How to grow your club’s junior section

A strong junior section keeps a club alive. It brings in families, volunteers and the senior players of the future. Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to grow numbers, these are the steps that make the biggest difference.

1. Get safeguarding right first

Before you recruit a single junior, make sure the basics are in place. They’re what parents and the ECB expect:

• A Club Safeguarding Officer. Every ECB-affiliated club must appoint one. They’re the first point of contact for any concern about a child.
• DBS checks. The Club Safeguarding Officer must have a current ECB DBS check, and coaches and team managers working with juniors will need one too.
• Training. Club Safeguarding Officers attend the ECB’s Safe Hands workshop, renewed every three years, and complete the free online Safeguarding Level 2 course.
• Visibility. Display the officer’s name and contact details on the club noticeboard and website. It’s best practice for them to be present at junior sessions and matches.

Your County Cricket Board can help with every part of this, so speak to them early.

2. Use All Stars and Dynamos as your front door

The ECB’s two entry programmes are the easiest way to bring new families into your club:

Programme	Ages	What’s included
All Stars Cricket	5 to 8	Eight 60-minute sessions, usually over eight weeks. Children get a personalised t-shirt, bat, ball and backpack.
Dynamos Cricket	8 to 11	At least six sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, with a personalised t-shirt and a digital app experience.

Parents find and book sessions through the ECB’s website, so registering your club as a centre puts you in front of families who are already looking. The key is what happens next: invite every child to your junior training before the programme ends, and make sure parents know when and where it is.

3. Build up your age groups gradually

Junior cricket is usually organised in age groups such as under-9s, under-11s, under-13s, under-15s and under-17s or under-19s. Don’t try to run them all at once. Start with one or two groups you can staff properly, then add the next as players move up. A group that runs well every week is worth more than three that keep cancelling.

4. Make parents part of the club

Most junior sections are run by parents, so turn them from spectators into volunteers:

• Ask for help with specific, small jobs, such as scoring one match, running the teas or managing one team, rather than a general “we need volunteers”.
• Offer a parents’ or women’s soft ball team so they can play too. It’s one of the best ways to build a family club.
• Keep communication simple: one group chat per age group, fixtures published well in advance and clear fees from the start.

5. Invest in your coaches

Willing parents can become good coaches with the right support. Your County Cricket Board runs coaching courses and can tell you what’s available locally. Pairing a new coach with an experienced one for their first season helps them build confidence quickly.

6. Keep teenagers playing

Many clubs lose players in their mid-teens. Give older juniors a clear path into senior cricket: games in a lower Saturday XI, Sunday friendlies or midweek T20s alongside adults. Recognise their progress, and give older juniors responsibilities such as helping coach younger groups. For girls, a dedicated girls’ or women’s team makes a big difference to whether they stay in the game.

7. Tell people about it

Families can’t join a section they’ve never heard of. Keep your club details up to date everywhere parents look:

• your own website and social media, with training times and a named contact
• the ECB’s Find a Club tool, which parents can filter by age group
• a free CricketsFinest club listing, which we’re building up region by region
• local primary schools, community groups and newsletters, especially in the weeks before All Stars and Dynamos start

Junior section checklist

• Club Safeguarding Officer appointed, DBS-checked and trained
• Coaches and team managers DBS-checked
• Registered as an All Stars and/or Dynamos centre
• One or two well-run age groups to start with
• Clear jobs for parent volunteers
• A path into senior cricket for teenagers
• Up-to-date listings with training times and a contact