Little River CC- Juniors

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A message from Paige, our Junior Coordinator.

Tuesday we had our Junior Presentation Night for Little River CC- Juniors. Celebrating an awesome season of Blasters, U/11’s & U/13’s.

This was my 2nd season as Junior Coordinator and it blows my mind how much we’ve grown since I stepped in, mid 2024. We are in an amazing position with our junior program and it is thanks to a huge group of people- members of the club, the coaches, the kids, the parents, the sideline siblings, the grandparents, the sponsors, the wider community for supporting us by spreading information about our program and what we’re about and trying to achieve at Little River CC.

I am so proud of not only my kids (3 kids in Blasters & U/11’s), but all the kid’s development, sportsmanship and skill growth!

Season 2024/25 we ran Blasters for the first time in years and had 9 registered kids. Season 2025/26 we had 20!
Coached by dads & senior players- Nic Fairchild (Assistant Club Coach too) & Garry “Nugget” Bartlett

Season 2024/25 we needed to consider merging with another club for U/11’s, despite having a handful of excited kids, we didn’t have enough for a team to play and allow for unavailability/ sickness.
We did it though! We ended up with a stand alone team, which was an achievement on its own. We had 9 registered kids for U/11’s.
This season, Season 2025/26 we had 19! (With 2 additional kids joining us at the end of the season ahead of playing next season too!)

2 teams. The Spiderlings and The Redbacks.
Spiderlings coached by dads & senior players- Chris Lyons, Blake Kelly & Dwight Faulkner.
Redbacks coached by a group of dads & senior players- Luke Wright (XI Captain too), Andrew Costin, Lauren Chapman & Sean Senekal.

Special shout out to Lauren, who plays in our Women’s teams. Lauren completed her Community Coaching Course and decided to jumped on board as an assistant coach of the Redbacks, providing valuable skills and knowledge to all of the kids. Having Lauren join our coaching group also gave our 2 U/11 girls, Nellie & Penny, additional confidence and support in a very male dominated sporting space. Having first hand experience was priceless for our girls & we very much appreciate Lauren’s assistance in the program.

Season 2024/25 we had 12 kids in our U/13’s team. This season, we had 12 again. With kids coming up from U/11’s and others moving up, we had strong numbers still. Coached by dads and senior players- Alex Oates & Daniel Burrows.
The boys had a great season, finishing off by reaching the semi finals.
Amazing effort boys!

We had a handful of boys who were moving up to U/15’s and despite trying, we couldn’t get the numbers for Little River to field a team.
Some of the boys went to different clubs and had successful seasons and some chose not to play.

It would be incredible to get the numbers and be able to add U/15’s to our junior program again next season. We have high hopes that it is doable! Spread the word and get recruiting. It would be great to be able to get the kids going up through U/15’s to U/17’s and into senior cricket at Little River!

Our Sponsorship & Local Support
I want to thank our wonderful financial sponsors, who came on board to support our junior program this season- HR Richardson Real Estate & Kidscape Early Learning Centre Lara

We also received funding via grants from Wyndham City Council and Geelong Connected Communities, as well as anonymous donors.

Town & Country Pizza & Pasta Lara & McDonalds kindly sponsored the Player of the Match awards, which saw players recognised each week for not only their performances, but also their sportsmanship and being great teammates.

Lara Quality Meats kindly sponsored us and provided meat for our sausage sizzles we hosted throughout the season, as well as presentation night.

The Junior Cricket Program at Little River was able to be provided at little to no cost for our participants and players.
Free registration, playing shirts, hats, training and match equipment, team supplies (first aid kits, sunscreen, bug spray, pens, etc) medals & trophies, gifts for our coaches & other volunteers and so much more!

The final training session for the U/11’s we switched it up and played a Mums vs Kids match, which was super fun! I think it’s all safe to say that had a ball and can’t wait for more of that next season.

I cannot thank everyone enough for a hugely successful Season 2025/26 for our Junior Cricket Program.

Enjoy the break, get recruiting ahead of Season 2026/27 which will kick off later this year, and I look forward to seeing you all soon!

Paige Wright
Junior Coordinator ❤️🖤

Here’s a video of what the season looked like 🔗

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tGc7uytU7k8QEddp7

⚫️🔴🕷️

TONIGHT, Little River’s finals campaign begins!

Our under-13s outfit will be the first of six teams across the club to launch their quest for premiership glory.

Led by co-coaches Daniel Burrows and Alex Oates, the under-13 Redbacks will play Lara Speirs at Lara Reserve No.2 at 5pm.

The winner will book their place in the Under-13 Dawber grand final.

It’s exciting times at the River, with all three senior men’s teams, as well as our women’s senior sides, making the finals.

Good luck to all teams this weekend!

⚫️🔴🕷️

🔥 MUMs vs UNDER 11’s - Inaugural Kids Game! 🔥
(Spiderlings & Redbacks)

To finish off the season we’re doing something a bit different… and the kids are KEEN

📅 Tuesday 24th February
⏰ 5:30pm - 6:30pm (later start so all mums can make it!)
🏏 All equipment supplied

Mums (or guardians) if you’re keen to jump in and have a hit/bowl/field with the kids, please comment below or let the coaches know so we can get numbers!

Let’s make the last training for the season a fun one ❤️🖤

🚨 Pop-Up Blast is Here! 🚨

If your child missed the start of the Blasters season or wants to try cricket for the first time, we’re running a short Pop-Up Blast program to finish off the season. It’s a great chance for new Little Redbacks to come down and get involved.

📅 Program Details
Tuesdays - 3rd Feb to 24th Feb 2026
Time: 5pm at Little River Cricket Club
Cost: $35

🎒 What’s Included?
All participants receive a Pop-Up Pack delivered to them, which includes:
* Hat
* Tote bag
* Mascot ball

🔗 Register Here
https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/46a275

Please share with anyone who might be interested, we’d love to welcome some new faces to the club! 🕷️❤️🖤

Attention all Players, Families, Friends, Sponsors, Supporters of our wonderful club!

Come down to Little River Redbacks CC on Saturday to celebrate the end of another year, a great start to the 2025/26 season & enjoy the company of our cricket family and friends!

📍Little River Reserve
⏰ from 6:30pm
🌭 BBQ dinner
🎅🏻 Special visitor arriving approx. 7:30pm
🍻 Drinks at bar prices
🎟️ Raffle drawn approx. 9pm

See you there! 🎄

If there are any Little River CC- Juniors U/13’s that would like to play cricket over Country Week, here’s some more details ☺️

To help with some of the first timers, some more info about what Junior Country Week cricket is all about. Anyone can play, welcome to any of the girls league players as well, Links to Google entry forms in the previous post.

Congratulations on your Senior Cricket debut! 👏🏻

It’s that time of year again! 🎅🏻

Come along and join us to celebrate what has been a fun and enjoyable first half of the season, let the kids run around with their friends from cricket and celebrate with our awesome Little River CC Community 🎄

Our Senior Men’s 1st XI will be hosting Manifold Heights on the day from 12:30pm too, so feel free to come down early and support the boys 🏏

🎄 CHRISTMAS PARTY 🎄

We’re wrapping up the year with our club Christmas party and we’d love to see everyone there!

📅 Saturday 20th December
⏰ From 6:30pm
🎅 Santa arriving at 7:30pm

There’ll be a BBQ, a Special Effort raffle draw, and a jumping castle to keep the kids busy!

It’s always a great night for families, players, and friends to get together before the holidays.

Come down, relax, and celebrate another great year at the club ❤️🖤