The Saddleworth Rounders League felt that it needed a fresh team to inject some new blood into the league, as through covid pandemic we have had lost a few teams. With this in mind, some of our more experienced players helped set up a junior girls’ team who are aged 13+. Having played rounders for a number of years in the Saddleworth Rounder league, we recognise how much can be gained by playing a competitive sport like Rounders. We set up the Saddleworth Junior teams, they practice on a Sunday morning before the league starts and then take part in the league games when it’s up and running.
We aimed to get more girls into sport, using our experience of playing in the Saddleworth Rounders league to support this. Research from UK coaching has found- ‘Girls are less likely to say they enjoy or feel confident about doing sport and physical activity (58% of boys reported enjoying it compared to 43% of girls, and 47% of boys reported feeling confident, compared to 31% of girls).’ Given these stats, we recognised that we were in a valuable position, where we could empower these girls to better physical health, to enjoy a sport and teach them sportsmanship, give them the knowledge to play the game accurately, as well as confidence on and off the field.
The funding grant has helped support getting the team set up, at the start of the season they had to borrow equipment, umpires had to give free time, and we were struggling to cover pitch fees and enter tournaments. The newly formed team took part in the Saddleworth rounders league, playing against several teams who’ve played in the league for a few years. They also took part in the two rounders tournaments, one run locally, the other by Rounders England (RE). The training and recruitment was so successful, we were able to enter two teams. We have attached photos as proof. We are so proud of how the girls performed in the RE tournament, they came first and second. With two of the squad being picked to play for England and 4 playing against them in the final in the ‘all-stars’ team.
The start of this team has been extremely successful, we hope that they will continue to play in this coming season. The girls have really enjoyed taking part in the Saddleworth Junior team.
- ‘It’s felt great being part of a team, playing in the tournaments together’
- ‘I’ve really enjoyed playing with the juniors team, and playing against the Rounders England team was mega’
- ‘I’ve learnt lots of different positions to play through trial and error, I feel so much more confident in playing rounders, and I’m looking forward to playing next season'