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Introducing: Maralyn Smith
Somerset County Cricket Club are pleased to be able to introduce Maralyn Smith, the new Managing Director of the Somerset Cricket Foundation (SCF).
We sat down with Maralyn recently to discuss her first three months in Somerset.
“The reception I have been given has been great. The team here have been so incredibly welcoming to me and that’s the Club and the Foundation. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind understanding the culture of both the ECB and also the organisation here as well.
“It’s a good time for me to be joining because we are developing a new team of trustees and we are also at the point of rewriting the strategy for the SCF as well so it’s the perfect time for me to come in and have the opportunity to shape that, as well as learn the lessons from the team.
“Coming here feels like joining an extended family. Sometimes incredibly supportive and at others dysfunctional but that’s what families are like, but the intentions for everyone is about all pulling together to give people of Somerset both a fantastic Club but also a fantastic Foundation as well.
“I’ve been involved with sport ever since I was a teenager, but I was a part of that generation who, as young women, didn’t get the same opportunities as they do now.
“I played all sports when I was growing up including cricket for East Anglia where I was brought up and I got to play against India. However, at that time women’s cricket wasn’t where it is now.”
Maralyn started out her career in youth work and managed training and qualifications for England and Wales for the National Youth Agency.
“Through my time in youth work I got introduced to the Premier League and trained football club’s coaches, which gave me an insight into how sport can be impactful for supporting young people with a love of sport.
“From this I realised that the skill set I had in youth work could sit very nicely alongside sport, which I have loved ever since I was a kid.
“I found that the training work I had been doing gave me a route back into sport and started off working in football with MK Dons, managing their charity foundation.
“I worked really closely with the football club owner and the team at the stadium, which hosted everything from the Women’s Euros Cup Finals through to running the mascots on a Saturday and Sunday.
“My work also involved running the women’s football as Chief Executive with the women’s team for four years.”
So how did Maralyn come to be at Somerset?
“I’d always wanted to be involved with cricket in some capacity and bring the skills I had learned from being a CEO in a football environment and the lessons I’d learned from working at MK Dons and the Premier League and EFL, so when this job came up it felt like the natural progression.
“This was an opportunity to come to a club that I’d followed as a youngster, watching Ian Botham and Viv Richards. I’d always had a soft spot for Somerset through that connection. To actually come and work here was an ideal opportunity.”
How does Maralyn see the role of the Somerset Cricket Foundation?
“For me it’s about everybody having the opportunity to participate in cricket whether it’s because you love the game and want to play, or you want to take this forward into a professional career. The Foundation’s role is very much about introducing people to cricket for the first time through to supporting through to later life.
“Cricket should be for all ages and abilities and as a Foundation we have a strong role in using cricket to shape new opportunities, whether it’s walking cricket or supporting dementia or just thinking about health conditions that people might have. It’s about using cricket as a tool to engage people.
“However, it’s also about making sure that we have a strong clubs and leagues structure so that if you get that love for cricket you’ve got places to go and play.”
What about Maralyn’s specific role in the SCF?
“My role is also about enabling and developing positive partnerships to support SCF to grow the Foundation and our work but also about looking at ways that we can give back to society as well. This means working alongside the Club, so we become the community facing part of the business that’s driving and encouraging people to become fans, and players and keep that going throughout their lifetime.”
