My story is like so many others: I’d played cricket throughout my childhood, so I volunteered at my local cricket club simply because I wanted to give something back. I’d never had a female coach myself, I knew there’d be young girls coming through, and I understood the value of representation. I wanted to make sure that if a girl wanted to join a club, she wouldn’t be turned away.
Then, after I got my Level 1 coaching qualification, I went to Newcastle University to study Sport and Exercise Science. That’s where I fell in love with strength and conditioning, and with the gym itself. As I was learning how training could make people stronger, more confident, and more resilient, I quickly realised I wanted to link my own passion for fitness with my love of cricket, and build a career working in two things I genuinely care about.
From there, I secured a placement with Cheshire Cricket, completed additional work with Northumberland Cricket Board, and set up a women’s cricket team at Newcastle University. Those early experiences showed me the gap that often exists in physical preparation for women and girls, and how much impact good athletic development can have on both performance and injury risk.
I’m now the lead on athletic development side of the performance pathway, where I oversee the physical preparation of girls and boys across the pathway as well as the women’s Tier 3 team. My role focuses on strength and conditioning delivery, fitness testing, and integrating physical development directly into cricket training, rather than treating it as something separate.
A key part of my work is building strong, resilient athletes by developing physical qualities such as strength, speed, and robustness, while reducing injury risk and increasing confidence in movement. This means adapting strength and conditioning principles to suit the realities of women’s and girls’ cricket, from participation through to performance environments.
Learning has been crucial at every step of my journey. Since joining Cheshire Cricket, I’ve been surrounded by coaches working at different stages of the pathway. I’m also now on my way to becoming an ECB Coach Developer – tutoring the coaches of the future - with support from the Evolve Pillar of the Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund. By sharing knowledge, shadowing experienced practitioners, and collaborating across disciplines, we’ve improved how physical preparation supports technical and tactical development, ultimately helping to push the women’s and girls’ game forward.
There are so many real-life situations you encounter, where just by asking ‘what does this mean?’ or ‘what could we do?’, you get huge insights into the best way forward.
I also went to the UKSCA workshops at Manchester Institute. I used to come back from university at weekends to do them. They were great, but I was the only woman there and at times I used to dread the train journey. But I asked a lot of questions and paid attention.
Often, even now when I go to workshops and conferences, they’re very male-dominated. I can be the only woman there and walking in can be daunting. So being at the Leading the Future of Women’s Cricket conference, in an environment where there are lots of people who share the same goal – wanting to work in women’s and girls’ cricket – is going to be amazing. Seeing all those people, having conversations and learning about different experiences is going to be so valuable.
My own talk will focus on physical preparation and how to adapt sessions to different stages of maturation in junior development. A while ago, I did a video for icoachcricket on physical prep for fast bowlers, and I want to share those ideas because there are still so many injuries in cricket. Even if just a handful of people take something away, hopefully that stops a few players from leaving the game through injury.
When I got the email asking me to present at the conference, I looked at it about 100 times. I didn’t know how to reply. I knew how good it would be for my development, but it was still scary because I’ve never done anything like this before.
I’ve run CPD sessions for club coaches on strength and conditioning, but they’ve been in smaller environments. This is a much bigger scale and I’m excited to be able to share best practice, and to see what other people are doing that’s similar to my work, so we can learn together.
And to any women considering getting into cricket coaching or volunteering, I always say the same thing: just try it. Even if one person leaves your session smiling, it’s worth it.
Are you keen to develop new skills, meet new people, and build your cricket network? Book your place today at The Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund Network Live 2026: Leading the Future of Women’s Cricket conference.