Efforts to rejuvenate cricket in the Shoalhaven have commenced and the local clubs are all on-board.
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A lot of discontentment, as frustrated cricket officials and players started raising their concerns, surfaced towards the end of the season .
This led to the South Coast Register doing an extensive five piece feature series on the state of the sport in the Shoalhaven.
The issues raised by the clubs were taken on-board and Area Manager - Southern NSW and ACT Martin Gleeson, along with members of his team, recently met with club representatives to get their feedback.
Mr Gleeson said it was hard to identify the one big issue facing Shoalhaven cricket.
However, common themes, that will form the basis of developing a strategy that will address a number of key areas, were identified.
Some of the common themes from the meetings were:
- The importance of clubs being able to retain their players as well as recruit new players to the game
- Most clubs are essentially run by a small but dedicated group of volunteers. There is a lot of work that volunteers do but it is getting harder for clubs to recruit volunteers to help out. Position descriptions would be helpful for most club volunteers to assist in managing and spreading their workload
- Clubs would like to see the under 16s competition resume
- Clubs want to have a focus on juniors and build club numbers from the bottom up
- Growing the participation of cricket in schools and engagement is also important
- There were mixed views on the structure of senior cricket with suggestions of lower grades playing more one day cricket with A Grade playing all formats and
- The passion and commitment of club volunteers also shone through in the discussions.
Mr Gleeson said the meetings went well.
"A critical component of this project is the engagement opportunity for clubs and club members to have their say and to provide their feedback and input across a range of areas," he said.
"Therefore, the meetings were held with each club to consider all points of view and also to understand the specific environments and challenges within each club.
"Each club were asked a standard set of questions to get their feedback on key issues and to better understand their current environment."
All clubs were represented at the meetings and in total 27 representatives from the nine clubs attended the gatherings.
The club meetings were part of the project plan, which was an idea discussed amongst the steering committee as a chance to get each club's views.
"Clubs recognised that there were challenges with the sport and providing the right participation opportunities but also positive about the game and of its importance in the local community," the area manager said.
"The importance of getting junior cricket right was reinforced to ensure long term sustainability of clubs."
Lots of work to improve cricket in the Shoalhaven is taking place during the off-season.
"This project (the club meetings) is a major piece of work during the off-season which is about building a strategy for the association and the clubs for their benefit over the next three to four years," Mr Gleeson said.
"The next phase from the club meetings are to digest and analyse the results of the meetings and then to organise a club forum to present information back to clubs and to discuss structures and more competition based questions.
"This will form the content and detail for developing the overall strategy.
"Unfortunately, these sorts of projects do take time to ensure that all clubs are engaged and consulted and have an opportunity to have their say."
None of the clubs indicated that they would be leaving the local association to join another.
