Introducing Jim (CDO) – And The OOCC Junior Section
Hi and welcome to the first edition of The Only Way is Owen’s, the newsletter is about letting people know what is going on at Old Owen’s Cricket Club and within the local community cricket scene. We are very excited to be sharing all our activities and events at the club with you and encourage you to become a part of our family friendly club!
Introducing myself first of course, My name is Jim Clarke and I am the new Cricket Development Officer for the club, It is my job to root out new links to the community through schools and various clubs. When a child joins Old Owen’s I do not just look at the child joining, but also the need to offer cricket for the whole family.
My ethos with junior as well as senior cricket is that everyone should have the opportunity to play cricket and to take an active role within the game. It is vitally important that “Every Child Matters” and when they walk off the pitch they can tell all their family and friends what it was like to have the opportunity to hit a ball for four or to bowl out someone from the opposition. To me, you have five minutes to win over any child and get them playing cricket. With the high tempo and fun sessions that I run in local schools to promote cricket, I am confident that I can reach out to everyone who wants to play the great game of cricket!
I come from a family where my parents disliked cricket, which is obviously why my brother and are cricketing fanatics! I found my love for cricket in 1982 when I was four watching my mum hit, in her only game, against my primary school teachers an amazing 102! Not many people can say they have a higher average than Don Bradman but my mum does :). I am also the second best brother at cricket as well in my family as well out of two, but what I lack in talent to play cricket I make up for with my infectious drive and enthusiasm for the game.
I am also the CDO at Winchmore Hill where I have built up a strong link with over 50 schools in the local community. In the three years we have coached nearly 10,000 children in the community. I am also the CDO at Radlett and North Mymms as well where we are building links in schools / community clubs etc etc.
My role at Old Owen’s is to build links to rebuild the previously highly successful junior section at the club. After meeting with Tim and Shaun, club chairman and secretary respectively, as well as many others at the club, I was sold on what the club means to those dedicated and hardworking individuals who have helped the club’s senior teams climb through the leagues and impressively reach the Championship this season.
In future editions of the newsletter we will be sharing all fixtures, results and any social functions going on at the club. To us we are not just a cricket club, but a community social hub. If we miss out on just one person, who wishes to play cricket for OOCC, that is one person too many.
What are OOCC’s community goals for 2019?
As well as three adult teams, this summer we will be offering:-
- Colts Cricket
- Walking Cricket
- Family Cricket (tennis ball cricket for the whole family)
- Women’s/Girls Cricket as well.
Coaching Badges
The aim of our junior cricket section will be based on getting as many people involved in cricket as we can. The successes at Winchmore Hill, where we have quadrupled our junior numbers in the past three years is down to the fact that we have nearly 100 coaches at the club as well so that each session is run with a very low coach to player ratio.
If anyone wishes to gain a cricket badge this winter and become involved in the Old Owen’s junior coaching unit there is still time. Hertfordshire Cricket has broken away from Cricket East this year and so Middlesex will be running our Level 1 cricket badge workshops.
The Level 1 coaching badge takes just 6 hours, either on a Saturday or a Sunday, and it means that you can assist a Level 2 cricket coach in running a cricket session. It demonstrates the basic planning of how a session should be run and also is the foundation to doing the Level 2 coaching badge.
Please see links to all the coaching Badges workshops below:
April 28th at Middlesex Indoor Cricket Centre
https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/e1fc5b63-8009-438e-a465-c984051d4a5d
February 24th at Merchant Taylors School
https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/0ac90a55-1db1-4c89-84cd-614d3941c734
If you fancy doing either of the course please contact me, Jim Clarke, on 07885995414 or at oocccdo@hotmail.com .
We all look forward to meeting you soon!
Strive with a will!
Jim and Old Owen’s CC
