Aims of the Academy
The Gordon District Cricket Club Academy (“The Academy”) was set up with the following mission statement:
“The Academy’s aim is to focus on the development of Junior Players (Under 21) from within the Gordon district and beyond in order to maximize their potential development and performances in relation to cricket as well as assisting in their overall personal development.”
Benefits
By setting up an Academy we believe the following benefits will be achieved:
- Players with talent will have their development focused under the program and therefore potentially maximizing their development into first grade and potentially representative cricket.
- This will have a positive impact on club playing performance.
- Let the players know that the club is actively taking an interest in both their cricket and personal development.
- Create a culture from these players that will strengthen our club and assist in the retention of these players to the club.
- The Academy will be able to be used as a way of attracting players of this calibre to the club.
How the Academy operates
Academy members are accepted on an invitation basis from the Academy Management Committee. Players invited may be current members of our club or players identified as future club members. These may be players who are not in a position to play for the club at the present time e.g. school commitments, country etc.
The Academy is spilt into 2 main divisions, the Under 21 Division and the Under 16's .
The Gordon Cricket Academy is proudly sponsored by:
The reason for having two divisions is to recognise that a number of our members are still at school and as yet may not have developed their skills sufficiently to be invited into the Under 21 Division of the Academy. The Under 16's require different skill sets to the older boys and have their own program.
The Under 16 division will have a maximum of 30 members. Membership of all divisions is by invitation only. We encourage young cricketers to apply for a position within the Academy however membership is not automatically granted.
The Under 21 division of the group consists of invited players whom the committee believe have the potential at this stage of their development to become Gordon First grade players or higher.
Each player receives an individually tailored program designed to concentrate and accelerate their cricket education and will be judged on performance and potential, the latter being assessed in the five core areas of technical, tactical, physical, mental, and lifestyle capabilities of playing at the highest level. Performances will be judged in the context of winning cricket matches and not solely on weight of runs, wickets taken, or dismissals achieved.
This group has approximately 12 to 15 sessions during the season made up of individual coaching, communications sessions, team skill development and a weekend workshop session. The number of members will be limited to a maximum of 16. There will be a compulsory leaving age of 21.
Communication Sessions
Part of the mission of the Academy is to assist in the overall personal development of the members and to this end the Academy will run several “communication” sessions, which will include well known cricket identities passing on their experiences within and outside cricket to help the players to identify the benefits to be gained from cricket as a team sport. The sessions also include health and fitness advice.
Application
An application for the Under 16 Academy Squad can be completed electronically by following the link below:
Under 16 Application Form |