Whilst the Club has many trained Level 2 coaches with the number of young players the club has we encourage parents and friends to get involved to help run the exercises, which allows the Coaches to move amongst the players.

Paul's Story

“There is nothing quite like standing in the sunshine in the middle of a cricket pitch watching your child with new found friends having an absolute ball learning to play the game of cricket. And although it might have been a little daunting for me at the start, getting involved with the Club as a Coach and Manager has been one of the most rewarding things I have done.”

I started getting involved with Farnham Cricket Club in 2013 purely to assist with my son’s Friday night training sessions (U8). At this stage, I only had a very basic understanding of the game principles, which I now know are called “Laws”, which came from my schoolboy cricket 30yrs+ previous, I was certainly no expert. But with support from the Club and the other Managers & Coaches, my confidence quickly grew and the following season I was managing an U9 team.

To give you an idea of what’s involved – A team manager’s responsibilities are broadly as follows:

Selecting teams for each game (using Pitchero – which is really easy)
Purchasing a few soft drinks & biscuits for Players, which are passionately consumed between the Innings.
Greeting & Signing In all Players from Parents before each game.
Setting up the field with stumps and a few boundary markers.
Setting the Batting & Bowling Order and Fielding Positions.
Acting as one of two match Umpires (the other being the opposing team’s youth manager – who’s often as in-experienced as you).
Running a Team Wrap Up session at the end of each match and safely returning Players to Parents.

Chris's story

My son is sports mad and his interest in cricket grew from watching the Ashes victory for England on TV in 2005. That summer we played cricket in our garden using a plastic bat, tennis balls and an up-turned bin as the wicket. Through an acquaintance at his school we found out about Farnham CC and in the Spring of 2006 my son (aged six) and I turned up to our first training session at Farnham Park and nine years later we’re still here.

I had played cricket at school and a bit in young adult life but when we first went to Farnham CC it was more than ten years since I’d played properly and the thought of getting involved helping run a boys team hadn’t crossed my mind. When one of the other Dads asked if I’d help out I was happy to do so, thoroughly enjoyed it and from then on was involved.

I became manager of my sons age group team and with the help and support of other parents I’ve been running the team from U8 to U16. The club supported me in becoming a qualified Level two coach and as my son was a good player, he was selected to play representative cricket for West Surrey District, and I got involved helping them as well.

Being involved at Farnham CC has been brilliant for me, as I’ve met so many great people in Farnham and in the wider Surrey area, and I’ve been privileged to be part of an activity my son loves. I’m sure I’ll still be involved at Farnham CC in some capacity when he’s playing for the First XI !!

My advice to any parent who has a child at the club, is get involved. It’ll be great for your child and it’ll be good for you too. To my mind there’s nothing better than helping young people thrive in an activity they enjoy.

Note – The Scoring & Refreshments are undertaken by other willing parents.

For anyone considering to get involved, I assure you that everything is provided; from basic training on; How to Set Up and Run a Match, the various Umpire Signals, Fielding Positions, and League Rules (which are all really easy to follow). The rest you’ll enjoy learning as you go.

If you would like to be more involved please speak to either the Jumior Registration Officer or any of the coaches during Club Training.