THE lack of an under 16s competition this season shows that all is not well in the Shoalhaven Cricket ranks.
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Time spent in the under 16s gives many local juniors the chance to fine-tune aspects of their games before they go onto having successful grade careers.
President of the Shoalhaven Junior District Cricket Association, Brett Mark, has been thinking long and hard about the drop in player numbers and about the lack of an under 16s competition.
“I have noticed that this season and last season that the numbers are really falling away,” he said
Not having an under 16s competition is a concern for the junior association president and also a worry for the senior association.
Brett and his committee did notice the under 16s were struggling last season.
It [watching your child play cricket] is quite pleasurable.
- Brett Mark
“The situation with the under 16s was noticed last season when we had a five-team competition and two of those were from Norths [North Nowra-Cambewarra] and we had a combined Bomaderry/Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemens team. From that combined team, only about three players were eligible for under 16s this season,” he said
“I could also see from a Norths perspective that we would only just get 12 players for the one team.
“We always had two under 16s teams during my association with the club [Norths].”
Brett is going into his third year as president of the junior association and wants more girls and boys playing cricket.
The under 16s age group is a tricky one as the players start to get other interests, which has been noted by the junior president.
He agreed that a region like the Shoalhaven should have an under 16s competition.
The association has tried to get more youths involved in the sport.
There are various programs aimed at getting younger players to try cricket and the stage one under 11s is now a non-competitive competition, with no wins or losses recorded.
A strong school-based competition could help boost the dwindling number of junior cricket players, according to the junior association president.
He would love to see Cricket Australia and Cricket NSW get more into schools and run as many programs as possible.
“It [interest in cricket] starts at that very low level,” he said.
Brett said he has tried to raise the need to get into schools issue with higher up administrators, without success.
“But I think that is where it needs to start – it has to start in schools,” he said.
When Brett was growing up and going to school, there was always one or two teachers who drove the cricket programs.
“They would take the time to play cricket with the kids in the afternoon and if a school does not have anyone interested in that, well it just does not happen,” he said.
“I think the big thing is to get a school program in place and get these cricketers who are on contracts to come down to help run it and we could have an inter-school local comp.
“It does not have to run all season – it could be just leading up to the cricket season.
“It would get kids interested and then by the time the season rolls around, they would be putting up their hands saying ‘I will play I will play’.”
Brett said from a parent’s point of view, junior cricket can be a wonderful thing to watch and support.
His son Lachlan is a promising young player.
“It [watching your child play cricket] is quite pleasurable. Watching Lachlan develop has been a great journey,” Brett said.
He said cricket had helped build Lachlan’s character.
“Cricket is a great leveller – you can get out and look a million dollars and go out and get nothing,” the junior president said.
He said cricket has taught Lachlan a lot about himself.
“I think Lachlan has learnt about teamwork and I have noticed when a mate is having a bad trot, he is one of the first people to go over and have a chat to him,” Brett said.
I have noticed that this season and last season that the numbers are really falling away
- Brett Mark
He would love to see past players coming back, joining committees and helping the sport in its time of need
“It’s the usual story – a few people do a lot of the stuff. Now is the time for the sake of the sport for more people to get involved,” Brett said
He said a real void of experience had left cricket.
Read more: Senior presidents talks about player decline
Brett’s cricket connection goes back to the 1980s and he started with Albatross, spent time at Nowra before ultimately joining Norths, which he is still aligned with today.
He has not seen too many seniors games, apart from fourth grade, this season, but he has noticed a worrying concern.
“Clubs are struggling for numbers,” he said.
He knows you can’t compare different eras but does think the first grade competition is not as strong as is was in previous seasons.
He even suggested a four-team competition in first grade might be the way to go.
“That would get your best players on the park playing your best cricket against each other and you would get competitive cricket,” he said.
In the next part of the of our series, we head to club land. A local club has sent an interesting piece on how they see cricket at the moment. You could pretty much attribute the statement to any club in the local area – they are all feeling and seeing the same things. It makes for interesting reading indeed.