Junior Cricket starts Friday 4th May

It has been a real challenge for us this year with the weather to get the ground ready in time, but we are now there!!! With only a few more days until Junior Cricket starts, please find below details for the coming season. There are a number of changes this year, so please read through this email very carefully.

Junior Cricket for Under 9’s (School Years 3 & 4) and Under 11’s (School Years 5 & 6)
As usual, we plan to have 12 sessions before the summer holidays. They will still be on Friday evenings between 6-7pm, there will still be a barbecue and of course the bar will be open! The first session will be this Friday, on Friday 4th May.

The Under 9’s will play approximately 8 games, teams of about 8 players, playing against Oxford, Thame and Tiddington. The dates for most of these matches are yet to be confirmed, but will be emailed out and added to the website as soon as possible.

The under 11’s will play approximately 8 games, teams of 8 players, playing against Abingdon, E&W Hendred, Moreton and Purley on Thames. Most of these matches have been confirmed and again, will be emailed to the relevant parents and added to the website soon.

We hope to manage availability and selection through our website and the app, details of how to register on the website and download the app will hopefully follow with the fixture emails.

At the AGM, it was decided that it was time that we revisited our subscriptions (both our senior and junior Annual Subscriptions are very low compared to other local clubs). We are keen to keep our costs as low as possible, make sure we do not make finances a barrier to playing cricket and ensure that (unlike other clubs/sports) our junior subscriptions do not subsidise our senior sides in any way.

Senior Subs have been raised from £30 per year (plus £12 match fees) to £60 per year (plus £12 match fees). In year 1, players receive a free shirt or voucher for £25 if subs are paid before the beginning of the season. In year 2 and 3, they receive a £15 kit voucher.

We have adopted a similar model for Junior Cricket from:

£25 Subscriptions, £20 for siblings, no match fee and £5 membership if a parent is not already a member (for licensing reasons).

To:

£40 Subscriptions, Free shirt/£20 voucher Year 1, £10 kit voucher Years 2 and 3. A £5 membership is still required for non-playing parents. If your child already has a shirt and it is in good condition, you can use the voucher towards new trousers/hoodie/cap etc. The voucher does not have to be spent that year.

This effectively represents a small saving in year 1 and a small increase in the two subsequent years. It is not designed to increase a large amount of revenue, nor deter anyone, one of the main factors was to align our offer with that described below…

All Stars Cricket for 5-8 year olds (School Years 1, 2 & 3)
The ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) launched All Stars Cricket (ASC) last year and it was a huge success, with Oxfordshire topping the nation with sign ups. When we originally started our junior section, very, very few clubs had Under 7’s and everybody laughed at us for having Under 5’s. The rest of the country is now catching Watlington up. The program is all about having fun and giving kids a great first experience of cricket. Hopefully, you’ll agree that we already do this, but added resources will enable us to deliver an even better experience. Kids who sign up receive a Backpack, Bat, Ball, Personalised T Shirt, Cap and Activity Book, plus “money can’t buy” opportunities. The cost of the program is £40 (with £5 going back to the club which we will treat as the parent membership). The program is only for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, kids will be able to ‘graduate’ to the junior club for the remaining 3 weeks for an extra £10.

You can find out more about All Stars Cricket here or sign up here.

If your child is in School Years 2 & 3 and took part in our junior cricket last year, you have the choice to sign up for All Stars here or continue in the Under 7s, or if we think they are ready for Under 9 cricket. Any ‘new’ children who were not involved in the Junior Section or on the ‘Nursery Ground’ last year will automatically be directed to All Stars. There will be activities in the local primary schools to raise awareness.

If you have a child who is too young for All Stars, please contact us. There is a little flexibility on the age brackets, plus we hope to have our Nursery Ground available again if there is room and enough parents happy to get involved.

Hopefully this all makes sense, if not, please email admin@watlingtoncc.co.uk! Look forward to seeing you all on the ground. Please remember cold drinks, sun hats, sun cream (hopefully) or hot drinks, woolly hats and gloves (hopefully not!).

Updated 21:00 - 30 Aug 2019 by Owen Lewis