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From Player to Leader: Cricket Journeys with Jack Petchey
This blog post is from Dylan, Henry, and Sam. They talk to us about their journey with Old Southendian & Southchurch Cricket Club!
Dylan Batt – U19 Captain, OS & SCC
Dylan (furthest left) as part of the Essex group when they were net bowlers for England Women
About Me
Hello, I’m Dylan and I won an Achievement Award in 2017.
How the Jack Petchey Foundation has Impacted My Cricket Journey
Growing up, the Foundation has allowed me to access training equipment at Old Southendian & Southchurch Cricket Club. More recently, it has funded my ECB Level 1 coaching course. This led to me being an Essex U18, a regular 1st XI player, captain of our U19s and a volunteer to help the youth.
The training equipment that the club received through JPF has allowed me to keep striving to play high levels of cricket. Without the equipment provided it would have been tricky for me to achieve what I have in cricket, and hopefully achieve even more. This has led me to have the opportunity to go to Australia next year for their cricket season. This will not only benefit me as a cricketer, but also change my life as a man.
On top of this, I now have a drive and ambition to help aid those younger at the club who share the same passion for cricket that I do, and the coaching course has allowed me to be able to do that. Having grown up inspired by role models at the club, I now strive to be that role model to the next generation of cricketers.
Dylan in a club 1st XI fixture.
I believe that is the beauty of the Jack Petchey Foundation’s association with the club; it aids those youngsters who want to play cricket at all levels and then facilitates those same youngsters to help the next generation of cricketers. I am very thankful to the Foundation as without it I’m not sure what my relationship with cricket would look like.
Henry Williams – Youth Cricket Manager
About Me
Hello, I’m Henry, a youth cricket manager at my local cricket club and I have been fortunate to receive both a Jack Petchey Achievement and Leader Award.
I started with the club back in 2011, playing youth cricket at the club. Soon after, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to play in our adult sides. After a couple of years contributing to the club, I was awarded the Achievement Award for my efforts. This was a very proud moment for me, being recognised for my efforts over the years and it really gave me the confidence to keep contributing at the club. Additionally, it made me want to give back to the club that gave me so much.
Soon after, I started helping with our youth coaching and then became a manager for the first time with our U13 side. This was an especially proud moment as I was able to start giving back to the club and be a role model to young people at the club. I then proceeded to run a variety of teams over the years and serve the club as the ‘Head of Youth Cricket’ for a few years. It is incredibly rewarding to see so many young people that you have worked with become an important part of the community you are involved with.
I then became our 2nd XI captain and now manage our U11 side. Both roles give me the opportunity to mentor people and help them become the best versions of themselves. I was incredibly honoured to be awarded a Leaders Award in 2023.
Henry with the U11s cricket team post-game.
The Importance of Volunteering
Working with the young people of my club has been such a rewarding experience and I could not recommend getting involved with volunteering enough. It is a lot of work, but it has helped me grow and develop hugely and I have made friendships that will last a lifetime! Even if you don’t think you are the right person, you absolutely are, and you could be the person to make a real impact in a person’s life.
Sam Hodgson – Club Captain, OS&SCC
Sam in a 1st XI fixture
My Journey From the First Training Session to Club Captain
When I arrived at my first Old Southendian & Southchurch Cricket Club training session as a nervous, slightly apprehensive 11-year-old in the winter of 2008, I had no idea of the profound effect this wonderful club would have upon me. What began as simply another club, another past time, another hobby, has blossomed into a passion. A passion that – in my Executive Committee role as Club Captain – I now have the privilege of trying to cultivate amongst the c. 150 adult and youth players that I preside over.
It all started with those indoor training sessions at Southend High School for Boys. The feeling of the ball flying out of the middle of the bat; the thrill of bowling a ball that knocked the stumps over; the pat on the back from the coach for a job well done. I was hooked. What I was naïve to at the time was that that bat, those stumps, that coach, all came to be thanks in no small part to the support of the Jack Petchey Foundation. Be it via funding for equipment or sponsorship of ECB Coaching Courses, the Foundation’s support of the club had directly helped me to develop a love of cricket that endures to this day.
In the summer of 2010, I also began playing adult, open age cricket. The big leagues. It was around this time that I started to truly appreciate the impact their support – all on a volunteer basis – was having on me. I felt compelled to do the same and so stuck my hand up to help out with our U11 team, and with local junior school cricket tournaments. This gave me new perspective on the nuts and bolts of running a cricket club and was incredibly rewarding and contributed in part to me winning a Jack Petchey Achievement Award in September 2010.
My Plans for the Future
14 seasons and some 400 wickets, 5,500 runs and 100 catches later, I still play cricket weekly to this day, and (fingers crossed!) see no prospect of that changing any time soon.
Sam (left) and Henry (right) at the Essex Cricket league dinner.
It was this love of the club – and the desire to safeguard it for current players and future players alike – that ultimately led to my election as Club Captain in 2018, an Executive Committee role that I continue to fulfil to this day. It’s an administrative job that is challenging and fulfilling in equal measures, but one that I feel privileged to do, in the interests of our fantastic membership base of adults and children alike.
With the support of the Foundation, hundreds of young people’s lives have been enriched by our Cricket Club. I am forever grateful that that nervous 11-year-old from all those years ago was one of them.