Community Cricket Awards Now Open

Nominations for the WA Cricket Community Awards are now open, giving hardworking volunteers at the local level a chance to be recognised.

The awards are a recent initiative spearheaded by WA cricket community manager Jo Davies, who is keen to give people behind the scenes the recognition they deserve.

“They’re the lifeblood of our sport, people don’t put their hands up to get acknowledgement or awards, but this is a really fabulous way to recognise the great work that’s done right across the state,” Davies told Sports Breakfast.

“We wouldn’t be able to put teams out every week, kids wouldn’t get the opportunity, if we didn’t have people working tirelessly throughout the season.”

The awards have specific categories for metro and rural areas as well as having a schools category.

“We have a whole range of categories acknowledging volunteers themselves, community coaches, as well as the work that community clubs do more broadly,” Davies said.

A key feature of the awards is the inclusion and diversity award, celebrating a club that has invested in getting people with disabilities or multicultural backgrounds involved in the game.

“Our inclusion programs are just becoming a lot more of the norm now, there’s a lot more work to do but I think the important thing is a lot more people can see themselves represented in the game,” Davies said.

“I think that’s just so important, and I think what we also hear is that clubs that embrace that philosophy of inclusion, it just does so much for that club culture.”

Nominations can be submitted at the WA Cricket website and are open until the 23rd of January.

IMAGE: WA Cricket.