In reviewing the past year I must first of all mention how much enjoyment I have been lucky enough to get from coaching the U13 squad this past season and last winter. That enjoyment came largely from being able to work with such a motivated, talented and really well behaved bunch of kids. Every member of the squad showed the right commitment throughout and made mine and the other coaches lives so much easier and rewarding.
Cricket like all sports is about us expressing ourselves and it was great to see amongst others Chayank Gosain grow as both a cricketer and young person during the last year and magic to see someone who obviously passionately loves the game so much.
It was also great to see the likes of Iain Martin and Rory Simpson trust themselves to bowl with real vigour and purpose in games rather than just try and place the ball and witness their joy when it worked well. William batted tremendously well and incredibly he was only dismissed once throughout the whole season and that being a dubious runout in his last innings of the season! He also led the team really well and was a very popular captain with his teammates. Gair Currie who was new to the club this year, settled in very well and showed us what an excellent allround prospect he is with some good performances with both bat and ball. Big Neil bowled his heart out with good pace throughout and has real raw potential which if allied to some hard work on his behalf over the winter, should lead him to start fulfilling that potential next season.
I feel that the boys in their own wee way have progressed well this year and some in more subtle ways than they themselves probably realise. This can often be with a youngster being brave enough to trust and try something different that then pays off for them. The look of delight on their faces when it works for them is great to see. A good example this year has been Fraser Allardice. Fraser, as I am sure he is aware is not, at this stage of his development, as big or as strong as many others in the squad and quite rightly realised he could not hit the ball as hard as say William, our excellent captain and resident “giant” can! However Fraser does “time” the ball well when batting and by late season had managed to really trust himself to start following through more with his shots adding a lot more bat speed to his attacking shots. To see him grow almost within one innings of expressing himself more this way was fantastic to see and there was no holding him from then on! It has almost got to the stage now of us trying to calm him down a bit, such is the realisation within him of how many more runs there are out there following only a small but important change in his approach to batting!
Being able to trust themselves more and try to make changes, however subtle, is a big ask of a youngster but once they take the first steps and see what benefits then can get from being brave enough, they are off and running. Importantly it can also be a wider lesson for life in general!
Craig like Fraser learnt to trust himself to time the ball well, with a solid technique, rather than try and compete with those who at this stage have greater strength. That development will come to all in due course I promise you and the aim must be to be able to harness that to a solid technique that you spend much time grooving during these crucial early years in the game. Craig’s performances with the bat got better and better as the season progressed and I look forward to seeing him scoring even more runs next season.
We had two specialist wicketkeepers this year with the arrival of Fraser Graham to keep Matthew Wells on his toes. Both kept wicket very well, taking some excellent catches, and we must as a club try and obtain some specialist wicketkeeping coaching in order for these two and the other promising young keepers we have at the club get given proper guidance on what they need to work on to improve their game.
The only downside of having such a large, committed bunch of kids is trying to ensure they all get a decent number of games. Even when they are playing matches it can still be a real challenge to ensure the boys in the team get enough to do in such a short game that is 20 overs a side. Trying to get the balance right between allowing those older and probably more developed players at this stage of their cricket development get as much game exposure as possible, as well as the important task of breaking in and involving the younger members of the squad, who themselves show real talent, is hard to try and get right. With the nature of the junior setup I will struggle to keep everyone happy all the time but I will continue to do my best I promise you. Ideally if numbers within the squad are high enough and we could get much needed extra help, then we would seriously look at trying to run two teams next year. We will keep an eye on that situation and if any parent would like to potentially help with aspects of that then we would love to hear from you.
A key aspect of the role I have learnt this year is for the coaches, with the crucial help of parents, to really emphasise to the youngsters that the important thing at this very early stage of their development, is how they themselves as individuals are progressing. Youngsters will naturally compare themselves to each other but this can at times lead to them get things out of perspective when we consider that each and everyone one of them will have had different types of cricket exposure in their very young cricket careers to date as well as being of different ages, physical strength and general maturity etc. Six months difference in age within the same squad can make such a difference on many fronts and both coaches and parents must be aware of that.
Over the years I have witnessed many very promising young cricketers who have done extremely well at junior level not go on and progress as well as many would have thought, and who then often drift away from the game in later life, which is a real pity. Conversely I have seen many small kids who mature later, but who are very determined and who stick with the game. They do not compare themselves too much to how others are doing, at what is in reality a very early stage of their cricket development, and they keep working hard at getting better bit by bit, ending up getting as much out of the ability that they have been given and, of the greatest importance to me and coaches in general, they really fall in love with the game and it gives them great joy and fulfilment for many years, well into their adult life. If we can get the youngsters to work hard at their own games as well as enjoy the feeling and fun that should come from being part of a bigger squad, then we will have done a decent job and provided an environment where they can, with luck, get hooked on this great game.
Right back to the nitty gritty of the season! The most rewarding aspect of this year for me has been the commitment of the squad to become the best possible fielding side they can be and I can say with hand on heart that in the 14 games we played I did not witness any team that got close to the boys skill in the field and more importantly their concentration and do or die approach in trying to stop the ball at all costs or go for the impossible catch that flew their way. This did not just happen by chance as all the boys worked really hard at their fielding at practice and have a genuine love of catching and throwing themselves around as much as possible. I would often cringe at the state of their cricket whites or tracksuit bottoms after a game or practice and could see looks of horror from Mums and Dads when their children were handed back! Everyone loves batting and bowling but I have always felt a squad at whatever level shows its true colours when out in the field together and how they respond when the ball is flying around and I could not have been more proud of them all with the great fighting attitude they all showed when fielding. That aspect of the game has become so much more important in the modern era and these boys already excel in this area which is great to see.
As well as the boys hopefully learning from the coaching we provide for them we as coaches are always trying to reflect on how we are performing our roles and being honest and open enough to make changes to our approach when needed. As already said I have enjoyed my first year with the U13 team but I have also learnt a lot from this year and as well as trying to provide the best coaching we can for the youngsters we must always never forget that we try and ensure that the sessions we run are fun and that the youngsters enjoy themselves enough to want and come back for more. We must try and create that environment as best we can and try and improve in that key area each year. If we can succeed in that then everything else will flow from there.
William, Kyle, Iain, Gair and Neil now move on to the U15 squad and I wish them all the best with the challenges of being the younger members of a squad again. Hopefully we will still see a lot of each other in and around the club. They have all already played senior 4th XI cricket with the club this season and hopefully more of next year’s squad will follow in their footsteps and start their journey into senior cricket.
As well as those mentioned already we have many other promising players such as David, Fraser Christie, Haris, Euan, and Ruari to name but a few who performed well when they got their opportunities this year and who with some more hard work this winter will hopefully start to try and fill the gaps left by those who are now moving on. I look forward to continuing to work with all those who will still be involved in the U13 squad this winter and hopefully helping them all develop in readiness for next summer.
Finally I would just like to thank all the parents who have all been very supportive this year; it does make a difference I promise you! Special thanks are due to Bob Irvine for volunteering to do the scoring most weeks which helped me enormously – I find umpiring bad enough on its own (for an accountant to struggle so much to count to six is a bit of a worry!) and to ask me to then potentially score at the same time would be a nightmare for all concerned, so thanks again Bob! Thanks to Alasdair MacLeod for allowing us to play the odd match on the best wickets in Scotland, which was a real highlight for the boys and I made sure they appreciated how lucky they all were! Last but most importantly of all I must say a very big thanks to our tireless Junior Convenor, John Boyd, who does so much unglamorous hard work behind the scenes that is so crucial in trying to run a junior section the size of which we now have at Carlton. He has made all the coaches jobs so much easier by taking on so much of the burdensome administrative workload himself, which we as coaches appreciate greatly. He is also responsible for the most developed cricket website in the country which I encourage all juniors and parents alike to visit and see for themselves!