Young slip through cricket nets

HOPEFUL: Glenn Rumble, cricket coach, hopes the world cup will help reinvigorate the sport.PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

LESS support in schools and more sports available to students are among the challenges of keeping secondary school cricket alive, according to Rotorua coaches.

Cricket coach Glenn Rumble said a lack of parent and teacher involvement in the sport was one of the main causes of stagnant secondary school participation.

"We have a lot of good cricketers, especially in that secondary school age group, but once they hit high school there isn't the interest from the school to keep cricket up," he said.

"There is a severe lack of teachers and parents wanting to be involved with the sport and a lot of kids who want to play cricket.

"Parents seem to have this idea that cricket is long and boring and takes forever so I suspect a lot of parents actively dissuade kids from playing cricket."

Central Cricket Club president Paddy Hayes believed there was less school support than there used to be.

"There doesn't seem to be quite as much of a push for cricket in schools," he said. "There's less resources and it can be hard to get teachers willing to give up their Saturdays for the games."

Senior clubs such as Central Cricket had been trying to get secondary students to play for them but they had met only moderate success, he said.

"We've only got a few playing for us. Geyser [City Cricket Club] has had a few more players sign on but there's still not the numbers of secondary-age players as there used to be."

Social change, shortage of time and availability of other sports had probably also contributed to the decline, he said.

"I think there's a bit of a social change going on. Kids want gadgets and that kind of thing that cost money.

"In my day, you didn't work on a Saturday just so you could buy various devices.

"Now lots of the kids have jobs so they play touch rugby and other sports that don't require seven or eight hours' commitment."

Mr Hayes hoped the World Cup would get more students into cricket: "Any exposure is good exposure."

However, more needed to be done around the structure of the competitions to make a difference.

"Some 20/20 games are played but it would be good to have more of a mix between traditional cricket and shorter games to mix it up."

Western Heights High School sports co-ordinator Leona Kaye said the school had one boys' team, but a few years ago had two boys' teams and a girls' side.

"There's a lot of other sports on offer, and not just sports, there's also a lot of other co-curricular activities available," she said.

Finding adequate resources, including teachers or parents who would coach was difficult.

Ms Kaye hoped more students would get involved next season but said a shortage of resources could still be an issue.

Rotorua Girls' High School cricket coach John Burton said the school had always had a team in the 12 or 13 years he had been coaching.

"We generally get about 15 girls who are keen," he said. "There's not many teams in Rotorua, though. Tauranga have far more and Taupo-nui-a-Tia College have a team."

Most girls hadn't played at intermediate level and once they left school, there were not any senior teams to join, he said.

"Most of the girls who start out in year nine or 10 are pretty raw. There's a bit of Kiwi Cricket played but there doesn't seem to be a lot of girls' cricket played at intermediate."

More cricket development coaches in Rotorua would help, he said.