Gloucestershire Cricket Board Development Team
Development Team
Cricket Development Manager – Steve Silk
To deliver the ever increasing amount of work that the cricketing community of Gloucestershire requires and deserves it cannot rely solely upon volunteers and so the GCB have a full time employed Cricket Development Manager to lead this work programme. Steve Silk was appointed as CDM in January 2009 after just over 2 years as the Wiltshire Cricket Development Manager. In his time at Wiltshire he transformed a non performing County to one that excelled in most areas and this is his challenge now at Gloucestershire. Steve has huge ambitions and is keen to ensure that Gloucestershire becomes one of the best Counties across the Country in terms of its cricket Development off the pitch as well as those players and clubs on the pitch. Each County Board is now tasked with working towards a One Year Improvement Action Plan and within Gloucestershire this is what drives Steve’s work programme.
Steve was originally from the Midlands and played his cricket at Water Orton where he captained the side to years of success helping the club to reach its goal of being a Birmingham Premier League Club. Steve moved to Wiltshire after completing a Sports Science degree to take on the role of Sports Development Officer for North Wiltshire District Council. It was at this time and during this post that he began to work closely with the Wiltshire Cricket Board and so when the post for the Wiltshire CDM was advertised it was the perfect opportunity for him to work and follow his dream of working within cricket.
Cricket Development Officer – Disability and Inner City Bristol - Chris Munden
After playing County age group cricket for Gloucestershire up to Under 17 level Chris always showed a passion and enjoyment for cricket. After taking his level 2 in early 2008 he impressed other coaches with his energy and attitude. He was appointed Community Cricket Coach in September 2008.
Chris’s role has changed dramatically and now he heads up all Disability Cricket in the county where he coaches in most Special Schools delivering Kwik Cricket and Table Top Cricket and as part of this work now has a comprehensive calendar of competition for all schools. Chris is also the lead for the inner city Bristol Chance to shine project and drives Club Development within and around the City. Chris is a Clubmark Nominated Officer and the County Under 13s head coach. He plays his cricket at Brislington Cricket Club where he is the first team vice captain.
Cricket Development Officer – Women and Girls – Lisa Pagett
After graduating from the University of Bath with 1st Class degree in ‘Coach Education and Sports Development’, Lisa operated as a self-employed coach for a year coaching on Somerset’s Performance programmes and coordinating all representative girls’ activities. In this time Lisa embarked upon taking her UKCC3 ‘Head Coach’ coaching course and at the same time became an ECB qualified Tutor and Assessor – allowing her to deliver coach education courses. Lisa is a keen cricketer who has played representative cricket for Somerset women since the age of 12 and spent 3 years as a youngster in England Development Squads. With work commitments restricting the amount of County cricket that she can play, Lisa now concentrates on playing her club cricket at Bath Cricket Club and is a member of the England Indoor Squad which played in the 2009 World Cup in Brisbane.
Lisa is currently a Cricket Development Officer for Gloucestershire Cricket Board with the countywide responsibility of developing Women and Girls Cricket. Lisa operates across a number of areas including working with women and girls cricket clubs within Gloucestershire, coaching on ‘Chance 2 Shine’ projects in the county, running and organizing Lady Taverners competitions and also runs all the Asda Girls Kwik Cricket Festivals. Lisa also operates at the performance end of Girls cricket with specific responsibility for the Senior Women and Under 17 Girls. New for 2010 was the introduction of Under 11 Girls District cricket which Lisa also takes a lead on.
Cricket Development Officer – Boys Performance – Adam Jones
After taking an opportunity to play cricket in New Zealand and working as a coach for the Taranaki Cricket Board, which involved coaching within schools in the area as well as looking after junior representative sides for two seasons, Adam decided that a career in coaching was what he wanted.
Adam is a Somerset lad where he coached on the Chance to shine scheme at his home town club of Minehead. Adam then worked for Somerset County Council for a short period of time coaching within schools before taking a job with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club where he worked at the Cricket Centre. Roles changed at the GCCC and he now works for the Board as Development Officer for Boys Performance which primarily looks after both District and County Cricket for all ages
Adam plays club cricket for Bristol CC as a wicket keeper.
County Board Administrator – Eric Woodmason
Eric Woodmason is the full-time Secretary of the Gloucestershire Cricket Board and is about to take on an additional role in relation to school delivery and club development in the Gloucester area. He took up employment with the GCB in January 2009 after retiring from 29 years in the Gloucestershire Constabulary. As a coach, he is qualified to Level 3 and coached the Gloucestershire Under 13 squad from 2003-09 before moving to the Under 11 squad in 2010.
Originally from Stroud, he attended Marling School and went on to Oxford, where he read Geography. He first played cricket for Frocester in 1976 and has enjoyed 35 unbroken seasons playing for the Pounds Close club. He has subsequently spent a lifetime playing, coaching and administering cricket in Gloucestershire and was previously Secretary of the former Three Counties League and Chairman of the Cricket Committee of the West of England Premier League. At Frocester, he is captain of the 5th X1, coach of the U11A team and is Chairman of the Finance Committee.
Since he started with the GCB, he has continued with his coaching roles and has managed the Chance to Shine and Coach Education programmes in Gloucestershire.
Cricket Development Officer – Gloucester & Forest of Dean – Ross Farrer
Gloucestershire Cricket Board has recognised that there is an area of the County that really requires some dedicated support and for this reason we have employed an Officer on an initial 2 year contract to tackle some of the local issues.
This post is responsible for working within Gloucester and the Forest of Dean to recruit and train Volunteer Co-ordinators for clubs throughout the county. Ross will provide training and support for Volunteer Co-ordinators and run ECB “Be Involved” workshops throughout the County. Ross is also a key driver in promoting NatWest CricketForce and the County OSCAs (Outstanding Services to Cricket Award’s).
Finally this post is responsible for providing strong pathways from schools to clubs through the delivery of Chance to shine projects and local School Sports Partnership initiatives whilst supporting both local and national competitions. The ambition is that the 2 areas combined will have an extremely positive impact on cricket within the selected work areas of the county.
Born in Devon, Ross grew up the city of Plymouth, where he was involved in playing and competing at many sports. Cricket for Ross though was his pick after joining Plympton CC at the age of 7 and he still plays for them now at 22. Ross first got involved volunteering as a cricket coach when he was 15, which has seen him develop a passion for it and has made it a big part of his life. As well as Studying Coaching and Physical Education at the University College Plymouth St. Mark and St. John, Ross is also currently in the process of completing his ECB Level 3 Head Coach award.
Communications Officer - Lee Ward
Lee joins us on a part time basis as our Communications Officer to develop and expand the brand awareness of the Board across the county. As part of this role Lee will lead on developing the GCB's marketing and communications plan, manage the Board's website including social media and expand the brand advertising of the Board across the county. Having worked in school and community sport for over 8 years - including as Competition Manager in the West of England where he worked with the Board - he brings a wealth of experience with him. Having previously worked as Senior Manager for school sport competition in Wiltshire as well as Partnership Development Manager for the Mid Wilts School Sports Partnership he has been a proactive leader of expanding opportunities for children and adults alike for a number of years.
Orginally from Wolverhampton Lee has been involved in cricket, both as a player and a coach, for over 22 years after joing Brewood CC at 8 years old. Having gained representative honours for Staffordshire in minor counties youth cricket he nows play his club cricket at Chippenham CC in WEPL 2. He is an ECB Level 2 qualified coach after completing the qualification whilst at Brunel University in London.