ACA Development Awards

Recognising oustanding cricket intiatives

Tony Yee The ACA Development Awards provide the opportunity to recognise and reward those clubs and schools who each season have designed and implemented an initiative or program that has been considered outstanding in its category. There are five categories and each winner is also then considered for the national award in that category.

The award winners for the 2009/10 season are:

Best Junior Cricket Initiative - Cornwall Cricket Club for their Junior Open Day

Cornwall's Junior Open Day is a significant annual undertaking from the club's junior committee on the first weekend of the season. Over two mornings the club provides its more than 900 registered Year 1 - 5 players with their first coaching session of the season, delivered by the club's student coaches. More importantly this allows the club to capture the attention of its huge parent base, providing them with the information and training necessary to effectively engage them in their child's cricket. Over 80 parents are trained as MILO Have-a-Go or Kiwi Cricket coaches, and many more are involved in umpiring or scoring courses or the popular course for mum's - 'cricket for non-cricketers'. It is a fantastic junior initiative that allows the club to recruit and train a volunteer base that is crucial when delivering junior cricket to this many participants.

Best Youth Cricket Initiative - Eden Roskill District Club for their U18 Six-a-Side Tournament

This annual one day tournament is now into its fourth year. The fast-paced, six-a-side format with 5 overs per innings means the day is action packed and provides a great opportunity for these youth players to quickly learn lessons about performing in close, hard-fought matches.

Best Club Cricket Initiative - Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club for Ice Cricket

Over the 2009 off-season Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club swapped the grass oval for an ice rink. In support of Heart Charity NZ the club organised NZ's first ever indoor ice cricket match. The game featured current and former Blackcaps and was kicked off with Sir Richard Hadlee bowling the first ball to heart child and junior club member Matthew Munroe. The event was a huge success, involving tireless work from over 150 community volunteers and attended by around 800 people. It was televised on NZ news networks and ESPN Asia and the match and gala dinner raised $17,000 for the Heart Children charity. An amazing initiative and also a winner of the national award in this category!

Best Women's Cricket Initiative - Grafton United Cricket Club for their Women's Quik Six Twilight module

In February the Grafton United Cricket Club organised and ran a four-week Monday night cricket module specifically for social women participants. The programme was designed to encourage non cricketers to try out the sport in a fun, enjoyable and friendly environment and provide basic coaching of fundamental skills. The module was a success with all six teams expressing interest of returning next year for a longer competition.

Service to Cricket Award - Tony Yee

The only Development Award that doesn't recognise a particular initiative is the Service to Cricket Award. This is awarded to a volunteer who has made a significant contribution to the game over a 10-15 year period.

Tony Yee has been involved with Cornwall Cricket Club for 10 years. In that time he has made a huge contribution to women's cricket to the point where the club now fields 13 female teams, from Under 12 to Premier Women, every Saturday through the summer. His work with local schools has resulted in a steady increase in the number of girls playing junior cricket, where his roles have varied from coach to manager to administrator to taxi driver. In a sport dominated by the male gender, Tony's enthusiasm and passion for getting more females into the game is exceptional. He goes about things in his own quiet way, but his results speak for themselves. He is the first to arrive and last to leave a cricket ground, and is more than deserving of this year's Service to Cricket Award.

To have a look at the range of Development Awards around Auckland Cricket, Previous Winners, and a Description of each award please click here.