Welcome to the tenth of our newsletters. I hope they help keep all stakeholders in the Otago Country network up to date with the happenings within our organisation.
Our two Cricket Development Officers, Willie Miller and Emma Campbell are both tidying up after a busy season under the ‘new’ regime. Willie is now in his part-time role with us and is now based in Dunedin at the Otago Cricket offices. He will be back up in Central running holiday programs and assisting with our Winter Training program. It makes plenty of sense for Willie to be in Dunedin over the winter period as he will be able to upskill himself while working with the Otago Cricket High Performance and Coaching staff, which will ultimately benefit our association in the long run. He will also be fairly busy with planning for next season. Emma has now finished her Summer Coaching role for this season and will be assisting in our season debrief and also helping to plan our Winter Coaching program. Emma has done another top job up in the Queenstown/Wanaka area and helping out with coaching our rep teams. We are so fortunate to have someone with Emma’s passion driving our girls cricket in particular, and driving our sport in what is a growing area. Rest assured we will be fighting like hell to have her back next season. Emma is soon to take off for a break in Europe and we wish her ‘happy holidays’. I’d like to thank them both for the effort they both put into the season and will look forward to hearing all about their seasons, and plans for the next one, when we have our debriefs. Willie can be contacted on 0212790979 or email Willie @ otagocricket.co.nz If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Willie or myself. At the recent Otago Cricket Awards night Graeme Buttar was honoured with a ‘Services to Cricket Award’ for his outstanding contribution to the Cromwell CC and Otago Country Association, particularly for his input into junior cricket but also the contribution he has made to Otago Country overall. This was nice acknowledgment for the loads of work Graeme has done in our region over a considerable time. It was also nice to see Murray Hughes awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Cricket Award. Murray heads Aotea Electric who sponsored our association for a considerable period of time and has been on the board, and chairman of, Otago Cricket for a number of years. Also at the awards our Secondary Schoolgirls side were recognised for winning their Tournament and Kate Heffernan was named Batsman of the Year for the Otago U21 Womens team. While on the subject of awards functions I have been asked a few times why we don’t have them any longer and the truth is we just simply run out of time. We have held them in the past but it became a logistical nightmare trying to get everyone together in one spot at a nominated time and place. One of the pitfalls of covering such a wide area and most of our young people involved in multi sporting activities. This isn’t simply an excuse but a genuine reason and I am working on a solution. Fraser Wilson our Hawke Cup ‘head honcho’ has been going through a bit of a debrief around the past performance and planning the way forward for our future Hawke Cup campaigns. He has some ideas that will become evident as time rolls on. More early season Sunday games against good opposition on grass, for the squad, leading into the Hawke Cup program is a distinct possibility. Obviously more to follow. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank anyone who has contributed in any way to assist the OCCA over this last season. Be it the mums and dads that take our young people to games, coaches, scorers, managers, administrators, groundsmen and followers of cricket. Cricket people the volunteer and give of your time so freely so that the game of cricket in our vast area can function as well as it does. Thanks again and rest up over the winter because in around five months we’ll be doing it all again! While on the subject of thanking people and organisations for their help and assistance over the season past I would like to give a big shout out to Ian Mann and the Central Otago District Council for their help with the running of cricket especially up at Molyneux Park. The OCCA and CODC are building a good working relationship, which will benefit both of us in the future. Also the relationship that we have with the council contractors Asplundh and their groundsman at Molyneux Park, Andrew Douglas is invaluable. Andrew has done another stunning job with the grounds and pitches at Molyneux Park and we thank him for all his work. Keep an eye on the Otago Country Cricket Association Facebook page for news updates. You will notice the latest FB posts go on the ‘home page’ of the website as well. Just to repeat from previous newsletters, no sporting organisation can run without the help of sponsors and funding partners and the Otago Country Cricket Association would like to thank the following for their brilliant help for the 2015-16 season. The Bendigo Valley Sports and Charity The Lion Foundation KiwiSport Geosolve NZ Community Trust Pub Charity Mark Wilson, Marketing and Fitness Consultant Kookaburra Please support these people and organisations where possible as they have supported us so generously.
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