CRICKET COACH PAUL JONES: At Stockport Trinity Cricket club, we make sure everyone gets a chance through the All Star Cricket scheme
- Paul Jones is a cricket coach profiting from the ECB’s All Star Cricket scheme
- Jones works at Stockport Trinity Cricket Club where he coaches young children
- The All Star Cricket scheme helps young children get involved in cricket
- Around 75,000 children have taken up the scheme over the past two years
The coaching sessions we run are all about getting them to do the basics between the age of five and eight.
I was initially involved at another local club, Marple, where we introduced All Stars, and we saw straight away how much interest there was.
We want them to become as good as they can be as quickly as they can and, most of all, enjoy it.
Paul Jones (middle) is one of the cricket coaches at Stockport Trinity Cricket Club
The club is benefiting from the ECB’s All Star Cricket scheme which helps young kids to play
In the old days, you would have a long queue of bowlers, everybody waiting. Kids lose interest and are not getting value themselves. We’re looking to keep them engaged and interested.
The sessions are created for us and designed to be fun, around the theme of planets. It’s the same session for every club up and down the country on each week of the scheme.
Some of them take time to grasp how to hit the ball and develop hand-eye coordination. Others are more confident. They see what the top players are doing and that becomes natural to them. The boy who reverse swept a shot in our practice game did it naturally. You see the influence that exciting players have on young players.
Overall, 75,000 children have taken up All Star Cricket sessions over the past two years
In the batting sessions, everyone gets a chance and no one’s waiting around too long.
The challenges are not the ones you would imagine. When they’re fielding, I’m trying to encourage them not to all chase the same ball but space out and wait for it to come to them. It’s surprising how long that takes!
Older children, like Freya and James, become helpers. A young girl who initially doesn’t have much confidence is far more likely to develop it with Freya helping her than me.