Derbyshire Cricket Board - Club Development

The DCB Club Development Team are celebrating as we now have 51 clubs registered for NatWest Cricketforce. This gives Derbyshire the second highest number of clubs registered in the Country with only Yorkshire in front of us and considering the difference in size of Counties, this is no mean feat. We do of course want to improve on that number and are looking to beat our target of 75 clubs registered for the 2012 event. If you have not yet registered please give it some consideration as the benefits can make a huge difference to your club.

Do you know what CricketForce is really all about? Have you seen it in action? If not then you need a copy of the NatWest CricketForce DVD. The DCB have a number of these DVD’s in stock waiting to be shipped out to any club that would like one email mick.glenn@derbyshireccc.com

The sun shone brightly as the lads from the Mini Academy were challenged to paint the perimeter fence at Hartshorne Cricket Club as part of the club’s NatWest Cricket Force weekend. It was an event that saw volunteers from across the village prepare the ground for a season that holds great changes for the club.

Before the event, Howard Dytham, Executive Manager of Derbyshire Cricket Board explained that having the Mini Academy involved is a great way for Derbyshire Cricket Board to practically show how serious it is about developing local community cricket. It’s also an opportunity for the squad to get to know each other in a non-match situation as well as understand the importance of grassroots cricket. Certainly the lads I spoke to seemed to enjoy being there and their camaraderie demonstrated how events like this develop the bond between the team members.

They did really well. Putting the perimeter fence around the ground was one of the improvement projects we have carried out in the past. It is made from a disused racking system donated by a local Wincanton depot... and we probably didn’t appreciate at that time the man hours required to keep the fence looking ‘fresh’. So thanks to them, it is now looking white again!

For us, a memorable part of the day was when the Academy boys had a break from painting the fence (and their trousers) and enjoyed some catching practice with Howard Dytham.

HD pinged a small tennis ball about 50m into the air and every lad who had a go caught the ball… Every senior HCC player just stood in awe as the youngster gave a demonstration in catching. I spoke to each of our guys and they all secretly agreed that there was no way on earth they could do it – it was most impressive!

NWCF is one of the best things this Club has ever done. We’ve had more people getting involved which in turn starts to give the Club’s culture a different, more positive dynamic.

The Derbyshire Cricket Board’s seminar on Club Development gave us about 25 ideas that we could pursue, one of the best being the financial support available from NatWest if one of their employees helped out on the day. This generated £250 for HCC which covered the cost of the paint, rollers, food, etc for the day so we effectively got all the work done free of charge.

We also had an amateur photographer from the village come down, looking for a project. She became aware of our Cricket Force day and took over 300 photos. She’s now our official photographer and the website has never looked so good!

This was only our second ever NWCF event! We’ve always felt the poor cousin of the other clubs in the area. However, we’ve been working more closely with Derbyshire Cricket Board (DCB) over the last couple of seasons which has helped us enormously to get ready for what will be an exciting season ahead.

After a 15 year battle with the council, we have, at long last secured a lease on the ground enabling us to start work on a permanent pavilion. This will be a fantastic improvement for the club as our current head quarters is a prefab hut with no running water and only basic facilities.

DCB’s Club Development Seminar at the beginning of the year gave us lots of practical advice on developing the new building as well as tips for raising the huge amount of money we need to make it happen.

For example, until now, we’ve always organised the same types of events but this helped us to think outside of the box. We’ve just finished an extremely successful sponsored event where we visited all 18 major county grounds covering over 1000 miles in just 24 hours. We’ve began to find local sponsors and starting to put cricket back at the heart of village activities.

Two years ago we introduced our first junior side, which meant we needed to change the way we did lots of things! We’re embracing Club Mark, developing links with local school and other sporting groups whilst benefiting from the expertise of DCB’s coaches and staff. We’re still learning but know we have their support on hand to guide and help us.

With 1,914 clubs nationally taking part including 75 Derbyshire clubs and over 85,000 volunteers including over 2500 volunteers in Derbyshire this is a fantastic achievement by all. From the reports that have come back to us it is clear that there were some great projects around the County with clubs reporting a good response by their members & community no doubt helped by the weather. I realise there are some events being finished off & other clubs carrying out projects over the next two weekends & I hope you have equally good conditions.

Mick Glenn presenting volunteers at Glossop CC with the flat sheet cover won by the Club in the prize draw held for CricketForce registered Clubs.

Here are a few reminders & requests to help us put NatWest CricketForce to bed for another year:

· It would be helpful if clubs could complete the evaluation form & return it to Neil Birkitt by the 30^th of April. The information is invaluable to us & the ECB as it helps in providing evidence to partners. Please do send in your evaluations we really would like as many in as we can possibly get. The County Club is providing us with some complementary tickets to a CB 40 over game & Neil will be distributing these among the clubs that send information back to him. These tickets can be used as thank you/ reward for club members who supported your event.

Click on button to download evaluation form

· Please send in any copies of news articles, photos etc along with your evaluations. It is great to have a record of achievements & we will try & use some on the this website.

· Also you may recall we sent out information regarding free junior membership (0 – 12) of Derbyshire County Cricket Club. With clubs having started or just about to start junior training this is the simplest way for youngsters to access the free County membership offer. Please do promote this to your youngsters & do try to get your applications back by the end of April.

· Remember to say thank you to those who helped with your event. If you do it is more likely they will say yes next time you ask.

And finally some quotes from the weekend, they make interesting reading. You are welcome to send in one of your own along with your evaluation & Neil will add them to the growing list.

For Stanton By Dale C.C. our first year of taking part in NatWest CricketForce has given us a fantastic boost. Without it we would never have had the focused effort to achieve the projects we set out over and above the general preparations for the season. It gave us a brilliant club spirit with around 90% of our membership turning out over the weekend and couple of weeks before, and the support we got from outside of the club membership made a real difference to what we were able to do. The result is that our facilities are now far and away the best they have ever been and because of this we expect more people to both play and support during the summer. It has been a real success and we are already thinking about how we can make the most of it again next year!" Rob Ellen from Stanton by dale CC

NatWest CricketForce 2011 is only the second time Hartshorne Cricket Club have actually held an ‘event’ and we can say, without fear of contradiction, it is one of the best things this Club has ever done. Steve Tomlin - HCC Club Development Officer

Sunday at Sawley and Long Eaton Park Cricket Club epitomized for me what NatWest CricketForce is all about. Of course the work that has been carried out at the Club is extremely impressive, but the crucial element is that it has been made possible through the work of volunteers and in kind support at a fraction of the usual cost. Combine adding the finishing touches to the work with the sight of many kids enjoying the sport of cricket in the sun and overall you have a special day. Tom Holdcroft - Derbyshire County Cricket Club Head of Media and Marketing

We ended up with around 40 people there including 15 who have nothing really to do with the club. We got an enormous amount done and built links with different people around the village. Very successful day. Alan Draycott – Whitwell CC’s Director youth Cricket

NatWest CricketForce 2011 was such a success that the club are already looking towards NatWest CricketForce 2012 by involving more local businesses and volunteers to help make the Park Road club even more of a community club. Bob Marsden - Buxton CC