They are the people children listen to, learn from and respect. Just as a great coach can inspire the hearts and minds of children to want to train and compete in sport, a poor coach can cause young participants and their families to walk away – never to return.
At the heart of the new Coaching and Vulnerable Persons policy is the need to maintain a healthy, safe and enjoyable environment for all those who play cricket and especially the coaches.
Children enjoy their experience most when they are in a safe environment, learn and improve, play with their mates and are given opportunities to contribute.
Adults interacting with children and/or vulnerable adults are in a position of trust and influence and, as such, have a significant role to play in creating this safe environment.
As a part of NZC’s overall push for “best practice” standards in the area of coaching and supervision, the Vulnerable Persons policy and coach qualification is viewed as a fundamental requirement.
Further to the above requirements South Canterbury Cricket will be rolling out sessions with clubs so that all our coaches can obtain their Vetting,Child Protection and appropriate Coaching Certification leading up to the season start.
For our coaches this will help them with running coaching sessions, have ideas and show our support to help them upskill, or understand what things they need to coach at various ages. There will possibly be some practical sessions, where you will learn suitable games, drills and more that the children will find enjoyable.
Clubs will be informed of dates and meetings.
South Canterbury Cricket appreciates that you are our volunteers, so we want to make this as helpful a resource as possible and certainly not onerous.
You can read the full NZ Cricket Policy release here