No! Depending on the format of cricket your player is joining (see below!) cricket is played on either Friday evenings or Saturday mornings. The longest sessions for our U13 players and older start at 7:45am and will finish at the latest by 11:30am. U11 games run from either 8am – 10am, or 10am – 12pm.
Games typically align with the senior season, with the first game usually in the first or second weekend of October. The season runs through until March, with games every week save for a break over Christmas of three to four weeks. Our website and social media pages will have details each season of registration dates, sign-on dates, and the like.
Training is on Wednesday afternoons (for all junior grades) kicking off between 3:30 and 4pm. Exact times and details will be confirmed individually with your team and coach. All junior teams train at The Woods, our home ground on Jubilee Drive at Palmwoods.
Protective gear includes a minimum of a helmet, gloves, groin protector (available for boys and girls) and leg pads for all batters. Some players also choose additional gear – for example thigh pads and arm guards. These can be picked up at most sports stores on the Sunshine Coast (eg Rebel) or some of the specialised cricket stores in Brisbane (eg Greg Chappell Cricket Centre, Whack Sports). If your player is just starting out, we highly recommend keeping an eye on sites like Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and the like, as second hand gear can be a great starting point… perhaps get a new groin protector though! Additionally please feel free to chat to the Junior Coordinator or team as we often have some spare gear floating around that we can try to help out with.
The most important thing you can do is be there for your player. As with any sport, time spent with them whilst they’re out on the field, encouraging and supporting them, is vital to their development. That includes at training wherever possible!
A huge help for the club is getting involved with your team – everyone working for the club are volunteers who give up their time to ensure a safe and fun environment for all our players. Consider volunteering for Coach or Manager roles – we’ll help you with all the experience you need! Scoring and umpiring roles will be shared amongst teams, so be prepared to get involved on game days – it’s easy and a great way to build shared memories with your players.
Registration for Cricket Blast and U10s is direct through Cricket Australia – we’ll update this page as soon as those links are available.
Registration for our other junior programs – U11 onwards – is via the PlayHQ site, and we’ll update the registration links as soon as they costs are finalised.