Isobel Joyce – Women’s & Girls Development Update

After a couple of months working with Cricket Leinster, it’s exciting to see the changes already happening within Women’s cricket across the province. I was delighted to be present for the opening day of the Hundred Ball League (HBL) which was hugely successful and shows how innovation has a key role to play in expanding our sport.  

I have been working hard meeting with various club representatives – it’s very helpful for me to understand the issues and challenges facing  clubs in promoting female game and I am committed to finding solutions which will help drive growth in both participation and ultimately performance at club level.

Although the female game is relatively strong in Leinster, it ultimately requires a bigger playing base and that’s why I have been working with clubs to run their Give-It-A-Blast evenings. For example, I am pleased to report that Terenure CC had a fantastic event for beginners alongside current players and they rounded the night off with a social element including a BBQ – a great showcase for can be done. Terenure is now looking for friendlies for their newly formed Women’s team and will be entering a team in Cricket Leinster leagues next season – which is great progress.

I’ve also worked hard to provide clubs with all of the tools they’ll need to run a successful Introduction to Cricket evening which includes poster templates, sample exercises to run and also guidance on how to go about maintaining momentum after the initial event.

Another initiative I have been looking at is a potential new Division 4 for 2020 and there has been great feedback about those proposals. This new competition would be a developmental/friendly league and would focus on participation rather than competition for adult cricketers – this will help address the dearth of playing in the over 20s category.

I’ve also been able to run and observe a number of girls coaching sessions in some of our clubs including North County CC, Adamstown CC and Malahide CC. It’s fantastic to learn from coaches in top clubs but to also share my experiences and ideas – my primary focus is to drive increased participation by improving playing numbers at existing clubs and introducing new clubs to female cricket.

I’ve also been making contact with clubs who are looking to begin a girls or women’s programme and I’m excited to support those clubs in their new ventures – it’s important that we begin that planning now in order to achieve material progress for the 2020 season.

As always, please feel free to contact me at isobel.joyce@cricketleinster.ie