South Shields Cricket Club Girls

Who are we?

We are the girls section of South Shields Cricket Club.  We were only formed after COVID in the summer of 2021 and have grown quickly both in terms of numbers and success.  

The 2023 season saw 69 girls engaged with club activities at Wood Terrace and many more at the club’s outreach programmes in local primary schools. We fielded girl only hardball teams at Under 12, Under 11 (x2) and Under 10.

 Under 12 Girls 2023

Our Under 11A won the Durham CB Under 11 league and the Under 11B finished second. The Under 12 and Under 10 teams both competed well in boys competitions, regularly beating all boys teams. 

Durham CB Under 11 Girls League Champions 2023

Four of our girls were chosen for the Under 11 Durham County advanced batting course over the winter and two for the Under 13s.           

In February this year, our younger girls made their competitive debut in the North East Division DCBJL Under 9 Boys Indoor League, with a convincing victory which demonstrated the conveyor belt of talented girls coming through our system.

North East DCBJL Under 9  Indoor League Valentines Day 2024

Why are we crowdfunding again?

This will be our fourth Crowdfunder campaign and we are extremely humbled to have the opportunity to once again have the opportunity of match funding from Sport England.  Last year, our Crowdfunder campaign raised the funds to ensure that we could install two artificial wickets on either side of the square to provide much needed training capacity which built on the two previous successful campaigns which went a long way to improve our playing facilities.

New Crowdfunder 2023 funded artificial being put to good use last summer

Due to the increasing number of girls we have wanting to enjoy all the physical, social and mental benefits of playing cricket at the club, and the development stage our older girls are progressing to, the need for an experienced and qualified female coach has become a necessity.  Our volunteer coaches are already working beyond full capacity and we feel it is important that our older girls are coached by a woman who can not only pass on the technical knowledge gained from playing at a high level but act as a role model as our girls reach adolescence, inspiring them to stick with the game long term.  

How we’ll spend the money raised

Pull shot at Free Girls Summer Holiday Camp 2023

All proceeds from our campaign, will fund as many hours as possible of an experienced qualified female coach to allow us to develop our current girls and give younger girls the opportunity to join the club.

The money raised would ideally cover the following sessions throughout the summer

Monday nights – Girls Under 11 games

Tuesday nights - Girls training 

Wednesday nights - Girls Under 14 games

Sunday mornings – Girls Under 12 games

Under 7s bowling session at Free Girls Summer Holiday Camp 2023

Additionally, she would be lead coach at 20 days of free Girl Only summer camps and run sessions in partner primary schools.

Community impact

Our cricket club is heavily involved in the community, especially through our Free Summer Holiday Camps Programme for primary aged children in our community, our Primary Partnership Programme for local primary schools with more than 50% of pupils eligible for free school meals and our Confidential Bursary Programme that makes membership of the club accessible to all.

The summer camps have run since 2021, and we held 28 full days at the club in 2023, 14 for each gender, these camps were well attended and the feedback was very positive. 

One of our primary partners, Monkton Juniors, where our coaches ran two or more hours of cricket for over 30 weeks in the school year, were national Chance to Shine Primary School of the Year.

Monkton Juniors Primary School of the Year 2023

A significant number of our juniors receive full bursaries allowing them to embrace all the positive benefits of cricket and being part of the club.  The bursary covers club clothing, club membership and all indoor coaching costs.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!