How to encourage girls to play in one of your club teams

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1 How to encourage girls to play in one of your club teams It can seem daunting to get girls to play in a club team if you ve never had a girls team before. We asked some of our wonderful club volunteers who have joined in the Girls Leagues over the past three years for their suggestions and advice so we could share it with you. From Jan Dutton, Bangor Barden Ridge CC. They had two girls teams compete in the Girls Leagues in 2016 /17. Their club had never had girls teams before. 1. Reply to any enquiries you get with a positive note and encourage them to come along to anything you may be doing for the girls to have a look. We had a couple of girls enquire after the coaches had started training so I invited them to join the training sessions just to see what they thought. Both girls signed up and even recognised some of the other girls at training, which helped! 2. For each new registration, send them a welcome and ask them if they have any friends that would also be interested in playing (especially if you need numbers!) 3. Post a friendly notification on one of the local community forums to let the locals know you are forming girl s teams, with information on how to get more details or sign up. You will usually need to get a moderator to approve this, but as long as it isn't a commercial post you should be fine.

2 4. Ask the local schools to put an ad in their weekly newsletter with the rego info. It helps if someone on your committee has contacts/kids at the school, but most schools should be happy to promote kids sport. 5. Start spreading the word during winter sport. Target winter sports such as netball and soccer, which already have teams of girls playing together. We didn't do this last season, but noticed that the summer soccer comp were very pro-active in handing out flyers aimed at girl s teams toward the end of the winter season. 6. We ed all players currently registered with our club seeking any under 13 girls that wanted to join the first all-girl Sixers team. 7. Put a post on our Club's Facebook page seeking registrations and included the Sixer's logo and link to the Girl's Sixers information. We noticed that a couple of people who were interested shared the post with friends to see if any of them would be interested. A group of four or five friends signed up together, which was great. From Graham Chivers, West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook CC. This club went from 6 girls to over 70 in three years. Work with the local Primary schools before rego day offering T20 demo days and network with local High Schools promoting girls cricket. Cross market with winter sports clubs. Promote to the netball clubs and in return they promote us, both in print and website promotions. Girls themselves are awesome networkers so enticements if they can find another player to bring along so movie tickets or discounts off their rego work well. Have a Bring a Friend night to a girls training session Offer free level 1 Coaching course for any parent paid by the Club. Our girls love their parents being involved. Pre-season fun day with the girls playing against the parents. Run a Girls Presentation night we had over 180 people attend a few weeks ago.

3 This year we are trialling new clothing options which are initially girls-only so they feel they are a priority and not the forgotten group of the club. From Deanne Hutt, Girls Coordinator at Manly Warringah Cricket Association and Wakehurst Redbacks CC. Deanne has coordinated her Association to now have a girls team in almost every club in the Association. 1. First impressions really count. First impressions really count. Have a dedicated girls-only contact person for the club with separate girls address. This person needs to be motivated driver or nothing will happen. 2. Status and importance. Girls must have same status as boys for eg.wording of all marketing to include girls and double check doesn't say boys only. Introduce same awards/record keeping for girls as boys - our club now has Female Cricketer of the Year (and in a first you can now buy female cricket trophies with female figurines). 3. Recognition and promotion. Promote all female cricket achievements widely in social media ie..first ever team, rep selections etc. take advantage of any opportunity. From Dave Williams, Girls Coordinator at Penrith Junior Cricket Association. Dave has coordinated the girls teams for the past three years, growing to four teams in his Association. 1. The tie in that needs to happen with the T20 Blast program and local schools is essential. 2. The importance of the all-girls nature of the Comp and in all marketing. We make sure that material doesn't just reference boys but I actually think that we need some positive discrimination in the short term - i.e. some girl only promotion. A lot of people see 'cricket- a game for all' and still mentally think ' a game for all boys'. 3. Have clear line of sight right up the pathway so that parents know that this is a pathway to Rep cricket and beyond that the WBBL!

4 Great advice from club who have done this. Here are some more general tips: Promotions/ flyers Please use the flyers supplied by CNSW as a promotional tool. Make it clear who to contact for more information. In Schools Advertise in your local school newsletters - if you know the Sport coordinator at the school, ask them to promote it for you. Contacting the P&C can be useful too. Get a Parent from your club to deliver flyers to their child's school. Your local Development Manager will be able to help you with this too. We run programs for 1000 s of kids each year and can advertise your club to the local school. In the Community Put up easy to read flyers in your local supermarkets / sport shops etc. Use the ones attached. Contact your local media if your club has good local relationships and ask them to advertise for you. Add the flyer to Facebook so it is easy to share. Other sports / organisations Contact local Netball / Hockey/Soccer teams and ask if you can promote your club to their girls. Through Other Cricket Clubs/Players Advertise to all your current players including boys. Often boys who play have sisters who want to play but don t know where. Studies show that girls who have active families are more likely to take part in sport. If you are connected with a senior club, advertise the girls cricket team to the Dads. Studies show that Dads can often be key influence in their daughters sport choice.

5 On your own website and on Make it clear and obvious that there is a girls team at your club. Advertise this clearly on as this is where we drive ALL kids to look for a local club. Use Social media to promote to all players that you have a girls team. Please like our Sixers Girls Cricket League or Thunder Girls Cricket League Facebook pages so we can invite you to things! or On the first day The girls must have a great experience Girls often want to be with their friends organise teams around friendship groups Ask each girl to bring a friend. Girls tend to get involved more if they are with their friends. Girls often prefer to be non-competitive and generally, girls won t take the result (win / loss) as seriously as some boys. General tips for coaching girls Have lots of encouragement - cricket can be harsh if you get bowled out immediately- especially for girls new to the game. Avoid using only male pronouns when talking to the players eg. Try and say batters rather than batsman. Emphasise the team aspect rather than the individual aspect of the game. Making friends with other girls will make it more likely that they will keep coming back. Good Luck. Cricket NSW staff are here to help.