To create players who will have the opportunity to transition to adult teams during their teens;
To create equal opportunities for girls and boys to enjoy and play cricket;
To allow players to be stretched by playing in higher age groups if their abilities allow this;
To provide excellent coaching and facilities to enhance the cricket experience;
To enter as many league teams as possible – match practice is the greatest learning environment;
To provide Bucks County with a strong supply of County players from U10 onwards.

Building from young foundations…

Beaconsfield Minis - U6 and U7 year groups

Focus is on having fun whilst learning the basic elements of cricket:

catching, throwing, picking up ball on the run, stopping the ball;
Basic batting – less concerned with technicalities of grips and more interested in hitting the ball – let them “find a way” within coach guidance;
Introduction to bowling;
Diamond cricket played more than traditional formats as greater number of children involved;
Played with tennis balls.

Lots of games, variety and focus on ensuring they want to come back the following week!

…towards match play situations…

Beaconsfield Juniors - Boys - U8s, U9s and Girls – U8-U11

The Bucks leagues start at U9s (girls can play 2 years lower) and therefore from U8s onwards there is greater focus on match skills:

Fielding but not just the basics of catching, throwing, stopping but also backing up and run outs;
Batting – adding in work on stance, grip and wider shots and starting to work on decision making about which shot to which ball (although this is an area that is still a work in progress when they are U15!);
Bowling – greater focus on the grip, run up, follow through, accuracy and pace;
The league plays Barrington rules cricket, which is a pairs game and a great introduction to cricket and therefore a lot of this is seen in practice session;
Played with incrediballs and tennis balls.

…introducing hardball…

Beaconsfield Colts - Boys – U10s, U11s and U12s and Girls – U11 – U14

The Bucks leagues introduce hardball at U10s:

Therefore the U10s spend a lot of time building on match skills from the previous year but under the introduction of hardball and full protection kit;
We add in wicketkeeping as one of the core skills;
We expect at U10 / U11s the players to begin to start to understand their own game better, to begin to ask for help with specifics of their game;
Whilst we do not stream players at BCC, with the introduction of hardball this does add a training complication where safety is paramount and therefore groups may be chosen for certain drills based upon ability and attitude;
At U12 the League matches move from Barrington format to normal T20 rules. This brings another dimension as the players become aware of defence and the full game dynamic.

…preparing for senior cricket

Beaconsfield Senior Colts - Boys – U13s, U14s and U15s

The players are now turning into adults, the bowling faster and the ball hit harder:
There is greater overlap here of players playing up in older teams or indeed into adult teams;
The players are now either honing skills or adding in new varieties to their games through specific drills and sessions;
There is a greater amount of cricket being played at schools and for some in County squads therefore a key dynamic here is to

- Ensure there is still a strong social and sporting experience at BCC for these players to continue to engage with the club
- Ensure that they can test their skills against adult members from the senior teams

The greatest success at these age groups is to see the players acting as their own coaches. By now they should understand their own games well enough to know:

- What it is they are trying to achieve
- Why it went well / badly
- When to ask a coach for advice / support

2019 Plans