May 31, 2018
Kingaroy Junior Cricket Club is celebrating after being named the Community Cricket Club of the Year at the inaugural Queensland Sport For All Awards.
The award was presented to the club this week in Kingaroy by Queensland Cricket representatives Daniel Drew and Sam Curtis.
It recognises the very successful initiatives the Kingaroy club has put in place for junior cricketers during 2017-18.
It’s been a big season for the club.
It ran very successful T20 and Milo in2Cricket programs for young players as well as its regular Division 1, 2 and 3 games.
The inaugural T20 competition ran for eight weeks before Christmas on Friday nights at Lyle Vidler Oval.
“It was very successful with 77 players taking part,” acting club president Cameron Watson said.
“Parents could some along, drop off their kids, watch the games and socialise at the end of the week.”
He said the atmosphere at Lyle Vidler Oval had been fantastic on Friday nights, with the children playing on five fields plus a “skills zone” in operation.
The youngest player taking part was aged just six, and ages ranged up to 12.
The Milo in2Cricket program ran for eight weeks on Thursday afternoons at Taabinga State School, in conjunction with the club’s regular junior cricket training sessions.
The club also ran Division 2 and Division 3 competitions on Saturday mornings as well as Division 1 games during the second half of the season, taking in a lot of the players from the T20 competition.
Earlier this year, Cameron and fellow volunteer Sonya Neal and were presented with Wide Bay Volunteer of the Year awards for their efforts at an awards dinner in Brisbane.
Sonya and Cameron wanted to emphasise the assistance Queensland Cricket – and, in particular, regional development manager Sam Curtis – have given the club.
“Queensland Cricket has provided a really good platform to deliver and and have worked really closely with us,” Sonya said.
“And we have received a huge amount of help from our club volunteers, especially during the T20.”
