The first in a weekly series of ‘Development Diaries’ – which will be focusing on the work being done across the country by the Cricket Ireland Development staff. The diaries will give an insight into what a week is like for those helping to develop the grass-roots of the sport.
The first in a weekly series of ‘Development Diaries’ – which will be focusing on the work being done across the country by the Cricket Ireland Development staff. The diaries will give an insight into what a week is like for those helping to develop the grass-roots of the sport. First up is the Cricket Ireland Regional Development Officer for Munster, James Doran.
Monday September 24th
The week starts with an early morning drive to continue delivery of an Introduction to Cricket programme at Bun Scoil Bhothar Na Naomh national school in Lismore, Co. Waterford.
Normally this is a journey of half an hour or so from my base in Midleton in East Cork but it’s wise to allow extra time as you never know what you might encounter on the narrow country roads.
First up this morning I have the 23 boys and 14 girls of 3rd Class for their third weekly session and we play a match with the class divided into two teams with myself bowling underarm and bonus runs available for hitting the ball through the two target areas of wide mid-on and wide mid-off.
Each batter has the option of a drop feed or a bobble feed as maximising the chance to hit the ball and score runs is what we are about today.
This match set-up is repeated during the rest of the morning with 4th Class and the two separate 5th Classes but after the lunch break the final session sees 6th Class catching up on running between the wickets which they missed out on last week due to a 20 minute downpour which sent us all scurrying for cover.
Tuesday September 25th
It’s 8.55am and the rain has turned pretty heavy as I pass Cork airport en route to Ballygarvan NS which fortunately has a sizeable sports hall so I can set up indoors for day two of their programme which involves a game in which each class is divided into two teams with one team taking a turn at running between the wickets, one pair at a time, whilst the other team try to run them out.
There are two goals in this session – one is to get the batting team to understand how to run with a partner and the other is to get the fielding team to understand how to effect a run-out.
In common with all the games and drills I use in the schools, today’s activity is designed to maximise involvement so we have the fielding team frequently rotating positions and the running pairs switch every minute or so with the fielding positions and running channels colour-coded so everyone can easily see where they have to move or run to.
There is a lot for the children to take on board in this session but I keep the demonstrations and explanations to a minimum as their understanding really comes from the running and repetition of the activity.
By 12.45pm a total of 69 boys and 43 girls from 4th, 5th and 6th Classes have been put through their paces and now know that when running between the wickets the two things you need to ask before setting off on a run are, “Where is the ball?” and “Where is my running partner?”
Then home for lunch and later in the day I head off on the 85 mile drive to Adare, just south of Limerick, where I overnight prior to delivering at two schools tomorrow.
Wednesday September 26th
Scoil Naomh Iosaf NS and St. Nicholas NS are on my timetable for today and were offered the opportunity to participate in the Cricket Ireland Schools’ programme as both schools are within walking distance of the Adare Recreation and Community Centre where Limerick CC are now based and post-programme these schools will then be linked with that club.
The weather is fine so we are outdoors for three sessions at Scoil Iosaf in the morning and one at St. Nicholas in the afternoon all of which will involve the same running between the wickets and fielding activity which I ran yesterday at Ballygarvan.
But there is a significant difference today in that bar the first session of the morning, which is with Scoil Iosaf’s 2nd Class, I will be delivering to classes of mixed age groups. This is quite common in rural areas where teacher ratios and class numbers mean that a particular class may combine two different age groups, for example a 3rd and a 4th Class or a 5th and a 6th Class – as is the case this morning.
With mixed age groups it is important that the division of the class into two teams ensures that there is an equal number of the younger and older children in each team so that the older children can lead the younger ones if necessary (mind you it can sometimes be the other way round!).
In the afternoon session at St. Nicholas NS the age range is even wider as the one class grouping takes in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Class age groups but despite this I don’t have to adapt the session to take account of the age differences as both teams prove themselves to be wonderfully supportive of and helpful to each other.
Mid-afternoon I stop off on the way home to check out the sports hall and outdoor five-a-side pitches at Castletroy College in the south Limerick suburb of Newtown. Tomorrow week I start a three session programme for 1st and 2nd years at the College and an essential part of the pre-delivery planning process is to check the venue and its facilities.
Thursday September 27th
It’s the final session of four for the 1st & 2nd, 3rd & 4th and 5th & 6th Class boys and girls at Whitegate NS on the south-eastern edge of Cork harbour. As I unload the equipment a passing parent provides the quotable quote of the week, if not the year, when she informs me that her daughter told her this morning that, “It’s our last cricket lesson today and I am gutted”.
The particular challenge in this school is how to manage the sessions in a rather small and irregularly-shaped playground. This was easy enough when running the drills and games of the first sessions of the programme which didn’t involve hitting the ball.
But today there will be three fiercely competitive inter-class matches of two innings each with the likelihood of balls being smashed onto the roadway, into adjoining properties or the harbour itself (actually it would be the mudflats as the tide is out this morning).
So the trick here is to devise specific match rules to reward controlled hitting and penalise wayward shots – whether deliberate or accidental – and this works really well as only three balls are hit out of the playground during the morning.
In schools, such as Whitegate, which have small playgrounds the equipment will usually have to be cleared away come break time and then reset post-break. An experienced Regional Development Officer will use this opportunity to introduce the children to the concept of ‘many hands make light work’.
A record number of helpers volunteer this morning after I tell them that I will be taking a photograph of them assisting with the pre-break tidy-up.
Late afternoon finds me setting up for a Cricket Ireland cricket demonstration at Ballymaloe House which is being run in association with East Cork Cricket Club as part of Ballymaloe’s Margaret River Wine Experience event.
East Cork CC members Derek Binchy, Troy File, Sean Tierney, Dirk Tinne plus daughters Gaia & Sophia and Gareth Williams are there to assist as guests attending the Wine Experience are given the chance to try their hand at a range of cricket drills and games.
One of the guests, Annette Wood, despite being heavily pregnant has a go at the pull shot with Sophia acting as her runner but Sophia is run-out by a direct hit probably the first time three batters have been run out in one fell swoop.
Afterwards we are all guests of Ballymaloe at the evening’s wine tasting of six wines from the David Hohnen winery followed by a roast pig harvest supper – it’s a tough job being the Regional Development Officer for Munster but someone has to do it.
Friday September 28th
Last day of the week finds me heading westward to Ballincollig to run three sessions at Scoil Eoin NS and then in the afternoon a further 30 minute drive up into the hills to the north and west to Bealnamorrive for the final session of the week at Ballyvongane NS – an indoor session in the morning but outdoors in the afternoon in glorious sunshine.
It’s day one for both schools so the session format involves catching and throwing drills so I can assess skill levels and then an introduction to the basic principles of running between the wickets including how to carry the bat, sliding the bat and making sure the bat crosses the crease line.
This session usually ends with a competitive drill with one team in a running shuttle relay while the other team have to complete a fielding drill.
So the week ends – a week in which I covered 320 miles and delivered 20 cricket sessions at 7 schools in 3 counties to 352 boys and 180 girls (plus Gaia and Sophia Tinne).
James Doran
With members of East Cork CC in front of Ballymaloe House
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