WCB’s Rob Eynon supporting new cricketers in Birmingham and Warwickshire

Rob Enyon running holiday camp at Britannic Park 3

Since starting as a WCB Community Coach six months ago, Rob Eynon has seen hundreds of children take their first steps in cricket. Whether at a softball festival, in the school playground or at a WCB camp, supporting and encouraging children new to the game is a hugely rewarding part of Rob’s job.

Many children have been keen to try cricket this summer as a result of the Commonwealth Games, The Hundred and the promotion of the ECB’s All Stars and Dynamos programmes. Rob took some time out of his busy coaching schedule to discuss in more depth how he and his WCB colleagues support children who are being introduced to cricket for the first time.

First Steps at a WCB Softball Festival

“There is one particular event that springs to mind,” explains Rob. “I was coaching at a WCB Girls’ Softball Festival last month at Knowle Village Cricket Club. Corley CC had entered its first ever girls’ team to the festival. Although they were well supported by a coach and parents, some of the girls were quite nervous at the thought of playing in a match for the first time, especially as a few of the other teams were more experienced.”

“I was scoring and umpiring the Corley CC girls’ matches and was able to be encouraging and supportive of them on the pitch. Being a friendly face on the pitch, I was able to help them and let them take their time, rather than them feeling rushed. I was also able to talk the girls through some cricket skills during the match, for example encouraging them to keep their arm as straight as possible when bowling. After the match, I told the girls how well they had done. It was great to see the smiles on their faces and how well they had done, really getting stuck in against some much more experienced teams. It was wonderful the girls enjoying their first cricket matches and I am excited to hear from my colleague Gabby Basketter that Corley CC is sending two U11 girls’ teams to the softball finals day at Edgbaston this week.”

Rob was delighted when one of the Corley CC parents, Jonny Carr, replied to Rob on Twitter, praising how Rob had helped the Corley CC girls. Jonny posted, “You helped my daughter through her first game. She’s a perfectionist and didn’t want to let anyone down. Thank you mate, she’s now growing in confidence and will hopefully be able to cope with her next tournament in her stride.”

First Steps at WCB Camps

Rob has also seen many children play cricket for the first time at our WCB holiday camps this summer. The camps run at three locations in Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield and Stratford. This summer 303 children have attended WCB holiday camps, many of them for the first time.

“As coaches,” Rob says, “We are always really happy to help those children who are new to cricket. We are able to support the more inexperienced players in a separate group from the more experienced cricketers and let them develop cricket skills at their own pace, whilst having lots of fun too. We definitely put the emphasis on enjoyment – no one is going to develop a love for a game unless they are having fun!”

Rob continues to explain that on some camps the children have the opportunity to create their own variations of cricket and be creative in developing their own rules. “Quite often, with a group of new players, I will give them a set of stumps and some cones then let them set the pitch and the boundary themselves. It’s a soft introduction to the game, without being too rigid. There is plenty of time for children to get to know all the rules. They can’t be expected to know everything straight away.”

First Steps with Familiar Faces

Rob also coaches a weekly All Stars session at Erdington CC. Many of the children at this session also know each other from school. “It is often nice to come along with a friend to a cricket session,” Rob observes. “It means you have someone familiar to pair up with for the batting and catching practice. It’s also fun to do new activities with friends and then make new friends as well. Children naturally migrate together and work as a team. Especially after the pandemic, it’s been great to see children back playing sport and enjoying themselves together. Cricket is a great game, not just for health and fitness, but also for using your brain and developing new life skills. Our sessions give children a great introduction to the game so they can then go and play cricket anywhere they like – in the park, in the garden, at a club, or one of our many camps, community sessions and festivals.”

There are still plenty of WCB cricket activities planned for the rest of 2022. More details about the following events can be found on the WCB website, social media, or by emailing [email protected]

Girls’ Softball Festivals