Yorkshire Cricket Board

Alne Cricket Club, in rural North Yorkshire, has become a hotbed of women and girls' cricket in recent years and Charlotte Laycock has been a crucial part of everything at Alne. As well as playing in what is now the ladies team, in the Nidderdale Cricket League, she provides an important role model for the younger girls. Last season, she captained the younger girls in the NYGFL side, imparting her knowledge and experience on the girls. Charlotte continually encourages many of the girls to give hardball cricket a go and leads by example. Together with other female players, Charlotte has set about holding training sessions for a group of very keen girls, coaching them in a way that older qualified coaches are sometimes unable to do. When she was thanked for her input, she said that it was ‘no problem’ as they were all her friends as well as her teammates and students. In 2017, she was appointed joint-manager of the U13 hard ball team and was also part of the selection team. She warms the girls up, advises them on field positions, batting and bowling, among many other things.

At times, Charlotte has put her own cricket on the back burner to assist the younger girls. Charlotte is a very competent player in her own right, having taken wickets in the men’s second team as well as opening the bowling for the women’s team at Alne. But, when the ladies team were in a cup semi-final last year on the same day as the u13 team had a game, she chose to help with the younger girls. When the coach didn’t turn up on the club night, she stopped her own training and went to coach the younger girls. The way the young girls show their respect and admiration for Charlotte, through seemingly simple acts like giving her a hug, shows the immense influence she has on the younger players and just how much she gives to the cricketers of the future - all at such a young age herself. Well done to Charlotte on her very well-deserved award and for her selfless work towards helping others take part and excel in cricket.