This year New Zealand Cricket is implementing a Coaching & Vulnerable Persons policy, with a focus on maintaining a healthy, safe and enjoyable environment for all those who play cricket.

Children enjoy their experience most when they are in a safe environment, learn and improve, play

with their mates and are given opportunities to contribute.

Adults interacting with children and/or vulnerable adults are in a position of trust and influence and, as such, have a significant role to play in creating this safe environment. As a part of NZC’s overall push for “best practice” standards in the area of coaching and supervision, the Vulnerable Persons policy and coach qualification is viewed as a fundamental requirement.

At the heart of the nationwide strategy is the player experience, giving boys and girls the best chance of developing their skills and having fun, therefore keeping young participants in the game.

A secondary outcome is developing a working coaching database in order to provide ongoing learning support.

Canterbury has 440 registered junior and youth club teams, and to date 290 have fully qualified.

This success rate is one of the highest in the country and represents the level of planning, time and effort put in by our districts. There is still a lot of hard work to be done in the next two months in order to reach compliance targets but Canterbury is tracking well.

Special mention to Canterbury Country Cricket Association who are currently sitting at 85% which is one of the highest in the country for a district/region.