8th July 2020
| Mallory Gray
Working in partnership with the ECB
and Wales Association of Cricket Officials, Cricket Wales has created a
challenge for clubs across Wales which will hopefully engage with the network's
competitive spirit!
ECBACO has this year released a free
online version of the Stage 1 Umpiring course which has already seen over 3000
sign ups across the UK. In Wales we thought we would set a challenge to the
clubs to see who can get the most members signed up and through the course over
the coming weeks.
We will publish 'league tables'
regularly over the coming weeks across our social media channels and will even
ensure there are some prizes for the top performing clubs!
We think this is a good idea for a
number of reasons:
-
Keep
players, volunteers and parents engaged and use them when play resumes
- Upskill
those players who may usually be expected to stand in games with no
official umpires
- Help
build more understanding and empathy for those who already umpire
- It
will help us to create more interest in people considering umpiring as a
pathway in the future
To get involved all you need to do
is:
1. Sign
up for the course here
2. Ensure you select your club when
prompted in the registration page
3. Complete the course once you receive the access to the e-Learning
portal (the course takes 3-4 hours to complete and can be done in bite
sized chunks!)
4. Encourage your teammates and
fellow club members to do the same!
Peter Williams, Wales ACO Education
Officer, said: “ECB surveys show that 75% of all recreational
cricket is self-officiated so for many club cricketers umpiring knowledge is as
important as playing skills. We’ve put the ECBACO Stage 1 umpiring course
online to reach as many people as possible and raise the standard of
officiating, which we know makes for happier players. We’re pleased to be working with Cricket Wales
to help make the game stronger.”