Jersey Cricket Launches Girls Cricket Academy Programme

This month sees the launch of a new Girls Cricket Academy Programme and the return of the ever-popular Spring Term Cricket Courses, sponsored by Rathbones.

Developed by the team at Jersey Cricket Board, after recognising an increased appetite for cricket by young girls, the Rathbones Junior Girls Cricket Academy began on Sunday 13th January at Oakfield and is open to any girls from School Year 3 up to Year 6, running for 10 weeks throughout the winter and 10 weeks throughout the summer. The Rathbones Senior Girls Academy, which also launched on Sunday, is by invite only and the girls are selected on performances in training and fixtures throughout previous years.

Led by qualified coaches, Rose Hill (Junior Academy Coach) and Pete Rutherford (Senior Academy Coach) there is real hope that the Girls Academy Programmes will identify and nurture exciting talent amongst young girls who may one day go on to play for Jersey in international competitions.

Any girls still wanting to join the Junior Academy sessions are welcome to attend and can find out more information by emailing lee@jerseycricketboard.co.uk.

The hugely successful Spring Term Cricket Courses for girls and boys in school years 2 to 8 commence on Wednesday 16th January and will run for 10 weeks through to the end of March.

Run by qualified coaches, the sessions, which focus on getting the youngsters playing modified cricket games to help them learn new skills and techniques in both softball and hardball cricket, are held on Tuesdays at Oakfield Sports Centre; Thursdays at Le Rocquier School and Fridays at St Georges Prep School.

Now in its twelfth year, the program once again sees over 100 junior cricketers getting the opportunity to further their cricketing experiences.

Lee Meloy, Jersey Cricket Development Manager, comments ‘We are delighted that Rathbones has agreed to support our new Girls Academy programme. Over the past three years, we have been working to strengthen our junior pathway for girls and women’s cricket on the island in order to achieve the long term goal of playing senior International T20 cricket. This is now an important part of the ICC’s future programme and we want to ensure our players are part of that.’

Excited to be adding this new programme to their sponsorship portfolio, Rathbones’ managing director, Jonathan Giles said “Popularity of cricket amongst both boys and girls is increasing year on year in Jersey and we are incredibly proud to be working closely with the Jersey Cricket Board to ensure that all youngsters who wish to play this great sport can. In addition, we look forward to supporting a summer visit from ex-England International cricketer Lydia Greenway and Cricket for Girls, after their highly successful first trip in 2018.”