This year, Otago Cricket established the ‘Suzie Bates Leaders Course’ to provide young females across the region the chance to grow their leadership capabilities.

Having discussed the idea with local superstar Suzie Bates, it became apparent that the initiative could be a great way for young females to gain exposure to leaders & mentors within our community.

“As a young female, the more access you have to female leaders and mentors the more confidence you gain to follow your passions and lead positively in the community” commented Bates.

In its first year, thirteen young females from around the region travelled to Dunedin to learn about different aspects of leadership during a two-day course.

Throughout the course, participants developed leadership skills, obtained their foundation umpire/coaching qualifications, and gained practical delivery experience.

Otago Cricket Women and Girls Lead, Jess Davidson, explained how the course is in line with Otago Cricket’s commitment to growing the women and girl’s game.

“We believe that as well as increasing female participation, it is important to create opportunities for females to be involved in off field leadership roles. This will not only increase the visibility of females within the game but also influence the decisions being made about the game,” said Davidson.

During the course, participants heard from a range of inspiring and knowledgeable female leaders within the community.

This included Samara Gallaher (Tallfern/Basketball Otago Women and Girls Ambassador), Katie Hogue, (Otago Cricket Senior Umpire, NZC Women’s Umpire Panel) and Renee Bacon (NetballSmart Development Officer – Netball South).

Each with different expertise, these leaders facilitated workshops covering several topics such as leading others, coaching, umpiring, leadership in action, strength/conditioning, and injury prevention.

To inspire and connect the leaders to role models within Cricket, the group were joined for breakfast by the Otago Sparks and Suzie Bates, who was able to chat via zoom while completing her stay in MIQ.

For many of the course attendees, hearing from local stars within the game was a standout moment during the course.

“My highlight was having the chance to talk to Suzie and other Otago Sparks. Hearing from them, I learnt that everyone leads differently and creating bonds with others makes you a good leader.” (Suzie Bates Leaders Course Attendee, 2021).

The learnings from the two days were culminated with course attendees putting their leadership skills into action through delivery of a Yeah! Girls, Dunedin Holiday Programme.

“Having the chance to facilitate the Yeah! Girls Holiday Programme was a great way to put into practice what we were learning,”

“One thing I learnt was the importance of making sure we are in a good state (mental and physical) before leading a group.” (Suzie Bates Leaders Course Attendee, 2021)

Otago Cricket are extremely proud of the quality of young female leaders we have here in Otago, which was apparent throughout the course. We hope the course has inspired them to continue to be leaders in their community whilst giving them some tools and resources to grow the female game in the Otago region!

“We look forward to continuing the Suzie Bates Leaders Course in years to come and seeing the positive influence our young female leaders are having in their communities.” - Jess Davidson, Otago Cricket.

Check out all the action from the first ever Suzie Bates Leaders Course by clicking the YouTube video below!

Article added: Thursday 07 October 2021