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The growth of the girls game in Somerset
Somerset Cricket Foundation is using innovative ways to get girls into cricket from Somerset players providing masterclass sessions to the launch of unique Mindfulness Cricket sessions earlier this month.
The continued outstanding relationship between Somerset County Cricket Club and Somerset Cricket Foundation demonstrates the power of bringing together the professional and recreational game to drive participation.
Women’s and Girls cricket is enjoying rapid growth across England and Wales and it is the ingenuity of Somerset Cricket Foundation with support from SCCC that have been central to that success.
The Somerset Cricket Foundation works with local state schools and clubs to ensure a welcoming environment and removing fears about trying something new, with initiatives such as ‘Glow In The Dark Cricket’, a winter Girls Training Programme as well as the new mindfulness sessions.
Almost 500 girls have enjoyed one of the varied initiatives which aim to give as many young girls the chance to engage with cricket in ways they might not thought of previously.
“Girls cricket is expanding rapidly in Somerset, and it is a privilege to work with the foundation providing new, fun and unique opportunities,” the Somerset Foundation’s Women and Girls Development Officer Amber Casely said.
“Our aim at the foundation is to make cricket accessible for all, to build on the successes and continue to grow and develop the girls’ game.
“We have seen significant growth and interest in the uptake of our initiatives and programmes and I am very proud to be a part of inspiring the next generation. Our ambition is to encourage even more girls to take up cricket and continue to provide initiatives that prove that cricket is a game for all to take part in.”
Perhaps the most innovative has been the launch of the Mindfulness Sessions earlier this month.
The aim of the sessions are to provide the girls with techniques to help ease any anxieties and worries they might have when playing cricket or in everyday life. The first session of yoga and mindfulness took place this month with 12 girls attending.
“The mindfulness sessions came together incredibly well,” said Casely. “They provided the girls with at least three breathing techniques which they can put into practise when playing cricket and, if they wanted, in their day-to-day life.
“By providing them with coping mechanisms and relevant breathing techniques we hope this will equip them to eliminate personal barriers and therefore allow the girls to be comfortable and confident in managing the emotions when playing the game.”
This year Somerset will host a professional women’s county team that will, for the first time, play alongside the men’s team in the Vitality Blast and Metro Bank One-Day Cup.
It is the next step in the rise and rise of women’s cricket and, with England Women in town for their Metro Bank One-Day International against West Indies on Saturday 7 June, there’s plenty of top-level cricket to inspire the next generation.
Luff and her team-mate understand their role in helping to maintain the growth of the game and are more than willing to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in with Masterclass sessions to ensure young players can not only meet their role models but learn from them too.
Luff and England World Cup winner Fran Wilson have each run two sessions as well as Natasha Wraith, Mollie Robbins, Chloe Skelton and Karla Rose who is now working as a community coach with the Foundation.
“The masterclass are a great initiative,” Luff said of the sessions that have engaged almost 300 girls in the past two years.
“Girls have the opportunity to focus on a specific skill set, but also the chance to gain knowledge from a professional cricketer. When else would they have the chance to get coached by a pro!”
Casely said: “The girls love being coached by experts in these areas. The masterclasses allow us to offer them a chance to be coached by their role models. I am a strong believer of ‘if you can see it, you can be it’.”
Over the winter months the Foundation runs an eight-week programme offering sustainable and structured sessions to girls, working alongside the county’s pathways state school programme.
This ensures all girls interested in the game have access to a winter training opportunity. Across the past two years 220 girls have taken part with sessions run across the whole county to attract and reach as many girls as possible.
“I normally feel quite shy around new people, but I feel I’m more open to chat and play cricket with girls who also enjoy the same sport as I do,” one of the participants said.
The Foundation’s ‘Glow In The Dark’ sessions are another unique way to help break down barriers to cricket with the game played under UV lights and with the participants wearing fluorescent bibs and face paint. More than 150 girls have taken part so far.
Casely explains the background to the initiative: “When we started ‘Glow In The Dark’, it was important to me that we provided the girls a different, engaging way to play cricket.
“For a lot of girls, being seen, and messing up and becoming embarrassed is a huge barrier to why they don’t try out something new. ‘Glow In The Dark’ allows us to provide that inclusive space, where no one can be seen, therefore the girls are more willing to give every aspect of cricket a go. I am yet to find someone who hasn’t had an enjoyable experience.”
The Foundation have run these sessions in a variety of ways, including festivals where girls could enter as individuals and a festival where they could enter as part of a club team.
The Foundation also staged ‘Glow In The Dark Cricket’ taster sessions for each class at St Katherine’s in Ham Green and ran a festival in the indoor centre at Somerset’s Taunton ground which welcomed girls from Bridgwater College Academy, Buckler’s Mead Academy in Yeovil, Priory Community School in Worle and St Katherine’s.
One of the girls who took part said: “It boosts my confidence. It would definitely be something I’d do again because it’s fun and you can’t see their faces so you can’t get embarrassed”.
Teachers agree, Courtenay Gadd from Priory Community School telling the foundation team: “I love how different it was, and it engages girls in a fun way where they don’t have to worry about what other people think if they mess up.
“They were all buzzing about it on the bus on the way back. They were talking about it to their friends who didn’t get to go as soon as we got back.”
By Jeremy Blackmore, ECB Reporters Network
