Welcome to issue 2 of TOWIO! It’s been a busy start, setting up links within the community and sending a letter to local schools offering cricket free of charge in the school, in return for being able to promote our club in there.
I’ve started meeting with schools in the local area and developing a coaching structure that will see us coach every child of primary school age.
What we will be aiming at is an assembly in which to talk about how great cricket is and also how fantastic Old Owen’s Cricket Club is, plus we will be running Cricket World Cup days within the school, with a trophy being handed out to the best team there. And of course ensuring that every child has a chance to have a bat, bowl and field the ball.
We will also be hosting an end of year cricket tournament for all schools who we have worked with in the area and that will be held on Monday 16th July at the club. So, exciting times ahead!!
We really want every child’s first experience of cricket to be lots of fun and to lead to a lifetime’s love of the game.
The O’s training times this summer and CALLING ALL COACHES
In 2019 we are starting to build our junior section, The O’s. Taking children as young as four, we will be running coaching every Monday night from 29th April through to 19th August, so plenty of opportunity to come down and play some cricket.
The Mini O’s (4-6 year olds) will run from 5.30-6.15pm. This will be a fun, high impact introduction to cricket.
The Young O’s (6-8 year olds) will run from 5.30-6.30pm. This will be about working on the basics of batting, bowling and fielding and an introduction to playing some fun softball matches at the end of the lessons.
The Middle O’s (9-11 year olds) will run from 6.15-7.45pm. We will be working on match play, batting and bowling and fielding with it leading to playing both soft and hard ball matches dependent on the child’s confidence.
The Giant O’s (12-15 year olds) will run from 6:30-8pm. This will be a combination of nets-based game scenarios, batting, bowling, fielding drills and wicket keeping drills for would be keepers. With hard ball matches against teams in the area also played during this time when available.
All sessions will be run by our dedicated team of Level 2 coaches assisted by Level 1 coaches, drawn from the club and families of The O’s.
We will be building sessions up so that we are ready to play in the junior leagues in the season of 2020, but for 2019 there will be plenty of opportunities to play friendly cricket against many teams within the local area.
With all the contacts I have in the local community with other clubs I shall try and arrange some club friendlies for The O’s before the end of the season, so that we can play some competitive cricket this season at the club.
The cost of the training this year, as we are starting up our junior section again, is going to be very reasonable, so that we can provide cricket for all regardless of ability, gender or social back ground. Every child really does matter.
Coaching Badges
The aim of our junior cricket section will be to get as many people involved in cricket as we can. As mentioned in TOWIO 1, we want senior players and family members of The O’s to be as involved as possible, with coaching something we treasure highly.
If anyone wishes to gain a cricket coaching badge this winter and become involved in the Old Owen’s junior coaching unit there is still time. The Level 1 coaching badge takes just 6 hours 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 the link to the scheduled coaching Badges workshop below:
April 28th at Middlesex Indoor Cricket Centre
https://booking.ecb.co.uk/c/express/e1fc5b63-8009-438e-a465-c984051d4a5d
If you fancy doing the course please contact me, Jim Clarke, on 07885 995414 or at oocccdo@hotmail.com .
What else will be going on a Monday night at the club?
We will also be running women’s cricket at the club on Monday nights from 6.30-8 so that we can get all the mum’s, sisters, auntie’s and grandma’s down the club. We want to be able to provide on a Monday night a proper community club where we offer cricket for all. The women’s cricket will be running for anyone between the ages of 3 and 103. It will be soft ball and open to all regardless of ability.
Walking cricket is for all those who cannot run anymore (possibly put me in that category soon!) and will be played from 6.30-8pm at the club.
We really want Monday nights to be a massive community evening at the club and with the bar open and a BBQ on you can make Old Owen’s a fixture on Monday nights at the club and spread the word to all you know.
Senior Cricket
We have 3 senior teams on a Saturday, with the 1st XI having secured another promotion to the championship after being CHAMPIONS of Division 1 last year. Well done lads!
The 2nd XI will play in Division 7A of the Herts League, after finishing in 7th place last season. We have high hopes for moving the 2’s up the divisions in the near future.
The 3rd XI were promoted to Division 10B of the Herts League from Regional Div A East.
We will also be having some Sunday social fixtures, once in a while, against teams in the local area and the occasional md-week fixture too.
All new senior members are welcome to come to our nets, which take place every Thursday night at the Hertfordshire Sports Village, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield Business Park, Hatfield, AL10 9EU from 8-9pm.
For more details on how to join the seniors please contact the following. We have cricket for all regardless of ability and age at the club this summer:
Tim Lane (Chairman) 07977 998502 or tim9lane@gmail.com
Shaun Flook (Secretary) 07718 050587 or shaunflook@aol.com
Bradley Lane (1st XI Captain) 07738 005332 or bradleylane9@gmail.com
How to follow us on social media or online
We have a NEW website with lots of information at www.oldowenscricketclub.co.uk such as all the contacts and match reports (as well as stunning photographs).
Twitter: @Oldowenscc has score updates, final scores, social events etc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OldOwensCricketClub/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldowenscc/
All the latest information will go on there on a regular basis so you cannot fail to know what is going on at the club in 2019.
We love cricket and I am so excited about the season coming around!
Strive With A Will
Jim Clarke (CDO) and Old Owens CC
