Girls’ Cricket Roadshow in Galloway
Galloway Cricket Club has been busy already this year promoting cricket to girls across the region. At the end of February the club ran a Girls’ Cricket Roadshow where over 150 lucky girls got the opportunity to take part in cricket taster sessions run by Scotland Women’s Coach, Kari Caswell.
Kari started her visit on Tuesday 24th February with a meal with all female Galloway cricketers, kindly hosted by Dawn Campbell. This was an opportunity for all the female members of the club to get together, get to know newer members and for the club to show Kari their appreciation for her continued support. Over 30 attended this gathering and it showed everyone just what a tight community of women the team has become.
Kari kicked off the Roadshow with a full-on day of girls’ cricket at Dalbeattie High School. Huge thanks to Simon Mein and the PE staff for making this happen and for being so welcoming! All S1 – S3 girls got the opportunity to take part in loads of fun-filled cricket activities led by Kari and volunteers from the club. Many of the girls were surprised by how much they enjoyed a sport which they normally would have considered boring and complicated. Kari was able to show the youngsters that cricket is a lot of fun, develops many transferable skills and you don’t need to be an expert at the rules to play! At lunch-time Kari also ran a drop-in session where any pupils could meet her and members of the club, ask questions as well as having a go at some cricket activities such as a bowling contest, crazy catch and a crash mat diving challenge.
An after-school session open to all pupils was also put on so that any keen cricketers could play more. This was well-attended with 12 girls coming back for more! Kari pushed these girls further and prepared them for a friendly against Castle Douglas High School girls later that week.
This wasn’t the end of Kari’s day however; she even managed to drop in on a Galloway Ladies training session at Castle Douglas High School to put the senior team through their paces. This was another extremely well-attended session with over 20 women taking part and learning from Kari’s wealth of experience as both a cricketer and a coach. Kari focused on offside shots, timing and catching which are development areas that the ladies have identified to improve on before their next tournament. It was also great to see a youngster from Dalbeattie High School who came along after she was inspired by Kari at the taster session earlier that day!
The next day was to be just as busy with another three schools to get round. Kari and the team started off at Castle Douglas Primary School where all P7 girls got to take part in a taster session. Despite being out in the cold and rain the girls were not phased and put their all into the activities in an attempt to impress the international cricketer. The representatives from Galloway were incredibly excited by the potential amongst the girls and the fact that they may be the future of the Castle Douglas High School team.
Next, Kirkcudbright Academy received a visit from the Kari who ran an intense taster session for a group of 20 pupils. These girls have all been invited to join a brand new after-school girls’ cricket club which starts on Monday 2nd March from 3.35-5.00pm. Any other pupils who wish to attend are more than welcome to come along and give it a go too, the club is open to everyone.
Finally Kari and the team dropped into Gatehouse Primary School to play some cricket games and inspire the girls to get involved in all the cricket activities for kids that take place at the club’s ground in Gatehouse during the summer.
The club are extremely grateful to Kari for coming all the way down from Stirling to spend time with the girls of Galloway and she hopes to see many of them playing for the Galloway Ladies team or taking part in her school festivals and competitions soon!
Following Kari’s visit, Simon Mein brought a team of 13 girls from Dalbeattie High School over to Castle Douglas on Friday 27th February for a friendly match. CD won the toss and chose to field first. Dalbeattie batted incredibly well scoring 66 from their 16 overs; CD fought back scoring 128 from their 16 overs. However the scores were not important because all girls had a brilliant afternoon and everyone left with a huge smile on their face. This was a great end to the roadshow and proved that it is indeed an exciting time for women’s cricket in Galloway!
Anyone who is interested in finding out more about girls’ or women’s cricket should contact Natalie Hamblin on 07872 909 010 or visit our website www.gallowaycricketclub.co.uk for more information.
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