12/03/2026
A message from Paige, our Junior Coordinator.
Tuesday we had our Junior Presentation Night for Little River CC- Juniors. Celebrating an awesome season of Blasters, U/11’s & U/13’s.
This was my 2nd season as Junior Coordinator and it blows my mind how much we’ve grown since I stepped in, mid 2024. We are in an amazing position with our junior program and it is thanks to a huge group of people- members of the club, the coaches, the kids, the parents, the sideline siblings, the grandparents, the sponsors, the wider community for supporting us by spreading information about our program and what we’re about and trying to achieve at Little River CC.
I am so proud of not only my kids (3 kids in Blasters & U/11’s), but all the kid’s development, sportsmanship and skill growth!
Season 2024/25 we ran Blasters for the first time in years and had 9 registered kids. Season 2025/26 we had 20!
Coached by dads & senior players- Nic Fairchild (Assistant Club Coach too) & Garry “Nugget” Bartlett
Season 2024/25 we needed to consider merging with another club for U/11’s, despite having a handful of excited kids, we didn’t have enough for a team to play and allow for unavailability/ sickness.
We did it though! We ended up with a stand alone team, which was an achievement on its own. We had 9 registered kids for U/11’s.
This season, Season 2025/26 we had 19! (With 2 additional kids joining us at the end of the season ahead of playing next season too!)
2 teams. The Spiderlings and The Redbacks.
Spiderlings coached by dads & senior players- Chris Lyons, Blake Kelly & Dwight Faulkner.
Redbacks coached by a group of dads & senior players- Luke Wright (XI Captain too), Andrew Costin, Lauren Chapman & Sean Senekal.
Special shout out to Lauren, who plays in our Women’s teams. Lauren completed her Community Coaching Course and decided to jumped on board as an assistant coach of the Redbacks, providing valuable skills and knowledge to all of the kids. Having Lauren join our coaching group also gave our 2 U/11 girls, Nellie & Penny, additional confidence and support in a very male dominated sporting space. Having first hand experience was priceless for our girls & we very much appreciate Lauren’s assistance in the program.
Season 2024/25 we had 12 kids in our U/13’s team. This season, we had 12 again. With kids coming up from U/11’s and others moving up, we had strong numbers still. Coached by dads and senior players- Alex Oates & Daniel Burrows.
The boys had a great season, finishing off by reaching the semi finals.
Amazing effort boys!
We had a handful of boys who were moving up to U/15’s and despite trying, we couldn’t get the numbers for Little River to field a team.
Some of the boys went to different clubs and had successful seasons and some chose not to play.
It would be incredible to get the numbers and be able to add U/15’s to our junior program again next season. We have high hopes that it is doable! Spread the word and get recruiting. It would be great to be able to get the kids going up through U/15’s to U/17’s and into senior cricket at Little River!
Our Sponsorship & Local Support
I want to thank our wonderful financial sponsors, who came on board to support our junior program this season- HR Richardson Real Estate & Kidscape Early Learning Centre Lara
We also received funding via grants from Wyndham City Council and Geelong Connected Communities, as well as anonymous donors.
Town & Country Pizza & Pasta Lara & McDonalds kindly sponsored the Player of the Match awards, which saw players recognised each week for not only their performances, but also their sportsmanship and being great teammates.
Lara Quality Meats kindly sponsored us and provided meat for our sausage sizzles we hosted throughout the season, as well as presentation night.
The Junior Cricket Program at Little River was able to be provided at little to no cost for our participants and players.
Free registration, playing shirts, hats, training and match equipment, team supplies (first aid kits, sunscreen, bug spray, pens, etc) medals & trophies, gifts for our coaches & other volunteers and so much more!
The final training session for the U/11’s we switched it up and played a Mums vs Kids match, which was super fun! I think it’s all safe to say that had a ball and can’t wait for more of that next season.
I cannot thank everyone enough for a hugely successful Season 2025/26 for our Junior Cricket Program.
Enjoy the break, get recruiting ahead of Season 2026/27 which will kick off later this year, and I look forward to seeing you all soon!
Paige Wright
Junior Coordinator ❤️🖤
Here’s a video of what the season looked like 🔗
https://photos.app.goo.gl/tGc7uytU7k8QEddp7
