Vision
The Vision for the Juniors of ESCC is to develop a deep and long lasting love for the game of cricket through the provision of an inclusive, nurturing and fun environment in which to learn the basic skills of the game and to pursue this by playing cricket in a supportive yet competitive environment to the best of each individual’s ability.
Strategy
Easts prides itself on being one of the oldest and largest junior clubs in the country. We are keen to build on our history and work to ensure your club is one you feel very much a part of and your sons and daughters will feel as much pride as they do in state or national teams.
In order to achieve our vision we aim to provide an environment for all players whether they are involved in In2Cricket, T20 Blast, Junior competitions or Girls T20 competitions to develop to the best of their abilities.
- We provide appropriate age based coaching and development.
- We provide pathways for development into senior cricket for those that choose to extend their cricket beyond the junior ranks.
- We provide a club framework that aims to recognise the contribution of the many volunteers that make our club work.
Our goal is to build a true spirit of comradery, a Club spirit and an opportunity for the boys and girls to meet new friends. We want to develop young cricketers, support their teams and families and build teams of the future.
Club Structure
Eastern Suburbs Cricket Club has strong Senior and Junior participation. We are unique in that we are an integrated club encompassing senior and junior cricket under a single committee of management. This offers our players significant benefit as they learn and improve their cricket.
- Junior games are held under the control of the South Eastern Junior Cricket Association (SEJCA) and Junior players may feature in various aged based SEJCA teams in the NSW District Cricket representative competitions.
- Specialist development of Girls Cricket is managed alongside Cricket NSW ensuring an ongoing focus and specialist development opportunities for our female players
- Senior games are held under the control of the Sydney Cricket Association, the leading senior cricket competition in Australia. ESCC field an Under 16 team in the Green Shield competition, often the first ‘senior’ competition that our juniors are exposed to.
Club Administration – The role of the Junior Committee
In order to achieve our Vision, the Junior component of club has been restructured in the form of a focussed Junior Committee under the guidance of a Junior Coordinator which has a charter to develop strategies in collaboration with the senior club to foster the growth of junior cricket in Sydney’s east and to raise the level of enjoyment, commitment to the game and competence of players into the future.
The Committee aims to be representative of all Junior players and parents by consisting of members having involvement across the range of player ages. Age Coordinators are appointed in each age group to be a point of contact in the club for parents and players to raise and discuss issues affecting that group and to bring those to the Junior Committee in the first instance and then as required to the South Eastern Junior Cricket Association and/or the ESCC Committee.
Some of the key goals for the Junior Committee are:
- To increase the level of participation of boys and girls in junior cricket across all age groups:
- To improve the level of enjoyment of junior cricket by providing support for teams in the form of information, coaching assistance and education for parents, coaches, players and managers.
- To increase the competency of players through intensive coaching sessions via cricket camps in school holidays or off season weekends using specialist coaches.
- To increase the competency and confidence of junior coaching by providing training and education to coaches through skill based sessions with specialist coaches and assistance to gain at least a CA level 1 Coaching qualifications as required.
- To identify gifted and talented players through a dedicated program so that these players are able to obtain specialist coaching with a view to increasing participation of ESCC Juniors in representative teams including SEJCA Shield Competitions and Green Shield.
- To provide a clear pathway for ESCC juniors to move through the playing and representative ranks and where appropriate on to Grade cricket.
Coaching and Development
All coaches and managers are parents who volunteer their time to coach your son and manage your child’s team. We ask you respect the time and effort they are putting in as volunteers.
ESCC also provide several aged based training sessions with the club’s senior coaches throughout the season. Our Under 16 and Under 14 Division 1 teams are twinned with a Senior Grade teams to allow additional opportunities for our Juniors to build their skills through higher level training. ESCC run a Junior High Performance program who will work with all coaches to ensure that a minimum standard (Level 1) is achieved and who engages with all coaches throughout the season to work on any specific issues that arise.
We encourage every team to set up a weekly training time in conjunction with your team manager and team parents.
- Regular training sessions are designed to help your child build team spirit and to help develop the important skills needed to contribute to the team’s overall success.
- Volunteer coaches can provide a solid basic training; not one on one specialist training.
- If you feel your child requires more support or training, the Club strongly recommends private coaching.
- Senior Club players are available to assist and the club maintains a list of private coaches.
- Some teams may, with the consensus of all parents, engage a paid coach. We have senior players who are happy to coach mid-week as well as a list of private coaches. This is an option and is not compulsory! Your coach or manager will email you before the season with any information.
Team Selection and weekly participation
When boys and girls start their cricket career with ESCC they often like to stay with that team for as long as they play cricket. In many cases initial teams are formed based on the school which the child attends.
As children develop their cricket and rules change (e.g. teams go from 8 to 11 players, friends fall into different age groups, involvement of representative players at all ages, etc), the club needs to ensure that teams remain balanced and that everyone still enjoys their cricket.
Our experience has shown that the children adapt to their new team mates very quickly and that part of the fun of club competition is to be playing with as well as against players whom they know. Over their cricket career, children will often play with and against friends. We don’t split teams unnecessarily however we do need to have a balance of teams that are made up of children from different schools, this is particularly relevant as the children get older and specific school events may cause a team to lose players.
Team allocation and selection will be based on a number of criteria:
- All players will be assigned to their respective age groups. Express agreement from the High Performance Coach, relevant team coaches, age coordinator and parent is required for players to play up more than 1 age group
- Age, availability, previous experience, last season’s statistics and the success of the team in previous years will impact allocation.
- Representative players will be required to play in Division 1.
- All teams in both Division 1 and Division 2 will be required to have a rotation policy ensuring all players have an opportunity to bat and bowl.
- Age co-ordinators will work with coaches and managers at the beginning of the season to ensure that teams have appropriate balance of players and that rotation policy is applied.
