This week saw the introduction of Lindum Cricket Club’s YouTube channel! Every Friday evening there will be new videos uploaded which will aim to maximise your progression and ensure you don’t miss out on the joy of Friday night training at the Lindum. The videos will be provided by current Lindum CC coaches and players, who have vast experience in coaching and playing cricket. There may be some very special guests in the coming weeks providing videos too, so keep your eyes peeled!

I have received some great feedback already on the channel and some improvements will be implemented over the coming weeks. It’s great to see so many people accessing the channel, many of this week’s videos have already had 100 different people viewing them. I have also received emails from local PE teachers saying they will be using these videos for their own students in the coming lockdown weeks. Additionally, this week we are launching a new playlist to the channel ‘All Stars, Dynamos and Primary Schools’. This playlist is targeted specifically at this audience and will provide an introduction to cricket. This weekly playlist can also be provided as a ‘Home cricket PE lesson’ for primary school teachers and help aid their teaching of cricket in PE. As a club we are extremely proud to support teachers during these unprecedented times, they are doing an amazing job.

We are also providing family quizzes; the quiz takes place every other Saturday night at 7pm and is gaining in popularity. We have encouraged families to wear yellow and make a small donation to St Barnabas Hospice (our charity partner) before completing the quiz to show our support of the incredible work the charity is doing. However, this is not a requirement to take part in quiz. We hope this quiz can bring some light-hearted entertainment to families over the coming weeks. The next quiz is this Saturday (02/05/20) at 7pm on the Lindum CC Juniors Facebook page. The more the merrier! (Thank you to Lois who has been designing these quizzes, Lois is new to the Club and took on the role as the Junior Social Representative this year.)

Our winter training programme was enjoyed by all who attended and a special thank you to the coaches who made this happen (Matt Benson-U9’s, Simon Shreeves-U9’s, Dom Belletty-U9’s, Tim Jenkins-U11’s, Nick Kirk-U13’s and John Alford-U15’s). I was hugely impressed by the progress made by all and the energy generated by the coaches and players is infectious! I left every session with a huge grin! Due to this winter’s success we have already booked next year’s indoor facilities at Lincoln Minster School, arguably the best indoor cricketing facility within the county. Due to our growing success and recognition in coaching cricket our junior interest has skyrocketed. With this increased interest we have expanded our coaching team. This summer we have seven new coaches due to undertake their All Star and Dynamo Activator Coaching Awards, despite this award being postponed currently. This seven was made up of local PE teachers and current members at Lindum Cricket Club. Additionally, this winter, Ian Fisher, Matt Benson and Tim Jenkins all gained their ECB accredited Level 2 Coaching Awards. As a club we pride ourselves in providing continual development to our coaching team. If you are interested in becoming a coach at Lindum Cricket Club please email me directly at- willwrightlboro@gmail.com

This year we have entered 8 junior teams into the local league, which includes three U9 teams! It’s great to see a large base of young girls and boys coming through. I would like to congratulate Matt Benson on this achievement who has run the All Stars and Dynamos programme at the Lindum for the past few years and has proved to be a huge hit. This year we were expecting 120 All Star and Dynamo members to join the club. All Stars and Dynamos this year are to receive full membership to the club too, for the first time. The club has also invested in providing U9, U10 and U11’s playing members with coloured match shirts, to be worn during matches. These shirts are to be provided to the players at the start of each competitive game. These shirts are to mimic the coloured shirts worn by the Junior’s 2019 World Cup winning heroes and limit the tireless hours spent by parents removing grass stains from white coloured clothing! The U13 and U15 teams will continue to play in whites as these players look to progress into senior cricket if they wish to. We pride ourselves in providing senior cricket to all junior members (female and male) who are ready to make this jump. The Lindum Academy side provides this stepping stone, with excellent mentoring provided by Wes Shelbourne (Manager), Sri Iyer (Coach), John Alford (Coach) and various senior players who provide great support and wisdom along the way. The Sunday Academy plays weekly Sunday fixtures in the league three of the Lincoln and District Cricket League. As a club every senior member is aligned in encouraging our junior members to enjoy senior cricket and ensure there is no segregation between the junior and senior teams.

This year we are further hoping to increase the female participation by starting Lindum Women’s team when safe to do so, after lockdown. At Lindum Cricket Club we are extremely privileged to have two outstanding players; Jodie Cook has played International Women’s Cricket and Sophie Munro has played National Women’s Cricket! It is essential as a club that we have these inspirational role models for all our junior female members. Furthermore, this summer we have gained four additional female coaches, all due to undertake their All Stars and Dynamos Activator Course. Watch this space, the sky is the limit on this front!

As a club socially we are unrivalled! However, there is a greater need for a greater crossover between the senior and junior socials. The introduction of a Junior Social Rep (Lois Stephenson) is helping to make this possible. Last Christmas we held a Junior Christmas Party and despite now being on hold for now, we have plans for a Junior Sports Day, Cricket Coaching week and trips to watch the cricket at Grace Road and Trent Bridge in addition to the events planned by Dan Taylor (Senior Social Representative). Furthermore, we are looking to improve links with the Hockey Club to increase membership crossovers. Hockey and cricket provide many transferable skills and the coaching set up at Lindum Hockey is second to none.

We have also linked up with ‘Opening Up’ a cricket based Mental Health Charity. ‘Opening Up’ are scheduled to give a talk at the end of May to our juniors about good mental health. We are hopeful this can still take place, be it on an online platform. The mental and physical health of our juniors is of upmost importance to us. This year myself, Ian Fisher (Safeguard Lead) and Lesley Bunn (Junior Co-ordinator) undertook certificates to become safeguard leads at the club whilst all of our level two coaches have received safeguard training. More on this to follow from Ian as I know he is writing to Members too.

I would like to thank the Lindum Junior Committee who work relentlessly to ensure we provide the best possible provision of cricket for the local communities. Unfortunately, I can’t name you, as the list would be too long; but you know who you are. Lastly, I would like to thank on behalf of all our club members the work of the key workers connected within club; whatever you are doing, your bravery is honourable, and we look forward to celebrating your work when it is safe to do so.

Stay safe, stay at home and keep playing garden cricket.

Yours sincerely,

Will Wright (Lindum Cricket Club’s Junior Chairman)
#UTL