How to get your kids in to Cricket
Simple Tips for How To Introduce Children to Cricket
Looks like 4 runs for this little guy!
As Spring turns to Summer in Britain, as sure as it will rain more than shine, village clubs everywhere begin their final preparations for the Cricket season.
Greens are tidied up and working parties are put together to do odd jobs at the ground and sort out the mess that Winter left behind.
Invariably each year, each and every Cricket club will look at how many ‘youngsters’ they have on the books and whether their Junior ranks are deemed ‘healthy’.
The lifeblood of a cricket club is the players, for numerous reasons which perhaps we’ll look at in another article.
Cricket remains, in the UK at least, one of the top Summer activities for kids, and clubs are always on the lookout for new Junior players.
These junior players are normally cricket-mad children that love playing cricket, and love being part of a club environment as well.
But how do these bat and ball enthusiasts end up being so bonkers about the game?
How do you teach a child a ‘forward defensive’ or an ‘outswinger’?
Don’t worry about that for now, just get them into it with our top tips for getting your child into cricket.
Top tips for starting kids off in Cricket
Of course, there is no set path for introducing a child to cricket, but here are a few tips from us at The Sporting Blog Kids, and hopefully they will help help your son or daughter enjoy this great sport, which offers so much outside of the playing arena as well.
1. Throwing and Catching: The Basics of Cricket
So often, throwing and catching are the foundations of learning any sport. In general, there are 3 main benefits to throwing and catching, which are not limited to just cricket of course.
Hand-eye coordination
Depth perception
Repetition
All of which builds confidence. So how to do a simple throwing and catching game. Generally, this is good for children from 3-4 years of age up, any younger and they normally can’t concentrate and take instructions!
Buy yourself a simple sponge ball, any will do but make sure it is spongey. This helps with grasping and grabbing, otherwise, the ball will continually bounce out and they find it hard to grip with their little hands.
How to Begin Throwing and Catching with Your Child
Stand a few steps apart at first and drop the sponge ball into your child's hands, encouraging them to grasp the ball and bring it into their chest. Incentivise the game in some way with a treat or a hug or a high five etc.
As they slowly get to grips with grabbing the moving ball, you can step a bit further away, perhaps a foot at a time.
This will take weeks rather than days but a few minutes a day of ‘Catching Time’ will be something they can look forward to and will also help tire them out mentally a little bit!
Once you have stepped back a bit, it’s time to introduce the throw. You can start with an underarm so they can copy what you are doing.
Again, when they get it right, reward them with praise and make the whole thing terribly exciting.
As the repetition groove takes hold, their confidence will build and you can increase the gap, we have even drawn lines to say it’s Level 1, Level 2 etc.
Once it becomes second nature to get the hands in the right position and grab and pull the ball in, you will see them trying to widen the gap themselves.
It is also good for them to see adults or older children performing the throwing and catching game at greater distances, it will provide a bit of inspiration as well as something for them to try and copy.
A Bat and a ball
The next stage is probably to get a tiny plastic bat for your child, show them someone on TV or YouTube hitting a ball, and show them that they now have a bat just like that person too.
The idea is to kind of progress from the catching game into a ‘Hitting game’. The same rules apply, you just swap the bat for the catching hands.
You will need to explain how to grip the bat with two hands, but don’t worry about technique or anything like that, to begin with, just get them enthused about hitting the ball. When they get it right, make a big deal about it, and use the same methods in terms of stepping back a foot at a time.
Once they feel comfortable holding the bat and enjoy the interaction with you of hitting the ball as you throw it, they will become more comfortable with the idea of the game, and you can tell them they are playing cricket.
Stay tuned - watch Cricket on-screen with your kids
Another tip which will help you no end is to watch snippets of cricket with your children.
Before bed or whenever you want them to settle down for 10 minutes, sit with them and watch some highlights of people hitting the ball or making great catches.
It will help fire the imagination and start to build vivid memories which inspire and encourage your children to take the next step and really get into Cricket.
Doing this with them can also help create that shared bond over a hobby which is so important to kids when they are starting out.
Joining the Cricket Club
At some point, you will want your little ones to start looking into whether they might enjoy being part of organised instruction and training.
I would personally suggest as young as you feel comfortable with is a good starting point.
Research whether your local clubs cater for very small children and whether they do Kwick-Cricket or any other initiatives for beginners.
They will probably get introduced to this sort of thing at school as well, but most of the bigger clubs also have fun days where the Children can get excited over playing Cricket themed games with each other in a non-competitive atmosphere.
The cricket club is also famous for the cricket ‘tea’. Which is the famous break, between team innings where all players, umpires and spectators munch down on sandwiches, cakes and all manner of culinary delights.
The tea is a crucial part of a cricket match but its also a time when kids take a break from play and learn to mix with elders, their teammates and if during a proper match, the opposition.
One fun thing and a useful way to encourage kids afternoon tea ideas is to have the children help you make and prepare a cricket tea at home. At some point, if your kid plays cricket you will have to do this anyway!
One important note; check that the club has an official junior section and all the various officers responsible for child safety etc.
A Nice Cover drive!
Why Cricket is a great game to get Children playing
Cricket is more than just a game, it is in many ways, a part of modern life that is under threat.
The idea of playing a whole day of something is a bit alien to young people nowadays, but the sport itself offers so much more.
As a young girl or boy, playing cricket gives the opportunity to mix with people from different backgrounds, with a variety of skills being useful, not just being bigger or faster or stronger.
Cricket is a game that encourages social interaction, tactical thought, leadership and team dynamics, as well as introspection and critical analysis.
More than anything, Cricket will introduce your children to friends for life, especially in a club environment. For this alone, we recommend giving it a go and seeing what your kids think.
Read more on our cricket blog
