Clubs in Covid - OLD XAVERIANS

Date: 17th December 2020

A club moving forward with Men Women Boys and Girls.

For Old Xaverians 2020 has been a year that started with high hopes for the season ahead only to be thwarted by the onset of COVID-19 which led us into a world of zoom quizzes, fictional match reports and then finally the chance to play competitive cricket against our neighbouring rivals.

Throughout 2020 our juniors managed to stay in touch using their WhatsApp training group, live zoom sessions and when allowed, local tournament and friendly matches alongside a shortened Allstars programme enabling some new juniors to join us. This winter under the Tier 2 restrictions the juniors will hopefully be allowed back to training under the supervision of our junior coordinator Sean Patten and his merry band of coaches.

We were delighted that in 2020 our women and girls section was able, for the first time, to field 2 teams to satisfy the demands of our growing squad. The section is now self-sufficient with 2 players – Helen Cooney (captain) and Pauline Coy - completing their ECB Foundation Coaching Course and taking responsibility for softball cricket. As part of the club’s development plan we now aim to develop hardball for girls upwards to take advantage of the growing number of competitions offered by the Comp in this format.

Behind the scenes, the club continues to plan for the future by investing in our facilities including work on our square and the surrounding areas at the club. Our volunteers are hard at work trying to generate new sponsorship from local businesses and apply for grants that will assist the club to flourish.

Winter nets may be interrupted with the restrictions, but following our first zoom club AGM plans have been drawn up so players will have the chance to get together outdoors (socially distanced) and keep fit in the run up to the season. Both of our senior teams are intending to pick up where they left off after enjoying a successful 2020 and hoping for a full cricket calendar in 2021 with the 1^st team building on its first year in division 1 and 2^nd team aiming for a top 2 league spot along with cup silverware.

Here’s hoping the vaccine is rolled out in time and we can enjoy a full summer of cricket in 2021 renewing old friendships and rivalries, swapping stories in the bar after the game and playing the game that we all love so much.