Oxfordshire Cricket gave me the opportunity to apply to become an ECB Coach Developer. As a female coach, it was incredibly exciting, and was something I wanted to try straightaway. Thankfully, my application got me through to an interview and during the interview I was made to feel very welcome and relaxed. From there, I was able to attend a fascinating five-day ECB Coach Development course.
Getting the email to say I’d been selected to be on the course was a big achievement as the course has been designed to inspire and create the coaches of the future. It forms a key part of The Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund, and being a part of the Evolve pillar in the Fund has been a great boost for me.
The Evolve pillar is there to try to help the ECB Coach Developer workforce become more gender balanced, through talent identification and selection, and by empowering more women to become coaching role models.
I’ve only been in the cricket world for a year, but becoming an ECB Coach Developer was something I really wanted to do. I felt it was important to have a female coach being able to come back to Oxfordshire and be a role model for other females that want to become a cricket coach. It was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss.
The five-day course was incredible in lots of ways. There was so much knowledge in the room and the tutors were brilliant. Everyone got the chance to talk together and make new friends, and we all learned something from each other. It was a great experience, but it was also a challenging one at times. Thankfully, that rollercoaster of emotions has made me a better coach and, hopefully, that will help me become a better coach developer.
Seeing so many women attend that course was amazing, too. As women’s cricket has grown, we’ve got to keep pushing ourselves forward. Metro Bank’s role in driving this growth can’t be understated and seeing so many future female coach developers gave me such a buzz.
Since doing the course, I’ve had the support from Ed Wilson back in Oxfordshire. I’ve been lucky enough to work with him on a few occasions now, and he’s helped me to feel so much more confident in myself when I’m delivering coach training and assessing new coaches coming through.
We’ve now been able to have workshops with other female ECB Coach Developers, which has given us opportunities to build relationships and speak to each other about how our journeys have been going.
I’m very excited for this coming year and can’t wait to see where my coach developer journey takes me.