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Chance to Shine England Women’s Coaching Ambassadors visit

18 February 2014

Three members of England Women’s Ashes-winning squad have visited Gloucestershire to inspire the next generation of young female players.

Captain Charlotte Edwards was in the county on February 11, with batters Heather Knight and Lydia Greenway visiting on February 12.

The players delivered coaching sessions in schools and worked with players from the Gloucestershire Cricket Board’s (GCB) performance programme.

Charlotte, Heather and Lydia visited Gloucestershire in their role as Chance to Shine England Women Coaching Ambassadors.

Charlotte attended the Bristol round of the Lady Taverners under 15 indoor tournament at City Academy. The festival featured teams from Castle School in Thornbury, Bristol Met, Colston’s and Colston’s Girls School.

And the record-breaking batter said she was impressed by the standard on show:

She said: “It was great to come back to Gloucestershire and see the fantastic work that the GCB are doing to grow the women and girls’ game. I was really impressed by the attitude of the girls at the schools tournament. Although a lot of them were fairly new to cricket they showed real enthusiasm. Hopefully playing against girls from other schools and having a positive experience will encourage them to go and join their local clubs.”

Charlotte then travelled to Chalford to coach the county under squad.

She said: “It was lovely to be able to get involved with the under 11 county session. The standard was excellent and they picked things up so quickly. If we are going to continue our success at England level it is vital that we start giving our girls high quality coaching at an early age. It is clear that this is already happening in Gloucestershire and the future looks very bright.”

The following day Heather and Lydia coached at Cotham School in Bristol during the morning. They spent the afternoon at City Academy where they coached year five and six girls from Whitehall and Bannerman Road primary schools.

The sessions were designed to encourage the pupils to attend the all-girls StreetChance sessions that are held at City Academy every Thursday evening. Along with a similar after-school club at Abbeywood School in Filton the sessions are the first girls StreetChance sessions to be launched outside London.

Heather and Lydia finished their day at Gloucester Academy where they coached the players on the GCB’s girls Emerging Player Programme (EPP). The all-girls EPP is in its first year and provides extra coaching for the best girls aged 11-14 in the county.

Lydia - who is renowned for her ability to play spin bowling – led a coaching session based on the sweep shot.

The session ended with a Q and A session which allowed Gloucestershire’s aspiring players to quiz Heather and Lydia on all aspects of their career from how they got into cricket, to what it was like to win the Ashes.

Lydia said: “It was great to spend some time with the girls on the Gloucestershire EPP. Their attitude and desire to learn was clear to see and I was really impressed with skill level. There wasn’t anything like this just for girls when I was their age and it is fantastic to see the growing number of opportunities that are available for our young players these days. With the programme Gloucestershire now have in place to help their best young players I am sure it won’t be long before we start seeing more of them playing at the top level of the county game and for England in the future.”

GCB clubs and programmes officer Lisa Pagett, who planned the England players’ coaching programme said: “It was fantastic to have the England players visit the county – especially so soon after winning the Ashes in Australia. For our young players to be able to meet and receive coaching from some of the biggest names in women’s cricket was an incredible opportunity and it was a real inspiration for them.”

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