Our Friday night junior training nights are now being attended by around 100 children aged 5 - 15. Whilst this is a fantastic achievement for the club, the increasing numbers mean that compared to previous season, a different organisational structure is required to ensure all children have the opportunity to develop their skills and understanding.

Training is now split into 3 distinct families:

Mini Hitters - For all children in Reception and most children in Year 1.
Kwik Cricket - For children in Years 2 - 5 until they demonstrate levels of maturity, game understanding and cricket skills which allow them to safely participate in hard ball training.
Hard Ball - For children in Year 6 and above plus younger children who are ready to move on from Kwik Cricket.

Kwik Cricket Training is split into 3 separate groups - we call them Blue, Indigo and Violet.

Violet Group is for all girls at the kwik cricket level whilst Indigo Group is mainly for younger boys. Both these groups work on basic skills and players will be starting to play pairs or non-stop cricket to help them understand the rules and concepts of cricket.

Blue Group is for older boys and is trying to progress these players towards hardball cricket with more emphasis on refining skills and game understanding.

Kwik Cricket groups will usually work with the same coaches each week and each session will include a mixture of batting, bowling and fielding skills plus some game play to help teach rules and basic tactical understanding. Players do not need to bring any equipment - just themselves!

Hard Ball Training is split into 4 separate groups - we call them Red, Orange, Yellow and Green. Red and Yellow Groups are for boys; Orange and Green Groups for girls.

Red and Orange groups are for the most experienced players and will work at an advanced level, focusing on finer elements of skill and tactical understanding. Red Group in particular contains many players playing at District or County level.

Yellow and Green groups are for competent hard ball players and will provide suitable levels of challenge and coaching input for all players to help them progress.

Hard Ball Groups will rotate around different coaches allowing players to benefit from the different skills and experiences of our coaching team. Sessions are split into two 45 minute sessions. Each group will get one 45 minute net session per fortnight and 3 other sessions which will work on other skills using the outfield.

It is very important that all players in Hard Ball Groups come prepared to bat or keep wicket against a hard ball every week as we may run training games or hard ball batting drills on the outfield. To be blunt, this means they will need suitable clothing/underwear to accommodate a 'box' (abdominal guard) and any players who cannot wear a box will not be able to participate in any sessions which involved batting with a hard ball.

Players who have their own equipment should bring it each week. Players who do not have their own equipment can borrow from the club kit bags. If any parents would like advice about if/when to buy equipment for their children, please contact Chris Partridge.

Group Selections

As with any situation where children are divided into groups, the aim is to ensure all children get the correct level of coaching which will allow them to progress from their current point.

There is a very understandable temptation for children to want to "move up" to the next group especially where there are friends/peers in a higher group. However, this can result in children being in groups where they are not best placed to improve their skills and, in the case of hardball cricket, potentially get hurt.

We also need to try and find a balance of numbers between groups as it does not help anyone to have some very large groups and some very small groups.

Our coaching team have spent time reviewing each player's current level to try and make sure they are in the most appropriate group. We will continue to review this on a weekly basis and some children may move between groups depending not just on their cricket development, but also their confidence and maturity. We do not intend to upset children (or parents!) or damage self esteem, and would hope that families understand the basis for splitting children into ability-based (rather than age-based) groups.