Cricket thriving on all fronts over at Snettisham

Cricket may be racing to save itself from years of declining popularity, but there is no such thing over at Snettisham where the sport continues to thrive in the village.

Snettisham Cricket Club hosts training sessions for children of all ages every Wednesday and its popularity is growing.

The junior coaching started way back in the early 2000s by a previous secretary and her husband, but was then taken over by Diane and Gary Forder, former secretary and chairman at the club.

The Forders started to rebuild the junior section and began to encourage youngsters/volunteer coaches to join the club before passing the reins to Jackie Walker (welfare officer), Michelle Knott (secretary) and lately Vickie Rose (secretary).

The junior coaching sessions have gone from strength-to-strength and with the addition of All Stars, which is softball cricket aimed at five to eight-year-olds, membership numbers have risen well into their 60s.

This is down to the hard-working coaches and volunteers who not only give up their time on a Wednesday evening but also when there is a match to attend.

With teams from under-11 to under-15, there are many games to attend and some volunteers are either playing cricket or helping manage/coach the youth teams, six nights a week.

These volunteers, who give up precious family time to take children to matches, are the backbone of the club and without them Snettisham would not have the brilliant junior set up at its disposal.

Michelle Knott explained: "With so many clubs around us in decline or at times struggling to raise a side, we believe that our club ethos works well for us.

"We include each and every individual from any background and we strongly believe in everyone’s ability to play the game and encourage each member to take part no matter how experienced they are.

"The high number of youth players is down to our fantastic coaches making sessions fun and enjoyable.

"If children are having fun, they will learn more and return each week.

"There are many schools who do not play cricket, so we feel that we need to keep on promoting the game."

Michelle added: "It is very important to keep these sessions going to give children the opportunity to be part of a team, learn much needed life skills, learn to respect each other and the club that they belong to.

Keeping children busy and getting them outside without an electronic device in their hand is a hard task these days, but we believe that with hard work and dedication, we can.

This does not only help us a club, but as a village as well. Without junior members the future of our club is lost. The cricket club itself was set up in 1837, so keeping a good old game of village cricket alive, is a must for us."

For the first time this year, Snettisham are looking at having some indoor winter training sessions to keep up and focus on different parts of the training the juniors have had over the summer.

Dates and times to be arranged, but if you are interested in joining, please contact Michelle Knott on 07837778119 or Vickie Rose on 07904240900.