Hertfordshire Disability Cricket Work Moving Forwards.....
Lots of development work is underway in trying to set up a number of bases for disability cricket within the county.
Strategic areas are being targeted and partnerships are being made to encourage people from the disabled community to come and have a go and play cricket.
Club based cricket is a fundamental part of the overall disability cricket vision within Hertfordshire and without the bases in place the delivery and opportunity for people to play our game will be very limited.
Working with different groups to provide opportunities that may not necessarily follow cricket convention are being explored.
Richard Hill, Disability Cricket Manager for Hertfordshire said "In order to provide and reach as many people with disability as we can with our game, we have to look at innovative ways in which to deliver. The conventional way of advertising and drawing players into a cricket club environment doesn't suite all.
In the disabled community, we have to recognise that there are people we have to reach by taking the game to them, we have to give much more effort and accept that the player take up rate will never match those in the main stream world, however, it is vital that we continue to explore ways to deliver our game."
He went on to say "adaptability and differentiation are key to our plans. If we were to play a game with a stick of rhubarb and a screwed up piece of paper as a ball, then that is what we will do! - The format is irrelevant - just playing the game is what it is all about"
Hertfordshire Disabled Cricket Association are waiting on a decision from a funding application that will allow the growth of the game within the county. If successful, the funding will give rise to three clubs as well as supporting those already in place, it will also be used to create a long term programme of training coaches to deliver to the disabled community and those in the disabled community will also be encouraged to become coaches too.
The current County set up is being reviewed and the structure will alter based on the success of the club based set up.