Cricket Wellington is commited to the growth and development of women and girl's cricket in the Capital and we are proud of the growth we have seen in the female space over the past three years.

To continue our focus on the female game we've introduced our 'Women in Coaching' series, which highlights the women who are doing amazing things in the cricket coaching space in the Capital.

For our third and final part we chat to Kieley Dunlop!

What is your current involvement in coaching cricket?
Sacred Heart College 1^st XI coach, St Patricks Silverstream Intermediate A assistant coach

How did you start your coaching journey?
I started coaching basketball for Duke of Ed Service at college. I've also coached netball, swimming and nursery grade athletics. I’ve been coaching cricket regularly for the last eight years with players aged between six and 18.

What is your proudest coaching moment?
It’s the small triumphs that make me most proud. Recently, after a session with my girls team on what to do when you go out to bat, one of my quiet players was brave enough to walk out in the next game and confidently ask for centre. I love it when a tiny adjustment is suggested to a player, they go out and try it and they get instant success. It's really rewarding to see something we've worked on at training play out in the match.

What’s the best piece of coaching advice you’ve ever received?
Fairly recently during the development coaching course I attended I heard an interesting saying from Mark Borthwick who said 'girls bond to battle and boys battle to bond'. I have coached both boys and girls so this was so relevant to me and I see the evidence constantly when I coach. This explains different behaviours or attitudes towards a common theme.

What relationships or people have influenced your coaching style?
I have loved coaching sport with my husband Alan. He is an athletics coach and we have coached cricket and netball together and I occasionally contribute to his athletics coaching. He is fun and firm but fair with his athletes and goes the extra mile. We have coaching discussions that last for hours and it is invaluable to have someone to bounce ideas off.

What coach had the biggest impact on your coaching career? What was it that made them exceptional?
My mum, Maureen Peters, was a huge part of my sport. She was highly successful in her own right, a hard taskmaster and you had to be exceptional to receive praise. I thank her for everything and discuss coaching with her regularly and I'll often take many of her theories to training with me. I always like to give praise to players when they do well - each player will experience their own individual level of success so we must celebrate them when we can.

I also regularly use advice given by my long-term club captain and friend, Julie Harris, regarding fielding: the bruise will go away but you can’t get the runs back!!

What do you think are the key attributes that make a good coach?
As coaches we need to find out what our players know and understand about the game. We need to use language that will be understood by all. We need to focus on the why. Why we have practiced a certain micro skill and how it fits in to game play. Then it becomes real. We can ask questions of our players and their feedback will let us know how much they have understood.

I think a good coach views their player as a whole not just an opening bat or a left arm quick. We need to remember our players are people who may have things going on outside of sport that may be altering performance or behaviour. Another focus on why? Why has this happened and how can we as coaches help? We need to be organized, have a plan and lots of balls and cones!!

There is currently a shortage of females coaching cricket. What do you think could be done to attract more females to coaching?
As a wife and a mum, I am fully aware of how much time coaching takes, which may put off our potential female coaches. Dual pitch is a great place to start as it is less of a time commitment. I have also done a lot of coaching with a good friend, my niece, as well as my husband and I would like to coach with my brother in the future. Make it a family thing.

How has attending the Cricket Wellington Development Course helped your coaching?
It was awesome to be on the course with a variety of cricket enthusiasts, meet new people, hear fresh takes on the game, gather new ideas for drills and learn more about myself as a coach. I would love to play cricket in this modern day!!

Article added: Tuesday 23 March 2021