Cooke Collegians CC – Nets for Youth Coaching

Aim

Cooke Collegians Cricket Club is investing in a new batting cage which will serve as a training facility for youth cricket.

Who are we?

We are Cooke Collegians Cricket Club, a community sports club based in South Belfast dedicated to promoting cricket for all ages. We have 5 senior mens teams playing in local leagues; but our youth section is still growing with one under 11 team, and we want as many young boys and girls learning the game of cricket, developing lifelong skills, building friendships, and learning about the importance of teamwork.

Why are we crowdfunding?

2025 was a banner year for Cooke Collegians, with the club celebrating its most successful season in recent memory. The First XI had a remarkable season, winning the Junior Cup for the first time since 2011 in an absolute thriller against Instonians that will live long in the memory, and topped the season off with a promotion into Section One for the first time in fifteen years.The Second XI and Fourth XI had competitive and enjoyable seasons, and always played the sport in the right spirit. The Third XI won promotion and Junior League 8, making it two trophies and two promotions for the club in 2025.

This success has been hard earned, and we want to channel this success into the future so that Cooke Collegians are playing cricket, making friendships and memories, and competing in, and winning trophies for years to come. With that in mind we are looking to expand our youth section to include an Under 13s team for boys and girls aged 11-13, to add to the Under 11s team already in place. 

We are seeking funding for a new mobile batting cage as a new resource to help expand youth cricket at the club. This would help us in our goal of launching a new Under 13 team and increase training capacity for beginners.

At present, we have one small nets facility for use for both senior and youth cricket which limits our ability to provide high quality youth coaching sessions for batting and bowling, particularly with our expansion of youth cricket this incoming season. Mobile nets will help this situation and will allow us to:
- Deliver structured coaching sessions
- Improve player safety
- Expand participation in cricket for young people in our community

How we’ll spend the money raised

The money we raise from the Crowdfunder will go towards the purchase of a new mobile batting cage. The £2000 we are seeking to raise will cover this expense in full.

Every contribution made towards our project will be doubled in value thanks to Sport NI’s match funding commitment. For every £1 pledged, Sport NI will match it with an additional £1, up to 50% of our overall funding target.

Community impact

We are a community club which is welcoming to all and is proudly multicultural. We are run by volunteers and provide healthy and fun outdoor activity to our players from age 8 to over 50. Cricket is also an extremely social sport, for young people just getting into the game, to current players, former players who meet up on match day and at other social events. This provides valuable social connections to all of our players. 

We are a multicultural club, with a large number of our players coming from an Indian and Pakistani background, as well as White British and Irish and other races. This shared love of cricket helps break down barriers and fosters greater understanding between different community groups.

How you can play your part

There are three 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!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made