Daughters & Dads Cricket
Register for a Daughters and Dads Cricket program HERE
Visit the Daughters and Dads Cricket website for more information.
Why Daughters & Dads Cricket?
In the 2020/2021 Australian Cricket Census, it was reported that only 14% of junior cricket participants were girls and of all cricket players, only 11% were female. There is a clear need to increase the engagement of girls in cricket.
Timed to coincide with the ICC-T20 Women’s World Cup in Australia, Daughters & Dads Cricket was first delivered in Sydney and Newcastle in 2020, to 33 daughters and their fathers. In early 2021, a further 51 families participated in Sydney and Newcastle-based programs. The program is now offered in NSW, VIC, WA, QLD and SA.
The Daughters & Dads Cricket program is specifically designed to address the barriers to girls’ participation in cricket by providing:
- An opportunity to receive intensive coaching and skills practice. Fathers are taught key parenting/coaching skills to improve their daughter’s skills and engagement in cricket. Daughters can then make rapid improvements as they work with Dad - their 'personal coach', and receive a high dose of batting, bowling and fielding practice.
- An evidence-based program that targets girls social-emotional skills as well as their practical cricket skills. It also focuses on improving girls’ knowledge of the game and engagement with women’s cricket.
- Strategies to empower girls to be aware of gender prejudice that can limit their opportunities in sport and elsewhere. Girls learn how to overcome barriers using critical thinking and the support of their dads.
- An innovative home program with dads & daughters working together in engaging cricket-related skills, physical activity and educational challenges. The home program increases girls’ cricket skills, knowledge of the game, awareness of female cricket role models and motivation to play.
What's involved?
Over 8 weeks daughters and dads attend weekly 90-minute sessions of the program together, learning about the game of cricket, being inspired by female cricket superstars, addressing barriers to girls’ participation in cricket, and learning key cricket skills of batting, bowling and fielding.
Each Daughters & Dads Cricket session includes:
- 30-minute empowerment session introducing a theme of the week.
- 60-minute active session addressing cricket skills and cricket related rough and tumble play and fitness activities.
Dads also attend a 90 minute ‘POWERplay’ information workshop before the Daughters & Dads sessions commence. Here they learn about the program rationale and structure, the unique and powerful influence of fathers on their daughters, restrictive gender biases which can limit girls’ participation in sport and key strategies to engage their daughter in cricket.
The program is aimed at daughters from 6-12 years old and their fathers/father-figures.
Feedback from daughters and dads:
Feedback from participating daughters and dads has been overwhelmingly positive and research has shown impressive improvements in girls' cricket skills.
On completion of the Daughters & Dads Cricket program, Daughters were asked:
What would you say to another girl who was thinking about doing the program?
“Go for it, it is a great thing to do to have improved skills, make you much more confident and spend time with the people you love. And you would get to meet new friends so it is a very good thing to think about doing”
“I enjoyed learning new skills but I also liked the fact that it taught us to have self-esteem which is very important because you need to have that skill in your life. However the best part was spending time with my dad because I do not see him lots, so it was really nice to be able to have time put aside to spend with him”
Dads who participated in the program said:
“I liked having a hit and bowl with my little girl….seeing the happiness and excitement in her and seeing her having fun”
Interested in facilitating a D&D Cricket program? Register here.
