Valley District Cricket Club Academy in conjunction with PD Cricket
In 2015 I received a call from Grant Mitchell of Valley District Cricket Club regarding the club, my possible future involvement and in particular about an idea he had. Being a Valley’s boy, having played and coached at the club for many years, I was delighted to hear from him. I had not long returned from 12 years overseas and it was great to be back at my home club.
Now this idea that Grant floated was something that I was very familiar with and had implemented abroad and was also an area of the game I was very passionate about. Valley’s being the largest club in the southern Hemisphere and possibly in the world, Grant and the committee were desperate to ensure all members and key stakeholders were able to access a wide and varied level of education in the game that suited each and every Valley’s player.
With so many juniors and to ensure the pathway was robust and producing the appropriate level of player to take the club forward in years to come, it was decided that Valley’s needed a level of coaching that would provide those aspiring young cricketers an opportunity to develop their skills under the guidance of highly qualified coaches in a very personalised environment. The only way to achieve this was to provide a player to coach ratio that enabled the coaches to spend quality one on one time with each and every player.
Most if not all players were involved in teams and they participated in their weekly trainings. However, having coached my sons U9’s and U11’s sides the opportunities for quality skill based development time within these team based sessions is very small, and the players don’t receive what they need to build a solid foundation of skill. Now there is proof that implicit learning does develop youngsters, though I believe there is also a need for positive guidance and direction to aid in a player’s development.
This is where the Academy started. I chose a night/s that predominantly did not clash with club trainings and together with lead coaches designed programs across a range of skill sets that could be delivered through an intensive 7 week program, a detailed and comprehensive education in each of their chosen skill sets.
Batting (intermediate and advanced)
Pace bowling (intermediate and advanced)
Spin Bowling (intermediate and advanced)
Wicketkeeping
Junior Fundamentals (focused on new players covering all 3 facets – bat/ball/field)
Girls Development
Now any program is only as good as the delivery, so the coaching staff were key. All lead coaches are Level 3 coaches, highly skilled and experienced in their chosen fields and they are supported by other qualified club coaches. The strength of the Academy lies in the quality of these people and their delivery and the player to coach ratio. Our groups are capped and therefore we are able to keep the coach to player ratio to 1 coach to 3/4 players maximum.
The Academy runs through 3rd, 4th and 1st term with 2 holiday camps, September and December providing another avenue for young players to get involved. The holiday camps take a slightly different approach, though plenty of skill based work is covered, there is a focus on game based activities along with a variety of small sided games that the players seems to thoroughly enjoy.
To this point we have had 5 very successful years with approximately 250 plus young cricketers passing through the Academy annually. It has proven to be a wonderful success for all involved providing me personally with an opportunity to coach the game at the foundation level which stills gives me immense satisfaction. It also provides opportunities for other coaches to apply their trade, many of these Valley members and the main beneficiaries are the young up and coming cricketers who now have access to quality coaching and support enabling them to maximise their potential.
We must all shoot for the stars and if the VDCC Academy is providing a vehicle to assist in the journey of a young player, well that certainly excites me. A massive thank you must go to Grant Mitchell and the club administration for identifying a need and then bringing it to fruition.