OOCC Junior Cricket meeting 17th January 2019 – Minutes
OOCC Cricket meeting 17 January 2019 – Bringing back junior cricket plus other new initiatives
Attendees: Tim Lane (Chair), Shaun Flook (Secretary), Alan Hunter, Ralph Lane, Rob Hattrell, Mick Bungey, Chris Palmer, Jack Bloxham, Bradley Lane, Emma Fazz, Chris Whitworth, Robert Sibley, Andy Battersby, Debbie Palmer, Tony Palmer, Fiona Lane, Steve Carter
Apologies: Rory Allen, Bill Reed, Mark McKinstry (volunteered to coach)Ken Rowswell, Sharon and Rick Martin.
- Junior Cricket
All agreed a huge effort to resurrect junior cricket is necessary and desired but only possible if someone has enough time to lead this, which will take a lot of work. Nobody in the club has enough time, so it was agreed that Tim would offer Jim Clark, the Cricket Development Officer for Winchmore Hill, Radlett and North Mymms a competitive but reasonable monthly payment. Tim, Shaun & Fiona met Jim at the club for the first time on Sunday 13 January for 90 minutes & came away impressed, following good word of mouth from people in cricket (this has been doubly confirmed since). Jim will go into local schools and promote the club and get children interested and with volunteers get them playing cricket at and for the club. He is extremely motivated and experienced at this.
Sharon Martin in her position at Stormont may have some ideas and ability to support this project. Andy Battersby and Jack Bloxham’s positions in a school may also provide opportunities.
The short term, realistic aim is to get some juniors playing cricket outside of a league/cup structure this year, with 1-3 teams entered into leagues in 2020.
Junior Section Committee / Volunteer Structure (first discussion)
Those present and some who could not make it volunteered for positions of a formal or informal nature and all offers were warmly appreciated. This wasn’t a voting situation but in due course formalities will be observed.
Junior Coaches – Rob Sibley, Mick Bungey, Brad Lane and Mark McKinstry are all qualified coaches who were either at the meeting or outside have volunteered to coach Old Owens juniors. Others are likely to come forward to be trained up (Jim Clark has stimulated a huge increase in numbers of coaches at Winchmore Hill)
Junior Section Secretary(ies) – Debbie Palmer and Fiona Lane volunteered
Helpers (supporting coaches, umpiring games, ferrying players etc) – Rob Hattrell, Rick Martin, Ralph Lane, Jack Bloxham, Chris Palmer, Shaun Flook, Alan Hunter (there may be others)
Welfare Officer – Sharon Martin may be able to double up across adult and junior sections
Fundraising Lead – Emma Fazz volunteered with help likely from Ralph and Steve (at least)
Marketing lead – Steve Carter
Sundry Ideas
- Just Giving – community projects (fundraising)
- All Stars Cricket event
- Ladies Softball Cricket aka Prosecco Cricket
- Targeted social media (Facebook pixels)
- Competitions – win bats etc
- Colts equipment audit – only buy / source what we don’t already have (Steve has a lot of bats)
- Juniors Presentation Evening will be needed
- Junior cricket could boost Association membership
Next Steps / Actions
ACTION: Tim to make Jim Clarke a provisional offer and if accepted (DONE)
ACTION: Shaun to arrange for committee and other volunteers to meet Jim at club (DONE – meeting will be 7pm on Wednesday 23 January at the club)
- Grounds/Sports Manager apprentice idea (is this right title)?
Bats and Tim are working with Michael Brooks from Herts Uni (he used to run Harpenden Colts) on an initiative whereby aspiring sports club managers (?) complete a Degree Course over 4 years, where for 4 days a week they are on site at a sports club with 1 day in class. The course would include becoming a qualified coach. Old Owens might be able to identify people to join the course. The cost to the Association (not the cricket club) would be minimal.
ACTION: Bats & Tim to attend a meeting Monday 21 January
- Cricket World Cup Club Weekend
We are registered as a “Cricket World Cup Club” and this will enable us to access some merchandise to use over one weekend during the course of the World Cup to run a Cricket World Cup Club Weekend (preferably a Friday to a Sunday) and get some positive PR (and a chance to get some funding, see below). There is a preferred, though not mandatory, weekend of 7-9 June, when there will be the most hype and national publicity but key OOCC club members might not be available and we can choose any weekend during the World Cup.
Ideas:
The Friday – Saracens T20 tournament / one-off match with marquee – BBQ etc AND/OR match vs school with BBQ etc
The Saturday – Ladies/Family Night in the club after the matches?
The Sunday – a tie-in with Finchley Ladies? Girls from Stormont etc to be “coached” by Finchley Ladies?
Next Steps / Actions
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Small working party needed – Shaun happy to do admin / support – maybe Ralph / Emma / Sharon?
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Weekend to be selected (World Cup runs from Friday 30 May to Sunday 14 July)
- Cricket World Cup Club Fund
https://clubs.cricketworldcup.com/club-fund
We can bid for £1000 – 10,000 for either a catering or an IT project. Meeting agreed IT. Ideas include extending wi-fi to scorebox and improving coverage across cricket viewing areas, a new website with Twitter feed for live scores from 1st team games, laptop for Horse as is required for Championship, budget for social media marketing for new junior section.
Next Steps / Actions
-
Shaun to lead a small working group including Brad, Ralph, Steve and maybe others
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Shaun to finalise and submit bid before deadline (Friday 1 March)
- Fantasy Cricket
Chris Whitworth volunteered to introduce Fantasy Cricket to Old Owens to raise funds and create more of a buzz around individual performances across the 3 XI’s.
