My story is like so many others: I鈥檇 played cricket throughout my childhood, so I volunteered at my local cricket club simply because I wanted to give something back. I鈥檇 never had a female coach myself, I knew there鈥檇 be young girls coming through, and I understood the value of representation. I wanted to make sure that if a girl wanted to join a club, she wouldn鈥檛 be turned away.
Then, after I got my Level 1 coaching qualification, I went to Newcastle University to study Sport and Exercise Science. That鈥檚 where I fell in love with strength and conditioning, and with the gym itself. As I was learning how training could make people stronger, more confident, and more resilient, I quickly realised I wanted to link my own passion for fitness with my love of cricket, and build a career working in two things I genuinely care about.
From there, I secured a placement with Cheshire Cricket, completed additional work with Northumberland Cricket Board, and set up a women鈥檚 cricket team at Newcastle University. Those early experiences showed me the gap that often exists in physical preparation for women and girls, and how much impact good athletic development can have on both performance and injury risk.
I鈥檓 now the聽lead on athletic development side of the performance pathway, where I oversee the physical preparation of girls and boys聽across the pathway as well as the women鈥檚 Tier 3 team. My role focuses on聽strength and conditioning delivery, fitness testing, and integrating physical development directly into cricket training, rather than treating it as something separate.
A key part of my work is building聽strong, resilient athletes聽by developing physical qualities such as strength, speed, and robustness, while reducing injury risk and increasing confidence in movement. This means adapting strength and conditioning principles to suit the realities of women鈥檚 and girls鈥� cricket, from participation through to performance environments.
Learning has been crucial at every step of my journey. Since joining Cheshire Cricket, I鈥檝e been surrounded by coaches working at different stages of the pathway. I鈥檓 also now on my way to becoming an 黑料专区 Coach Developer 鈥� tutoring the coaches of the future - with support from the Evolve Pillar of the . By sharing knowledge, shadowing experienced practitioners, and collaborating across disciplines, we鈥檝e improved how physical preparation supports technical and tactical development, ultimately helping to push the women鈥檚 and girls鈥� game forward.
There are so many real-life situations you encounter, where just by asking 鈥榳hat does this mean?鈥� or 鈥榳hat could we do?鈥�, you get huge insights into the best way forward.
I also went to the UKSCA workshops at Manchester Institute. I used to come back from university at weekends to do them. They were great, but I was the only woman there and at times I used to dread the train journey. But I asked a lot of questions and paid attention.
Often, even now when I go to workshops and conferences, they鈥檙e very male-dominated. I can be the only woman there and walking in can be daunting. So being at the , in an environment where there are lots of people who share the same goal 鈥� wanting to work in women鈥檚 and girls鈥� cricket 鈥� is going to be amazing. Seeing all those people, having conversations and learning about different experiences is going to be so valuable.
My own talk will focus on physical preparation and how to adapt sessions to different stages of maturation in junior development. A while ago, I did a video for icoachcricket on physical prep for fast bowlers, and I want to share those ideas because there are still so many injuries in cricket. Even if just a handful of people take something away, hopefully that stops a few players from leaving the game through injury.
When I got the email asking me to present at the conference, I looked at it about 100 times. I didn鈥檛 know how to reply. I knew how good it would be for my development, but it was still scary because I鈥檝e never done anything like this before.
I鈥檝e run CPD sessions for club coaches on strength and conditioning, but they鈥檝e been in smaller environments. This is a much bigger scale and I鈥檓 excited to be able to share best practice, and to see what other people are doing that鈥檚 similar to my work, so we can learn together.
And to any women considering getting into cricket coaching or volunteering, I always say the same thing: just try it. Even if one person leaves your session smiling, it鈥檚 worth it.
Are you keen to develop new skills, meet new people, and build your cricket network? .