Tasmania University Cricket Club

Latest News (8th. October 2007)

Calling Junior Cricketers!

Dear All

Welcome to another season of Cricket at the Tasmania University Cricket Club. Thanks for your patience over the last few months in the transition from Michael Graham-Smith to myself as President. Mike has been a great help to me over the past few months and he will continue to support me over the coming months and years. I thank Mike whole heartedly for his continued passion for our club and we look forward to seeing his umpiring career blossom in the coming years.

Thank you to those players and families who have already registered with us, or have let us know that they are continuing with the club this year. This is a very busy time of the year getting teams registered, getting coaches and managers adequately prepared, and getting players ready for competition so with thank you in advance for your prompt action in letting us know of your intentions for the season ahead..

Getting Involved

The premise of junior cricket is for the players to participate, develop their skills, and to be guided to higher levels if talent permits. We need to do all of that while also ensuring the safety of the players and safety nowadays means so much more than not getting hurt during the game. To this end, I would ask all parents to be willing to help the club as required during the season. We always need Coaches, Managers, Scorers and Umpires for the junior cricket and we would love to share the load around. We hope to have an induction night for any volunteers where we discuss the Vision of the Club and our Club Charter, the Spirit of Cricket, team management issues, basic cricket skills, and more. Further, we are investing in Coach training this year, and we have several senior players that will be helping, but I implore any parents who have an interest in coaching to contact me directly.

Below is some brief information about each of the junior programs that we support. In the first instance, if there are any questions, they are best directed to me rather than coaches or other people that you may have dealt with in the past years. As the season progresses, we will have a clearer idea of the coaches and managers for each team and they will directly handle most queries.

Have-a-Go

When? - Saturdays 9-10am, from Saturday 10th November
Where? - University Oval
Who? - Girls and boys aged 5-10 (and parents as well)

This version of cricket is about skill development and developing an active interest in cricket. There are ten sessions and we will have a calendar for everyone involved. We plan to have fives sessions before and after Christmas.

Twilight Cricket Under 10

When? - Tuesdays 5.30-7.30pm, from Tuesday 30th October
Where? - As per roster
Who? - Girls and boys aged up to 10
Training? - None at present

This competition is where we begin to put the basic skills into a game setting. There are modified rules and there is a desire to include everyone in the play. At this stage, we are still looking for players to join the team so I would ask all parents to see whether there may be any family or school friends who may be interested. The club is also contacting schools again to see whether there are any more interested players. Please forward me any information and I will happily follow up on any leads.

Twilight Cricket Under 12

When? - Wednesdays 5.30-7.30pm, from Wednesday 31st October
Where? - As per roster
Who? - Girls and boys aged up to 12
Training? - None at present

This competition is where we begin to put the basic skills into a game setting. There are modified rules and there is a desire to include everyone in the play. So far, I have enough players for one team but we do have many players who played last year that have not confirmed their availability as yet. If I could ask all parents and players to let me know by Wednesday if the will be playing for the club this year.

Youth League Under 13

When? - Sundays 9.30-12.30pm, from Sunday 4th November
Where? - As per roster
Who? - Girls and boys aged up to 13
Training? - Thursday night from 3.45-5pm at the University Oval

This competition is where we begin to play more serious cricket. The rules are much the same as senior cricket but the focus is still on involvement and development. It is a pathway to the older age groups and some players who may be advance may find the cricket unchallenging and where possible we would support those players in the Under 15 competition. We have good numbers for this team.

TCA Under 15 and Youth League Under 15

When? - Sundays 1-6pm, from Sunday 28th October and Sunday 4th November respectively
Where? - As per roster
Who? - Girls and boys aged up to 15
Training? - Tuesday and Thursday nights from 3.45-5pm at the University Oval

This competition is where we begin to play serious cricket. The rules are much the same as senior cricket and the focus moves to developing successful teams and players. It is a pathway to the older age groups and senior cricket. At present this year our Under 17 team is short and our better Under 15 players would play in this competition and this would only leave enough players to field one Under 15 team which is the TCA Under 15 team. While I understand that some parents may have reservations about their sons or daughters playing against older players rest assured that we would only do this when we felt the player could handle the conditions.

One of the club’s prime goals is to develop players for representative cricket and we take that responsibility very seriously. This age group seems to be a critical point in a player’s development and the club needs to ensure that we give all players a chance to develop their skills and this can mean stretching a player by playing with older players, either Under 17 or our senior squads. As I said before, we will only select a player for older age groups where we are comfortable that they are not at risk and that their cricket will be advanced by the experience.

Returning players are asked to register by Wednesday.
Parents and players to help the club recruit further players for some of the sides where we are short.
Parents and Guardians to contact Paul McNamara about support roles inc Coaching, Managing, Scoring and Umpiring.

Thanks for your interest in junior cricket and I look forward to meeting everyone over the course of the year to ensure that your children and your family get the most out of your TUCC cricket experience.

All the best

Paul McNamara

m: 0408 710 703
E-mail Paul


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