Canterbury Country Cricket - New Zealand's fastest growing District?


It has been another unbelievable year of growth of junior playing numbers in Canterbury Country Cricket. 

At the end of the 2018/19 season the number of junior teams that play in Saturday morning competitions had risen to 121, after being at 115 at the end of the 2017/18 season.

Canterbury Country had 65 junior teams in the 2014/15 season, since then the number of junior teams playing Saturday morning cricket has nearly doubled within five seasons. 

The growing population in Selwyn and North Canterbury are having impact on the number of kids coming into the region.

Cricket Manager, Toby Doyle also puts a lot of the reason for this growth down to 'Positive and motivated clubs who are implementing cricket programs and running teams with great efficiency’. He adds 'The competency of coaches and administrators has a direct impact on the experience of the participants, getting the delivery right at the coal face is crucial to make cricket enjoyable for young players'.

Weedons Cricket Club is the biggest club in the district with 30 junior teams. The Weedons club services Rolleston and West Melton which are both towns growing bigger every day. The Weedons club celebrated the opening of its new pavilion this season, a great home for its past, current and future players.

Coach education has been a big focus area for the 2018/19 season. Coming into the season there were only 16 fully qualified coaches within Canterbury Country. At the end of the season the number of fully qualified coaches had risen to 113.

Along with the 121 junior teams, there were 309 children who participated in Superstar Academy programs that are run by 13 different clubs across the district. 

The growth the Canterbury Country Cricket Association has experienced would make it one of the quickest growing District Associations in New Zealand.


Article added: Monday 29 April 2019

 

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