Home Holmesdale Cricket Club

DRAFT OLD VERSION LIVE Edit Create Copy Create Template
{"ID":177,"SpaceID":2,"PageID":25,"HasCommentsThread":false,"SeoTags":{"OpenGraphTags":[{"ID":"og:title","Name":"The Pathway to Hardball Junior League Cricket"},{"ID":"og:type","Name":"website"},{"ID":"og:url","Name":"https://www.holmesdalecricketclub.co.uk/Cms/Spaces/JC/The+Pathway+to+Hardball+Junior+League+Cricket"}],"NonOpenGraphTags":[]},"Path":"The+Pathway+to+Hardball+Junior+League+Cricket","Title":"The Pathway to Hardball Junior League Cricket","Author":{"ID":2594,"Name":"Helen Acraman","CompanyName":null,"HasEmail":true},"Version":3,"IsDraft":false,"IsOldVersion":false,"PublicationDate":"03/03/2026 18:13","VersionDescription":"v3 - Helen Acraman","HideHeader":false,"IsFullWidth":false,"ThemeCode":null,"BackgroundColour":null,"JumpLinks":[],"Blocks":[{"Columns":[{"Width":12,"WidthClasses":"col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12","Elements":[{"ID":4046,"Type":"HTML","Content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe journey from learning basic softball skills on a Saturday morning to playing high level club, representative or even international cricket is a long one, but one that has many opportunities for personal growth, challenge and, not least, huge amounts of fun. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA key step in this journey is the transition from softball to hardball for junior players. We receive many questions every year on how this works and this write-up is intended to de-mystify things, in particular how selection for the Junior Hardball Academy works. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSoftball Skills Training: Summer Saturday Mornings and Winter Nets\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, we would emphasise the importance of building a foundation of skills through softball training, so that players have the skills and confidence to train and play hardball cricket comfortably and safely. Don’t worry, for instance, if your child is still playing softball when others in their age have started to play hardball. If your child sticks at it there will be many years of playing hardball. The coaches will be able to advise you when your child is ready. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe necessary basic skills can be built by participating in our U7 – U11 Saturday morning sessions which run throughout the summer school terms. These are primarily softball sessions, but for older children (Years 5 and 6, or, in some cases younger), there is the chance to start practicing hardball. The winter nets, which run through both the autumn and spring terms, are also great ways of building softball skills and starting to experiment with hardball. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003eNote\u003c/u\u003e: for your child to play hardball cricket they \u003cu\u003emust\u003c/u\u003e have full hardball kit, including a helmet, pads, gloves and a box or abdominal protector. If you don’t want to pay for the kit until your child has tried out hardball cricket and knows it is for them, or if you have any financial challenges in funding the cost, please contact us in confidence and we will endeavor help you out through provision of spare kit or other means. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Junior U11 Academy: Summer Tuesday night training and matches predominantly on Monday evenings \u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlayers continuing to progress may be invited to join the \u003cstrong\u003eU11 Hardball Academy Squad\u003c/strong\u003e, which trains on Tuesday evenings and consists of three teams (A, B, C and D) and play in the local leagues. We’d love to accept every child into the academy but unfortunately we can only offer 45 children a place each season. We don’t have the space to accommodate more children at training, it would be too dangerous if the ground was overcrowded. Plus we want to be able to offer a decent number of matches to each child in the academy to maximize their progress. Junior matches at under 11 are only 8 or 9 players a side. This number means each child will typically get a chance to play in 2 out of every 3 matches. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur coaches decide who to invite to the academy. Invitations will be offered according to ability, which our coaches are continually assessing at Saturday morning sessions, winter nets and summer camps. Some children may be ready for the academy in Year 4, others not until Year 6. If you are new to the area or Holmesdale, you may be asked to attend a trial session so our coaches can assess your child’s ability. In the case of a shortage of spaces and children being the same ability, we will offer Year 6 children a place first. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you feel that your child might be ready for consideration for selection to the Hardball Academy but has not yet been seen by the coaches please contact us. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll along in this process the coaches will work closely with the players to monitor their progress. Once the coaches know the children they can ensure that they are being challenged and developing in the best way possible. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe also coordinate with the Invicta coaches who run the area squads, and Kent cricket, who run the regional squads. \u003c/p\u003e","ContentConfig":{"Caption":null,"Icon":null,"IconColour":null,"CaptionColour":null,"UnderlineColour":null,"TextColour":null,"FontSize":null,"LineHeight":null,"RequiresLoggedInUser":false,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"0px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"ComponentCode":null,"ComponentError":null,"BottomMargin":"0px","PaddingLeft":"0px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","CssClass":null,"ResponsiveClasses":"","PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null,"Background":{"Colour":null,"ImageURL":null,"Filter":null,"IsParallax":false,"Image":"","Tint":""},"ImageConfig":{"ImageURL":null,"ObjectFit":"contain","ImageHeight":null,"FrameStyle":null,"BorderRadius":null,"Caption":{"IsActive":false,"Text":null,"SubText":null,"Font":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"SubFont":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"Alignment":null,"Position":null,"Margin":null,"BackgroundColour":null,"Blur":false,"Hover":false},"AltText":null,"LinkURL":null,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"10px","PaddingTop":"10px","PaddingRight":"10px","PaddingBottom":"10px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"IgnoreCache":false}]}],"ColumnSpacing":"0px","BottomMargin":"0px","TopPadding":"0px","IsFullWidth":false,"IsBackgroundFullWidth":false,"Background":{"Colour":null,"ImageURL":null,"Filter":null,"IsParallax":false,"Image":"","Tint":""}}],"PageURL":"https://www.holmesdalecricketclub.co.uk/Cms/Spaces/JC/The+Pathway+to+Hardball+Junior+League+Cricket?version=3","AllVersions":[],"Comments":[],"UpdatedComments":[],"Spaces":[],"IsWatching":false,"LastViewTime":null,"CanEdit":false,"CanPublish":false,"CanCopy":false,"CanCreateTemplate":false,"CanComment":false,"CanReadComments":false,"CanModerateComments":false,"CanLike":false,"CanWatch":false}
{"HeaderName":"RequestVerificationToken","RequestToken":"CfDJ8Md-YKnja4ZCqqlN1CZDHEX1c97EJBA0wJDPSC2NN4Izn80lNe8jISHXfQNfJNm-XtQRnArhL2KVPi8OSNHGkGYZ9-LjNBxL8ih5Vk-4qW980oNRUKb_GapUYv_ZFqOvCcmNkvgJhVeaXCalNg4jZBI"}