JERSEY CRICKET’S new performance and development officer for girls and women is hoping her enthusiasm will entice new groups of female players to the sport.
Maddy White possesses years of coaching experience in places as far away and as diverse as Sweden, Hong Kong and New Zealand, as well as in her home county of Lancashire. She arrives in Jersey looking to make her mark and encourage more participation, with the emphasis on having fun.
Having visited the Island recently to see friends and family, she got in touch with Jersey Cricket’s development manager, Lee Meloy, to ask whether any positions might be open.
A few months later, the officer role came up.
‘When we got back in touch it just looked like such a good opportunity,’ White explained. ‘There’s quite a fresh pathway and a lot we can do with it, whereas back in the UK, it’s like, “Okay, we’ve got the men sorted”. Here, they’re trying to adapt the women’s programme.
‘I did that over in Sweden, where they had nothing, and then we started something and it went further and further.
‘Now they’ve got national teams.
‘You’ve got a national team here, but the pathway below it needs a lot of work, so that’s what I’m here to do.’
White has been coaching cricket for nearly as long as she has been playing it and started her own coaching company after helping out at Lancashire CC for a number of years. Soon after, she took that to Sweden, starting with coaching the men’s and junior sections before asking if they wanted to get women involved too, which the Swedish Cricket Federation agreed to.
‘I did some events, got the women’s team going and then when I came back to the UK, I was like, “Right, I can do this for every club now,’ White said.
‘It’s getting events going and getting women interested in the first place and then follow up, training them in the basics and let them have fun. Then see how far they want to go, perhaps getting them into a game of the hardball stuff and keeping them involved in each level and creating a pathway.
‘Having the experience of doing it before it makes it quite easy just to repeat and repeat and repeat. And I can adapt it if I need to.
‘We have a bit of a gap in the pathway and so what we’re trying to do is make it so there aren’t any gaps again. So, even if I’m not here in five years’ time, the national team are still getting fed by teams underneath that and those teams are being fed by other teams.’
It is getting quite tedious to keep on referring to it, but, like all sports, the situation has not been helped by the Covid pandemic, meaning the women’s team has been unable to travel and play in the UK.
That is all set to change again this year. The U15 squad will be training soon for a forthcoming trip to the UK, while White is looking to put on an event in April or May to attract new players with a view to putting on bigger events later on.
She also hopes to organise competitions between schools and businesses.
‘You do not turn anyone away,’ White adds. ‘If you want to play, if you want to do anything, then you’re more than welcome, as long as you’ve got the energy to do it.
‘It’s about meeting new people, making friends, bringing your family and friends and having a day out. It’s an experience, isn’t it? Something new.’
White hopes that she might be able to entice players with experience in other sports, too.
‘Everyone who ever played another sport, like hockey or football or tennis; if you think about it, that’s hand eye coordination, which is exactly what we look for. You hit a ball or you can catch ball.
‘But it can also help younger girls by building them social skills and self-confidence, which is very important.’
White, herself, first got into cricket when she was just eight or nine years old, at primary school. She recalls her cousins throwing balls at her all the time but the turning point was when someone from Rossendale Leisure Trust, a leisure and activity community charity, put on cricket sessions at her high school. She was soon helping out with coaching. Years later, after getting injured at university, she started taking the off-field role more seriously.
‘I’ve always loved it. I’ve never known anything else to do,’ she admits.
Her recollection of her playing career is, strangely, quite vague; admitting that her memory does her a disservice, despite the years playing for Lancashire. She recalls making her debut at 15 and being intimidated playing against England international Danni Wyatt.
‘We needed something like 12 runs off the last over to win and someone came up to me and said I should try a dilscoop shot [over the wicketkeeper’s head]. I’d never done one before in my life but I did it and she said ‘’if you do that again I will knock you out!’’ I was so scared.’
However, as much as she likes playing still, coaching is now White’s main focus and she is passionate and enthusiastic about what she can bring to women’s cricket on the Island. Following recent coaching stints at the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand and a Covid-restricted experience in Hong Kong, she is making Jersey her home.
The ultimate aim is to help Jersey Women qualify for the ICC pathway. Current criteria includes the need for eight senior female teams – double the number that competed in the Women’s Premier League, held by Jersey Cricket for the first time in 2021.
The plan is to meet that criteria by 2024, so that doors opens to international tournaments and qualifiers for the T20 World Cup.
‘We definitely want to get a lot more numbers in women’s section over a certain age,’ says White.
‘We can bridge that gap and then the standard of game and how people playing the game will go up a bit, meaning we will start winning a lot more matches.
‘We need to improve the visuality of Jersey Cricket. If we can do that, I’ll be very happy.’
