Return to Cricket Project

Aim

Muckamore aims to develop cricket in the local community and increase participation of both boys & girls by providing quality youth program.

Who are Muckamore Cricket Club?

Muckamore Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club was established in 1874 by York Street Flax Spinning Company.  For the next 100 years, it was to remain a foundation stone of a small village community.  It is now one of the premier clubs in Northern Cricket Union (NCU) - having previously won both the Senior Cup and the Senior League.

The Clubs approach has always been to promote a thriving youth programme with the introduction of our own qualified Youth Coaches. This has enhanced and invigorated the club. Our youth members consist of boys and girls from aged 4 upwards and have boys teams at U11, U13, U15 and U17 - with the aim to introduce an U15 girls team in 2024.

The Cricket section has grown from 2 to 6 senior teams with weekend play, 2 mid-week teams and an ever-growing Ladies section. Youth members play competitive League and Cup games at various age groups.

We have over 300 playing and associate members from a wide catchment area and we are delighted to have attracted a large number of Asian players who have brought their passion, knowledge and love for cricket into the club.

Our ethos has always been to build a diverse community through sport. 

How Covid-19 affected the club

Like many other clubs, Muckamore Cricket Club felt the impact of Covid-19.  Our Youth training nights went from a thriving buzz of energy, with over 100 junior members attending, to coming back in the opening season of 2022 with just 6 children in attendance.  The effect of lockdown meant:

• Our number of youth members dramatically decreased
• We lost many key coaches and volunteers
• We struggles to secure and fund the services of qualifies coaches
• We were unable to offer the youth in our community with a safe environment to grow and develop their skills and protect their mental health
• We were unable to play matches and engage with the youth members through training and tournaments
• All training was cancelled and indoor nets training
• Our Summer Camp was cancelled
• We were unable to engage with the local primary schools to introduce cricket to the children
• The restriction of social activity resulted in the loss of fundraising opportunities

Coming out the other side, through hard work and commitment from our volunteers we are thrilled to say in the last cricket season, our Youth Academy has grown to finish the season with 60 youth members.  We are very proud, but we know there is still so much to do.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Muckamore Cricket Club's aim for 2023 is to grow the number of youth members and expanding our actives available to the children.   Cricket can be an expensive sport for first timers, we want to offer local kids of all ages the chance to come a long and enjoy the sport without having to worry about the barriers and financial restrictions involved - be introduced to cricket by qualified coaches, building a sense of belonging to a team in a fun and safe environment.

The Club would like to put into motion the Return to Cricket Project.

Program of activities to include:

• Post Circular weekly coaching sessions aimed at introducing girls to cricket, to include fun cricket sessions and fun physical sessions on all the cricketing basics
• 12 week coaching session at our Club grounds
• End of Programme Tournament
• Help build confidence and knowledge in our youth cricketers
• Provide outdoor fun fitness activities
• Promote the game in the local community
• Help develop new coaches in the area

We need your help to raise £10,000.  If the club hits a target of £5,000 on Crowdfunder, Sport NI will match this figure with a further £5,000. 

Your financial support to this Crowdfunder project will help us provide - 

• Our new motion is to focus on attracting girls into cricket - For the first time, this project will focus on coaching to allow primary school girls who are new to the sport to enjoy weekly cricket training, from age 4 to 11, outside of school hours.
• Provide all youth members with a end of programme Girls tournament of cricket and multi-sport opportunities - Something we've never done at the Club before.
• Indoor hall hire to provide training sessions.
• Coaching costs to suit a variety of playing levels, from basic fundamental training, to more technically advanced  -  offering a wider range of training to suit all ages and ability. 
• Purchasing the required match and training balls and equipment required to ensure children remain safe and protected, at no financial cost to the parents.
• Coaching and training for some of our female adult members and parents in many areas from cricket, to first aid and mental health awareness.  This will help to increase our volunteering capacity and knowledge within the club and mean for the first time we will have a female representation on our coaching team.

Connect with us:

www/facebook.com/mcltcyouth 

This project successfully funded on 2nd June 2023