Yeah! Girls has got off to flying start here in the Capital. In it’s third year of delivery Yeah! Girls has well and truly embedded itself in the Wellington cricket community.

We kicked the 2020-21 season off with the recruitment and training of eight friendly female activators and a drop-in session at Hutt Indoor Sports during the Term 3 school holidays. Six Term 4, 2020 hubs followed this and were held in Wellington City, Naenae, Johnsonville, Titahi Bay, Aotea College and Porirua East. With 110 registrations across the six hubs, we were providing a fun and social entry point for girls in Wellington to pick up a cricket bat and take a hit! 6% of these registrations have gone on to play in the Girls Y5-8 Sunday league.

Since its inception Yeah! Girls has always been about tailoring the programme to the local community. In 2020 we took this a step further and partnered with Fuamai Moeka’a, former Female Development Manager at Wellington Rugby and current Programme Advisor at Sport Wellington, and Eddie Uluilelata, Principal at Rangikura School, Porirua East to run a Pasifika Hub.

Under Moeka’a’s leadership we altered our promotional material to better suit the local community, delivered to our participants in English and Samoan, and were able to positively engage a diverse group of participants.

Moeka’a said the programmes were an opportunity to reach out to groups that otherwise may not have been involved.

 “It was great to work with the Yeah! Girls programme and try new ways to break down barriers so that more ethnic groups that aren’t involved or don’t know of these programmes can also benefit.”

Four hubs have been confirmed for Term 1 2020; Kilbirnie, Tawa, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt. We’ll be culminating the season with a giant Yeah! Girls session at the Female Festival of Cricket on Sunday 28 March 2021.

For more information about Yeah! Girls and how to register please visit www.yeahgirls.nz

Article added: Thursday 04 February 2021