Photo Credit: Cricket Wellington
Following the success of their award-winning ‘Young Leaders’ programme for girls, Cricket Wellington have extended the programme to include their first cohort of male leaders.
The programme kicked off in October of this year, providing fourteen (14) secondary school boys the chance to upskill as leaders through a wide range of sessions.
Sessions included leadership workshops and mentoring sessions with sports professionals, the opportunity to gain coach and umpire qualifications, detailed and ongoing coach development support, as well as many other unique opportunities.
Guest speakers included Tina Manker (Olympian and Performance Life Coach at HPSNZ), Zac Brown (Healthy Active Learning Regional Lead at Nuku Ora), Matt Long (Head of Athletic Development at Cricket Wellington) and Michael Langley (CEO Wellington Hockey).
The programme was widely promoted via schools, clubs and social media. Applicants completed a comprehensive application form and successful participants were notified once the application deadline closed.
As Cricket Wellington D&I and programme lead, Frankie Stewart, explained – there are many perceived benefits from delivering a Young Leaders programme.
“We have seen from our girls programme that participants develop confidence and competence in a range of leadership behaviours,” explained Stewart.
“They have opportunities to volunteer in their local cricket community and be role models, meet and be mentored by great people leading in the sporting sector, and be more connected to their sport.”
“We hope to see similar response from our male participants.”
Young Leader 2023/24 participant, Lewis Jeffreys, spoke glowingly about his time in the programme.
“So far in our Young Leaders’ programme, we have met many interesting and inspiring people that have shared their knowledge on subjects such as coaching, leadership and dealing with pressure,” said Jeffreys.
“I particularly enjoyed learning about how to deal with pressure and how those techniques can be used playing and coaching cricket as well as in other aspects of life,
“I’m looking forward to getting to put the skills I have learnt into practice by coaching a team and continuing to learn how to be a better leader and coach.”
Young Leader 2023/24 participant, Yash Girish, shared similar sentiments of the programme.
“I have really enjoyed being a part of the Young Leaders programme,”
“So far it has been a great experience, both fun and knowledgeable. The coaching course was very engaging, to be able to have a meaningful talk with great mentors and coaches has been very valuable. I look forward to continuing the course and putting my learnings into use through helping the cricketing community,” said Girish.
Young Leaders Alumni receive support each season to continue their volunteering and are invited to alumni team building events.
The first male graduates will be invited to receive this ongoing support once they graduate in March 2024.
Name of Author: New Zealand Cricket
The New Zealand national cricket team, known as the Black Caps, made their Test debut in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth nation to play Test cricket. After waiting 26 years for their first Test win against the West Indies in 1956, they also played their first ODI in 1972–73 against Pakistan. New Zealand are the inaugural World Test Championship champions (2021) and have won the ICC Champions Trophy (2000). They have reached the Cricket World Cup final twice and the T20 World Cup final once.
