Berkshire Cricket Foundation

Our 2nd Grassroots Cricket Awards Winner is Tristan Head of Holyport CC. Tristan was awarded the Inspired to Play award for Berkshire. The Inspired to Play award is given to “an individual or group within your club or community organisation going above and beyond to open the game up to new audiences.” The award was presented by Chris Baker – BCF Disability Manager at our Maidenhead Super 1s Hub which Tristan supports.

Tristan was nominated by his club as well as Chris. While nominating, Chris said “Tristan has worked endlessly over the last couple of years to ensure cricket at Holyport CC has been accessible and inclusive to as many people as possible. The club now runs all-stars/dynamos, women and girls and disability cricket thanks to the hard work and dedication from Tristan. The club is leading the way in disability cricket with almost 20 children and young adults with a disability taking part each week. Tristan has been brilliant in encouraging new people to come to the club and try cricket for the first time and this is thanks to his friendly and approachable nature. Every Sunday morning, Tristan is at the disability session welcoming the participants, supporting the coaches and ensuring everything runs smoothly. Tristan is incredibly ambitious and has even bigger plans to include more people at the club in 2023. He is one of our most trusted partners and we have no doubt the club will have an even bigger impact next year.”

Here are just a few of the achievements of Tristan & Holyport CC over the last 4 seasons:
• Introduced new initiatives whereby we now have 100+ juniors aged 5 and upwards, 25+ women, 25 players with disabilities and 40+ men’s cricketers.
• Worked with BCF to be Lords Taverners Super 1s disability hub club, one of only two in Berkshire, increasing club profile beyond confines of local area. Got specific mention at launch of ECB’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity platform (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7InZTztzPY)
• Grew cricket at club from just two to six days making club a key focal point in the local community for cricket and socially.
• Encouraged volunteers in each section to ensure programmes are run and managed long-term.
• Almost single-handedly fundraised and undertaken work to build new outdoor nets, develop ground entrance to make it readily accessible and recently launched Crowdfunding for installation of artificial wicket to further increase participation.
• Is developing further initiatives for 2023 including a “player pathway” to transition juniors into adult cricket and introduction of “walking cricket”.