IBM Hursley Cricket Club – Juniors (Colts)
Dear Parent/Guardian/Carer,
On behalf of IBM Hursley CC whether you are a new or an existing player we would like to welcome you and your child and take this opportunity to provide you with some information about our Colts Section. Please read this carefully and keep as a reference for the future.
It is our aim to provide young people with the opportunity to receive quality coaching and participate in competitive cricket in the Winchester and District League. Coaching is led by qualified coaches who are trained and have been screened for their suitability to work with children and young people.
The Club is run totally by volunteers who give up their spare time freely to allow our young players to learn and play and we therefore welcome offers of any help and hope that you will feel able to get involved.
Background
The junior section was a new addition to the IBM Hursley Cricket Club club in 2009 with the introduction of an U9 team and we are going from strength to strength, now operating cricket in Under 9’s, U11’s, U13’s and U15's. As our numbers grow and the club progresses we aim to provide coaching and competition for children of all ages and eventually into our adult teams.
Many of our older existing and ex-Colts are now playing adult cricket for IBM Hursley in the Saturday Hampshire Cricket League, Sunday adult friendly matches and mid-week adult matches and we hope to encourage this further as we develop more young people through the Colts Section.
We welcome you to all coaching sessions and competitive games and value your support.
Coaching
Winter indoor coaching will take place on Thursday evenings for Under 11's , Under 13's and Under 15's from January through to the end of March at Hampshire Collegiate School, just outside Romsey. For our Under 9's, in 2018 winter indoor training will take place on Sunday afternoons as the IBM Hursley Club sports hall from January to March.
Outdoor coaching for all age groups begins in April and runs through to around end July with all outdoor training taking place at IBM Hursley (in the village of Hursley) on Thursday evenings. This outdoor training largely depends on the weather, but we usually run our summer outdoor training from early April through to mid/end July.
We would appreciate it if you could ensure that your child arrives promptly in time for the start of each session and is collected promptly at the end of each training session. For security reasons, we ask that you leave us a contact number if this differs from the number you have given on your membership form.
If any outdoor training session has to be cancelled for any reason, we endeavour to email parents to inform them by 5pm at the latest. Please therefore check your emails before setting off for training to avoid any wasted journeys.
Keeping in touch with you
We will send you emails regarding cricket matters to the email address that you have supplied us on your child's membership form. If this should change, or if you want to add additional contacts for email purposes, please notify the Colts Secretary so that you continue to be kept informed.
Membership costs
We charge a membership fee each year which covers the cost of all of our outdoor coaching (from April to end July). A membership form is required to be completed for each player every year, to ensure that the Club continues to hold the most up-to-date contact, medical and emergency information. Membership forms and payments will be issued and co-ordinated by the Colts Secretary early each year, to whom all membership enquiries should be addressed.
Welfare of our players
To ensure children’s safety every club must have in place a Child Welfare Officer (CWO), our CWO is Tony Adams. If there are any issues/concerns regarding your child please contact Tony on 07718581111 or
Code of Conduct
We have a code of conduct within the Club which we expect to be honoured by all our members. Players are expected to read this on joining the Club and accept the contents of the Code.
IBM Cricket website
We would take this opportunity to bring to your attention the IBM Club website. On the website, there is a link to news, policies, match reports, fixtures, results and much more for both adult and Colts cricket fixtures so it is worth taking a look from time to time. The website address is http://cricket.ibmhursleyclub.org.uk
Team clothing supplier
Below is the link to the supplier of our range of Club branded cricket gear:-
https://seriouscricket.co.uk/teamwear/stores/ibm-hursley-juniors/
Cricket clothing
There is no requirement for players to wear full cricket “whites” to training sessions – suitable sports clothing that allows them to run around and play cricket with suitable footwear is fine. However, if a player takes part in a match, they are expected to wear white sports clothing or cricket whites. You will probably find that most children will want to wear “proper cricket whites” when they see their team-mates and opposition wearing theirs.
In the younger age groups, you may not want to invest initially in cricket bats, gloves, pads etc and we have some limited equipment that we use for training sessions and at matches that they can borrow. As children progress and find that they enjoy the sport and want to continue, we tend to find that they then want to choose their own bat etc. Please go to a reputable sports shop for proper advice about the best size of bat etc for your child. We also have some useful guidance available on the website about buying the right equipment for your child so we advise you to read this before making expensive purchases.
Please ensure that your child has a drink available for every training session (preferably water and not fizzy drinks) and, in the summer months, that you have applied sun cream and that they wear suitable sun protection if required (hat, sun glasses).
Personal safety equipment
Players in U9 squads play and train with a soft ball. However, from the U11 squad and above, we will often be training – and playing cricket matches - with a hard ball so male players need to have an "abdominal box" and suitable underwear to hold it in place to all training sessions. Without this, they may not be able to take part in training as it would not be safe to do so. If you are unsure what this is, please speak either to your coach or Colts Secretary at a training session. These items can be purchased very cheaply from most good sports suppliers.
Players in U11's and above will also be required to wear a helmet when practising or playing with a hard ball. We have a limited number available for children to borrow to use in a match but we find that most children prefer to have their own. When playing with a hard ball, they will also need batting pads and gloves for protection and safety.
Match fees
Selection of teams for matches is the responsibility of the Head Coach for each age group. We have a Selection Policy which is published on our website.
If your child is selected and plays in a match at any time, there is a £1 match fee payable. For tournaments/special events there may be a slightly higher fee and you will be made aware of this by the relevant team manager/coach.
All match fees are payable on the day of the match to the Team Manager, unless you are advised to the contrary.
Clubmark
The IBM Colts Cricket Club achieved Clubmark status in 2009 which identifies us as a Club that provides quality coaching in a safe environment for young people. We are reassessed regularly to ensure that we maintain appropriate standards and processes/policies and we successfully retained our Clubmark accreditation when we were reassessed in 2013. We were assessed again in 2017 and we are pleased to say that we were successful in continuing to be recognised as a Clubmark club.
Key Colts contacts
Junior Co-ordinator (coaching) Mike Pollard
Junior Co-ordinator/Colts Secretary Shirley Robbins
Club Welfare Officer Tony Adams
Head Coach Under 9's Tony Portelli
Head Coach Under 11's Mahadevan Ramanan
Head Coach Under 13's Shameel Naqvi
Head Coach Under 15's Dan Rides
We hope that this information answers some of the common questions regarding playing cricket and being part of our Club. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to speak to either your Coach, Team Manager or Colts Secretary.