We are encouraging as many clubs as possible to offer Women’s Softball Cricket at their club in order to get more 13+ year old females playing cricket. It is an ideal way to spend the long summer evenings keeping fit, learning new skills and meeting new people. It is a very sociable event and in recent years we have marketed this as ‘Wine and Wickets’ which has proved a great success at clubs.
Last season over 20 clubs offered their women softball cricket opportunities and during the summer of 2019 clubs across the county ran 8 festivals, attended by pver 300 women.
Many clubs offer a small glass of something to help the event along, as well as offer food and a chance to socialise afterwards.
Who would you invite to your softball sessions?
Women’s Softball is the perfect complement to your colts training nights and the perfect way to get more ladies involved. The target audience is;
- Mums of juniors and All Stars
- Wives and girlfriends and friends of existing players
- Daughters / Sisters 13+ of existing players
- Local female sports teams wanting a social for the summer
- Secondary school girls
- Ex-players who fancy getting back into cricket
- Existing players who maybe lost to the game for not wanting to play hardball
Who can I get to run softball cricket at my club?
The programme can be run by any volunteer, helper or cricket activator. You don’t need to be a level 2 cricket coach to run this activity. We encourage each session to focus on softball and informal cricket with an emphasis on fun and getting everyone involved.
However, if you are interested in running softball cricket at your club and would like to develop your coaching skills, you might like to attend a Level One Foundation Course or just an Activator Course, which is good for people at an early entry to cricket coaching.
During the programme we would encourage clubs to attend a number of informal softball festivals hosted at cricket clubs around the County. For details of festivals, please click here
How can we support you?
- Flyer templates and marketing materials
- A small amount of high quality Women’s Softball New Balance kit for new clubs
- T-Shirts for all women who attend a festival
- Female specific activators course at Exeter University in the Spring
- Online resource with coaching and session plans
What does my club need to do?
- Find a lead volunteer to front and drive the scheme in 2019
- Utilise the flyers and posters provided to advertise getting new 14+ year old women along to a session
- Run 4+ sessions at your club
- Attend a summer festival
- Provide feedback on of the programme
Timeline for Programme
April, May, June, July and August - Run your Women’s Softball programme
June, July, August – attend a festival
Express your clubs interest contact Ann-Marie Presswell for more info.