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FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

PLEASE HELP GROW OUR CLUB - PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER IN APPOPRIATE WHATSAPP GROUPS YOU ARE APART OF

Eg School Groups and Local Community Groups

REGISTRAION 2026

Please see the link to register to me a club member for 2026.  This link is for boys and girls from All Stars* to U17

we have now setup our Whatsapp Groups for 2026.  If you are not on a 2026 group, you probably still need to register.

We have to submit our teams for 2026 by half term, so its really important we know squad sizes for 2026 so we can maximise playing time for all players.

*You will still need to register for All Stars and Dynamos once the ECB release the registration.

FEES FOR 2026

Fees are now due to be paid

Family Membership - £30 (Paid once per family)

+ Years 5 to 12 - £120 (Per Child)

Or + Year 4 - £110 (Per Child)

All Stars and Dynamos - £50 - paid on website

+ U11 if want to join - £90 (full season) or £45 (join after Dynamos finishes)

Girls Membership is £50

+£100 if want to join the hardball teams

For example if you have a boy Year 10 and a boy year 7, you should pay £270 (£30 + £120 + £120)

Membership fees cover annual membership, summer coaching & summer match subs

Please pay in the following account

Payment details

Sort code 20-05-57

Account 70289205

Jack Petchey Achievement Award

The Jack Petchey Award scheme inspires and rewards young people aged 11-25 for doing their best.

"The Achievement Awards are primarily about recognising those who put in the effort and do their best.”

Sir Jack Petchey CBE

Winners of the award get a grant of £300 each to spend to benefit the club, which could mean anything from team pizzas to new equipment.

In order for this to happen, we need nominations from players and adults in the club for who they think has gone above and beyond, put the effort in, or supported their teammates. It's not about being the best, but more who makes a difference to the team. Think back to last season, the winter nets training and the indoor league to find that person!

Please send your nominations to me by 30th April with a brief reason why you are nominating them. We also need a small group of young people to select the winners from the nominations so if you would like to be involved in that process please let me know.

Thank you

Lucy lserawe@gmail.com

OUR NEW TEAM NAMES

As part of plan to overhaul our playing teams, we have introduced some new team names that reflect our history and the Junior (Colt) Chairs that have come before.

We are pleased to announce the new teams as follows

Old Wilsonians Pilgrim and

Old Wilsonians Forbes

and for the Smash teams

U11 - OW Maxwell Megas

U13 - OW Lawrence Lightning

CRICKET YOUNG LEADERS

Following on from last years success, we are asking all 13 - 17 year olds to consider undertaking a cricket young leaders course (Year 9 onwards).

The course covers

Coaching / Communication and People Skills

Leadership / People Management

Umpiring

Scoring

First Aid
Fundraising
Groundskeeping

You can apply direct to undertake the course using the button below.  The course is £75

If you would like OWs to support you in the course and provide Umpiring and Scoring opportunities through the season (both volunteered and paid), then please submit a paragraph and why you are suited to the role.  We will be able to support up to 4 Young Leaders.

For those that have completed the course, you will also be offered further umpiring and scoring opportunities should you wish to continue.

We will only ever ask you to score or umpire in the age groups below your own.

KIT

If you don’t yet have kit or would like to order more kit, please see below and click on the order form.  Please note the trousers come up short

EASTER CAMP - Save the Date(s)

Cricket camp @ Old Wilsonians with coach Chris Scott.

fun games, training, nets

Monday 30th March - Thursday 2nd April (10am-3pm)

£35 per day or £55 for siblings

Any enquires or to book please contact Chris on 07917 033946

SUNDAY ON THE HILL

This year the club is looking to host 3 parent v kids matches on a Sunday afternoon at the Club

Please save the following dates

31st May
21st June (Father’s Day)
5th July

We are also hoping to have our U11 and U13 Parent v kids matches on President’s Day - Sunday 26th July

OLD WILSONIANS PRIMARY SCHOOLS CRICKET COMPETITION

In our last newsletter we previewed our junior school competition proposals.  Unfortunately only Hawes Down have confirmed, with Hayes only being available in school hours.  We did not ear from Oak Lodge or Pickhurst.

If you are a family at one of the above schools or a school that would be keen to play in our Year 5&6 schools comp, please reach out.  We will be reviewing what we can offer over the next few weeks.

Previous detailss are below

This week we have written to the head teachers of Pickhurst, Hawes Down, Oak Lodge and Hayes to invite them to play indoor cricket matches against each other and to introduce our first Old Wilsonians Local Schools annual competition. If you attend these schools, please could you support this imitative and encourage your school to take part.

Our proposal is as follows

Matches led and officiated by Old Wilsonian Coaches

Play 2 rounds of indoor cricket

Squads of 7, including 3 who do not play club cricket.

We would like at least 1 girl per team where possible

2 Points per win

Play 1 round of outdoor Pairs cricket

Squad of 10, including 4 who do not play club cricket

We would like at least 2 girls per team where possible

3 Points per win

Proposed Dates

31st Jan - Round 1

14th March - Round 2

18th May - Round 3

Winner - most points

CLUB UPDATE

As per our previous newsletter, we have a number of volunteer roles to fill, please see the team and spaces below

Chair - Me
Vice-Chair - Steve
Registration Sec - Erol
Fixtures Sec - Steve
Social Sec & Kit Manager - TBC
Jack Petchy - Lucy

Parents and Young Leader Coordinator - TBC
Junior Lead Coach - Barrie (Acting)
Girls Lead - Ellie
All Stars and Dynamos Lead – Margo

Age Group Leaders – attendance at committee optional

·        Softball League (is there a league name?)

o   U8 Softball (Mixed) – Erol + 1 more needed

o   U10 Softball (Mixed) – Erol + 1 more needed

·        Girls League (is there a league name?)

o   Mixed age softball league - Ellie

·        North Kent Junior League & Smash League

o   U11 - Erol + 2 more needed

o   U13 - Steve + 2 more needed

o   U15 - Christina, Steve & Shankar

o   U17 – Darren + 1 more needed

The committee will meet every 2 months on the last Wednesday of the month 18:30 – 20:00

25/03

27/05

29/07

23/09

25/11

27/01

If you would like to be a Committee member and/or Age Group leader, please reach out, as we can’t deliver our yearly programme without more volunteers.  We would like all volunteers in place by the end of November, so I will keep asking until all roles are filled.

What is an Age Group Leader?

The Age Group Leader is a liaison between committee, coaches and players on how we manage the teams within the age group.  You are the selector of the teams, based on fairness, performance and in line with our team policy – see next section.  You will work with our Jack Petchy, Parents and Young Leader Coordinator to ensure we have the officiating team ready for each match and line-ups are added to Play Cricket in advance of each match.  You will also manage the Spond for your age group and follow up on availability.  We are proposing a team of Age Group Leaders per age group, so this will be a collective effort.  The role is live across the season

What is the Parents and Young Leader Coordinator?

This role has 2 parts

Parent Coordinator

Working with our parent volunteers to ensure we have Match Managers, Scorers and Umpires for our away matches and some home matches.  This role is live across the season

Young Leader Coordinator

In Spring time you will support those of our players who wish to be a Young Leader, helping them enrol. For those on our programme, you will support the coordination of who is umpiring an scoring our U11 and U13 teams.  This is setup at the beginning of the season and then light touch thereafter.

What is the Social Sec & Kit Manager?

We are looking for someone to support player and parent socials across the year.  March (Pre-season), June (Mid-season) and September (Awards).

Additionally you will collate kit orders over winter and manage the delivery of kit to the team

Teams and Setup for 2026

These are our proposed teams for this summer, subject to expected registrations 

All teams below are open to boys and girls, except where girls stated.  Girls can play 1 year down when playing hardball.

All Stars (Ages 5 - 8)

• We are proposing for Reception, Year 1 & 2  We would like Years 3 to consider Dynamos

Dynamos (Ages 8 - 11)

• We are proposing for Year 3.  Following the success this year, we would like Years 4 to join our U11 squad - we will be in touch with all Year 4 families

U8s (Years 1, 2, 3)

·        U8 softball league

U10s (Years 2, 3, 4)

·        U10 softball league tbc

Girls Team (Secondary school / U14)

·        Mixed age softball league

U11s (Years 4, 5, 6)

·        U10 Pairs - league

·        U11 - Division 2

·        U11 - 100 Ball Smash

U13s (Years 7 & 8)

·        U13A - Division 2

·        U13B - Division 3

·        U13 - 100 ball Smash

U15s (Years 9 & 10)

·        U15A -Division 2

·        U15B - Division 3

·        U17 Friday night Division 3 team

U17s (Years 11 & 12)

·        U17 - Division 1

·        Saturday Adult 3^rd or 4^thXI

U17 – as you can see above, we would also like you to play 3rd OR 4th team adult cricket on a Saturday.  We would be keen for all U17 players to make themselves available, subject to availability.  Please note this is not mandatory, but something we would like you to aspire to.  For U17s wanting to play senior cricket, the club expects you to continue to play age group cricket.  This is to ensure we continue to create positive team environments and a strong team as players progress through the age groups to senior cricket.

The strongest 5 or so players from each team, those that would only every play A team matches, will also be added to the older squad above them and will also be in contention for the older team B team matches.  As such they would be available for their age group A team and older B team every week, subject to availability.  We fully expect other players to be asked to play up when required, but they would not be part of the full squad.

We are also introducing teams into the 100 ball Smash league (for comparison Twenty overs is 120 balls per team, the Smash is 100 balls per team).   This will give each age group a 2nd match on weeks the competition is played.  However we will only be selecting players who are not part of the “5 strongest” playing up, so this team becomes more of a blend of A&B playing together and gives every player an opportunity of playing twice a week.

We will select the teams for next year, moving away from A and B teams and moving to a one squad mentality. Each team will have an OW name.  The reason for this is that we want to move players around the teams on a more regular basis

·        Strongest players – Play “A” Team + year above “B” Team

·        Strong Players – play more regularly A team + several B team matches. With the B team being an opportunity to focus on key areas for improvement eg strike rate, big shots, turning over strike, batting higher up the order, bowling more overs, different bowling techniques.  Also key members of the 100 ball team

·        Good Players – play more regular B Team + several A team matches.  With the A team being an opportunity to play with better players and improve standards.  Also part of the 100 ball team

·        Improving Players – Play B regularly, continuing to improve on all round cricket skills.

As you will note from the above, we are including for U15s to play Friday (U17) and Sunday, in preparation for moving to adult cricket and playing 2 matches per week.  This is then carried on at U17 level, where we would like U17s to look to play Friday and Saturday where possible.

For our U13B team, we will continue the process of batting rotation, as that will allow everyone a chance to bat in different positions and under different circumstances.

12 MONTH CALENDAR

Please see the look ahead for the next 12 months - this will be updated on every newsletter

FEBRUARY

2026 Membership fees due – Players

Confirm teams with NKJL league – Fix Sec

Submit Kit order – Social Sec & Kit Manager

Easter Camp details released – Junior Coach Lead

All Stars & Dynamos Registration – Players

Details of Pre-Season Social – Social Sec & Kit Manager

Application for Young Leader Programme – Players

Coordinate Kit order – Social Sec & Kit Manager

Confirm team kit requirements – Players

MARCH

Pre-Season Social Players & Adults – Social Sec & Kit Manager

End of Indoor Season – Players

Details of Summer training released - Chair

Junior Cricket Committee Meeting

APRIL

Volunteer Training (Umpire, Scorer, Match Manager) – Chair & Junior Coach Lead

Easter Camp – Coaches

May Half Term Camp details released – Junior Coach Lead

Outdoor training starts – Coaches

Kit arrives (hopefully) – Social Sec & Kit Manager

Young Leader training starts – Players

MAY

Outdoor Season Starts – Players & Age Group Leaders

Summer Camp details released – Junior Coach Lead

Junior Committee Meeting

JUNE

Mid-season social Players & Adults – Social Sec & Kit Manager

JULY

Outdoor training ends

President’s day – Sunday 26^th

Junior Committee Meeting

AUGUST

U16 Cup competition - Players

Outdoor Season Ends

Details of Autumn training released – Chair

End of Season Survey – players

SEPTEMBER

End of Season Awards – Friday 4^th / Saturday 5^th – Social Sec & Kit Manager & Chair

Indoor training fees due – players

Indoor training / indoor league training starts – Coaches

Bulldogs trials – Players

Kent trials – Players

Junior Committee Meeting

OCTOBER

Volunteer Appreciation Evening – All Helpers

NOVEMBER

Indoor League starts – Players

Junior Committee Meeting

DECEMBER

Indoor League training ends – Coaches

Newsletter issues confirming number of teams for 2026 – Chair

            Inc

           Details of Winter Nets and Winter Training

Nets & winter training fees due - Players

Player registration forms issued – Reg Sec

JANUARY

Nets & Winter training starts

Confirm teams with Smash league – Fix Sec

Junior Cricket Committee Meeting

NEXT TIME

Summer Training Schedule

Details of volunteer training

Pre-Season Social