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Bay Of Plenty Cricket Appoint Women’s Cricket Officer

Bay Of Plenty Cricket Appoint Women’s Cricket Officer

Posted: Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Rebecca Yee

Bay of Plenty Women’s and Girls Cricket, is set to benefit from the appointment of Rebecca Yee as the BOPCA Women’s Cricket Officer. While Rebecca has fulfilled the part-time role of BOPCA Women’s Development Officer over the past three summers, her new fulltime position will encompass the GoGirl introduction program through to Under 14 and Secondary Schoolgirls High Performance programs.

“The focus is on building our female player base and promoting the game of cricket in general. I will continue to facilitate the GoGirl program and Girls festival days, along with developing the Girls HP program curriculum”. “This season we are expanding the Girls hardball program and we plan to run spring training. The Bay of Plenty Secondary Schoolgirls will compete in the ND competition in December, with the Under 14 side playing in an Auckland tournament at Easter” said Rebecca.

Bay of Plenty Cricket CEO Chris Rapson said “This is a big step for our organization, but one that our board and management are delighted to take. Cricket in the Bay of Plenty presents numerous opportunities for our women and girls to represent our region and New Zealand on the International stage. We need to do all that we can to assist, prepare and support those players”. 

“A large part of that involves providing all female cricketers with an environment that encourages them and which ensures they get enjoyment in playing the game. Rebecca has shown over several seasons, that through her involvement our female players can perform and compete alongside the best and that our developing players have fun in the game.”  

Another role that Rebecca will undertake during the up-coming season, is to promote and manage the Bay of Plenty Junior NPL (Northern Premier League), that was a big hit in the Western Bay of Plenty last season. “My role is to organize the Bay of Plenty Junior NPL from recruitment through to running game days. We are planning to have some sessions in local Intermediate Schools during term four”. “It is pleasing to see that other Northern Districts Minor Associations have picked up the Junior NPL, after our success earlier this year”. 

“One of my season goals is to integrate social media into our girls programs and we are kicking off with an Instagram account for the Junior NPL. The Bay of Plenty Cricket Instagram page (@jnplbop) will be promoting our competition and running 

 

 

some on-line contests”. “We will also be linking our Junior NPL to the other ND regions on the NPL website and offering online registration”. 

Rebecca will also be working to implement the New Zealand Cricket “One Cricket” key strategic programs. One Cricket sets a number of targets such as utilizing population growth to grow the game, ethnic growth and upping female participation numbers in cricket.

“From the CEO of New Zealand Cricket down to club cricketers, the aim of “One Cricket” is to include all ethnicities and both genders within the overall New Zealand cricket environment and to make certain that their experience in the sport is the best it can possibly be”. “Clearly, our society is changing and one only has to look at the diverse nature of the Black caps to see that. The short forms of the game really appeal to all people and we are seeing many more Maori players taking up the sport” said Chris Rapson.

“Interestingly we had some great news recently, where a Rotorua grandmother phoned our office to let us know that she had just paid her grandson’s subscription for his annual cricket dues. Her grandson (aged 16) has attributed his involvement in cricket to turning his life around”. “He was beginning to go off the rails and keeping bad company but had started playing cricket last season; really enjoyed the game, had great teammates and wants to make cricket his preferred sport. These reports make all that we do at Bay of Plenty Cricket and at Rotorua Cricket worthwhile - changing lives and providing enjoyment, is what we are about”. 

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