This is the time of the year when parents are looking for cricket clubs for their kids to join , when those who have recently moved to Ireland are seeking out a suitable club to meet their competitive and/or social needs and when those who thought they might like to take up or return to the sport have to decide if they are actually going to make contact with a local club.
The ‘Get Into Cricket’ Initiative, launched last year by Cricket Leinster with the support of RSA, can help. The system is up and running again this year and all clubs are encouraged to take advantage of it to seek out new members.
There are three steps to the process.
Someone looking to find a cricket club checks out the Cricket Leinster website and on the Home page there is a prominent link entitled ‘Get Into Cricket’. [Interested in Playing Ireland’s Fastest Growing Sport]. Once the relevant link is pressed the enquirer is brought to a webpage, which lists all the cricket clubs in Leinster and provides an interactive map so that someone new to the game can see where his or her nearest club is.
The second step is to choose a club and find out more about what they have to offer. An information panel provides details of the services offered e.g. competitive cricket, youth and womens sections, social cricket, summer camps, and other background information about the club.
The third step is the person completes a short “enquiry’ form that sends an e/mail message to the club concerned. After that it is up to the club to reply and make contact.
A steady stream of enquiries are made through the website but it is important that clubs ensure three things:
- that the contact details are correct,
- that information on the services offered [e.g. about summer camps] is accurate and up to date and
- that there is someone to respond to enquiries.
Clubs can update the information using their normal Club Admin access to edit ‘Details’ about the club on the website. The key information items for ‘Get Into Cricket’ are
- location though this is unlikely to change
- email ‘Get Into Cricket’ uses the ‘Main Contact Point’ This is often the Youth Section Administrator or the Team Secretary.
- new member info whatever text you want
- about the club whatever text you want
The details on the Service offered by clubs generally don’t change from year to year i.e. Open / Women / Youth / Social / Summer School. If you want to change any of the above let us know at the contact address below.
If there are any queries about the operation of the Initiative contact admin@cricketleinster.ie