Following a meeting between the England Cricket Board (ECB) and scUK South East Network Manager back in May 2013, it was agreed that ECB fully endorsed the aims and objectives of Project 500. Project 500, is a collaborative Coach Development campaign across the South East region. The aim is to recruit, train and deploy 500 female coaches (all sports), across the seven counties by March 2015, thus creating a more diverse workforce to drive the growth of female participation in sport.

In pursuit of this, the Oxfordshire Sport & Physical Activity (OxSPA) Coaching lead met with the Oxfordshire Cricket Board (OCB) Coaching Development Officer and one of the OCB Directors to discuss options. It was decided that there was a gap in the workforce for coaches who were qualified to deliver the “Chance to Shine” initiative in Schools and Clubs. A significant number of female L1 coaches were already supporting with the initiative and it was felt that this was an ideal opportunity to further develop these Coaches.  A “pot” of funding was identified and information was sent to clubs asking them to nominate coaches. Five ladies were subsequently registered for the Coaching Children Course.

All coaches were fully funded, however prior to commencing the course, the coaches were required to do the following:-

• To register on Project 500
• To affiliate to the OCB Coaches Association
• To complete the ECB online Safeguarding or attend an SPC workshop
• To complete an Emergency 1^st Aid in Sport workshop.

In addition they are also required to complete 10 hours of voluntary coaching post course, in a club/school setting (the hours being recorded and signed off).

The coaches were fully supported and mentored throughout the course and as a result Oxfordshire now has 5, newly qualified L2 female coaches.

HOWZAT!  A great result for Oxfordshire.

Picture: Abi Currie, Denise Todd, Sara Morgan, Paula Matthews and Lucy Marsh (seated). Congratulations and well done Ladies!

Thank you to Oxfordshire Sport and Physical Activity in Partnership  for allowing us to use this case study.