Dom is in his GCSE year at Charterhouse School and is part of then Sussex County Age Group Pathway. It is fascinating to hear his thoughts on what drives him to become better as a youngster who plays school, county and club cricket.

Jenny Thompson is driven by the purpose of sharing stories about women in society and through cricket. This has inspired her to travel the world starting with the 54 countries that have an ICC ranking for women’s cricket. What she has witnessed and observed first hand are amazing examples of people introducing cricket to kids where before they had nothing and in this episode we hear some wonderful examples of this.

Itai is such a wonderful role model for young cricketers under his care. He sees cricket as much more than a game in which you bat and bowl. He understands the importance of enabling kids to have fun through playing sport and goes far beyond this to show them the important life skills it teaches kids as well.

Ross grew up in Zimbabwe and played cricket at school from the age of five. The education system in the mid 1990s prioritised sport from junior school through high school and presented so many wonderful experiences for youngsters like Ross to develop a passion for sport.

Henry is a coach with a great breadth of experience in Australia and the Uk who is motivated by the aim to positively influence a young person’s life through the medium of cricket. In this episode he talks about the challenges faced by remote small rural towns in New South Wales re getting more kids into cricket and compares this to his experiences in the UK to date.

Yusuf is a people developer and a leader with a great heart. In his time as a cricket coach developer he has helped hundreds of people build that inner belief that they can make a positive difference to others as he sees something in them that they don’t see themselves. A really uplifting conversation.

Mark Curtin is the CEO of The Lord’s Taverners and is passionate about demonstrating the inclusiveness of cricket through the community programmes the Charity delivers across the country. He acknowledges the challenges that the charity faces but sees that the way forward is through purposeful collaboration and a commitment to change organisational culture in a positive way.

Darren is a self- confessed cricket lover who plays, umpires, analyses and coaches the game. He has a real passion for helping others enjoy the game as much as he does and a real instinct for seeing skill and ability in everyone.

In his final talk with me Chad runs through his reflections of all the key component parts of his strategy to grow Ealing CC Junior Cricket Section. He shares what went well and what didn’t across a number of different projects

Tanvir Ahmed has an amazing story to tell about how he began with supporting 3 kids in his local club in 2015 to now where he oversees a junior section that caters for 150+ U7-19s. Not only this but he has also recruited 13 qualified coaches from his junior and senior sections to help deliver the sessions needed to coach all these kids. Enjoy the listen.

Shrikant Wagh is a former first class professional cricketer from India who came from a very small town and worked his way into the system using his left arm bowling and left handed batting to help him stand out from the crowd. He used the experience of not getting selected for his age group when most of his friends did as a motivator for him to prove he could do it and went on to represent his state for 10+ years. He now coaches club juniors in Yorkshire and brings his experiences from India into his balanced coaching and mentoring style.

Ben is a development and coaching officer with Cheshire Cricket Board and is involved with their Emerging Players Programme as well as leading on their U11s pathway. In this episode Ben shares his views on what is important for the development of players from the earliest stage through to pre academy level and packs a vast amount of personal and professional insight into our talk.

Chad provides us with a number of key themes which he implemented with great success in his time at Ealing CC as Director of Cricket to help junior cricket thrive and grow

Yohan gives us an insight into how he fell in love with the game from a very young age but struggled when Covid brought a stop to all sport. Then through an opportunity to play and coach in the Uk he rediscovered his love for the game again

Chad is a former first class cricketer turned coach and cricket consultant. He is also the founder of Playup.coach. In this episode he talks through his approach to taking on the role of Club Director of Cricket at Ealing CC and all the areas he looked to move on and improve with an eye for detail and a leadership style of engagement

Chris is now Head of Talent Pathway at Lancashire and has a wealth of experience behind him within the game at recreational, England men’s and women’s levels. His approach is to tailor his coaching to suit the individual player and challenge in a constructive way to help the player find out more about their “why”

Hutch has just been appointed Interim Director of Cricket with Jersey Cricket but much of his experience and time as a coach has been in the support of junior cricketers. He has a simple but focused coaching philosophy of combining learning with enjoyment and has a very high team ethic as well.

Surinder’s role as UK fan ambassador for the IPL’s Punjab Kings means he will be in India for the IPL when this gets released. However Surinder speaks so eloquently about the challenges of accessibility in the game and how programmes like the Lords Taverners Wicketz are so important in helping people gain access to the game.

2015 saw the banks of the river Tyne overflow and completely flood the outfield and pavilion at Corbridge CC in Northumberland. Over a two year period members of the club worked together to fight back and create a new beginning for the club which focused around premises, people and purpose. This is a brilliant example of how people working together in the aftermath of adversity can produce something to be proud of for generations to come.

Lewis is a former first class cricketer now turned mindset and mental performance coach. Having had a dream by the age of 14 to become a pro cricketer he has learned much along his journey to date including the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people and immerse yourself in a positive environment. He speaks openly about the health condition he was born with as well as his anxiety and how by coming to terns with both by using them as a motivator for pushing himself forwards he has made so much of his life.

Charlie is a County Age Group Coach with Cornwall and a junior club coach at Weybridge CC. He discovered his love for coaching aged 16 and feels he is continually learning his craft and sees coaching as a privilege to help people feel good about themselves.

Jimmy is former captain of the West Indies and currently part of the coaching team who is helping plant the seed of progress with the current Test Team

Ty has over 25 years of coaching experience behind him and an enthusiasm to enhance and develop the next generation of cricketers that is second to none. His coaching business All Round Cricket Coaching has expanded over the years to include residential and festivals as well as camps and winter training programmes.

Chris is the lead disability coach with Cheshire Cricket Board and also the current England Learning Disability Cricket Captain. In our chat he reflects on his time as a coach from when he first started getting involved at his local club as a 14 year old to now where he is the go to senior coach in the region for all matters relating to disability cricket.

Lee has over 25 years experience in coaching and yet feels as though he is only just starting his understanding of what’s involved! He coaches junior cricketers at his local club as well as being involved with England at U15-19 ages. One of the many golden nuggets he shares with us is that coaching is all about “raising awareness and giving them responsibility” 👏👏👏