role: Cricket Development Officer (All Stars Cricket)
Responsibilities: