Create a club culture and winning will come!

As a former Leicestershire County Cricket Club Girls U17 Coach I was underwhelmed with my experience. The culture of the club was down trodden, acceptance of being a poor performing county side was clear within language and behaviours of staff. Simple things like making sure the girls had pink balls to train with were not available. When I asked the question to other coaches about the lack of balls the response was - that's Leicestershire! My U17s squad had no connection to the Foxes, no pride in the badge, hated wearing their kit - (I was only given some spares that didn't fit!) and this reflected in performances. Far too often I heard "the club didn't care about me, why should I cane about the club."

4 out of the 4 things we believe at KitKing.co.uk were not put into place:

C - Culture & Community - Little or no communication from the club to players/parents etc County Board still not as integrated to the club as it could be.

L - Leadership - Players, staff and coaches alike tried, but lacked leadership from the management. What were they trying to achieve? What was the focus? How did they know if they were successful? Were goals unachieveable?

U - Uniformity - The club had no identity. Simple branding was poor through to kit. Ask any player - they hated their kit! It really didn't represent Leicestershire from colour through to story, it was one club but multiple logos!

B - Belonging - too many logos created silos. a single look and feel for the club was needed. No item for achievement was ever given to players who scored runs or took wickets.

Despite all this, a little focus and planning resulted in my team getting through to the regional T20 semi finals. Last year the club moved to a better structured winter programme thanks to Heather Beattie - Womens and Girls Development Officer.

I asked on a number of occasions about what the "Leicestershire way" was? Was there a purpose, vision and ambition doc? but didn't get much back from full time staff. As a CEO it was clear the club lacked a culture and community spirit. It lacked leadership and vision. It lacked passion and pride.

Last winter Paul Nixon joined us for a session and really engaged the girls, he defines the spirit of Leicestershire. His enthusiasm knowledge and passion needs to be bottled up and spread throughout the club, city and county. It was clear to me in the 2 or 3 brief conversations I had with him that at a board level Nico was not getting the support needed.

In 2020 Sean Jarvis was appointed CEO in the most difficult of circumstance. A Leicestershire man who in a few months has clearly re-branded and revitalised the club. Constant positive messages of little wins on social media, giving little insights into what was going on at the club. Engaging with anyone and everyone to start to build a buzz of excitement. The rebranding has gone back to the roots of the club, Green, Red and Gold colours are Leicestershire. I can see and hear he is getting involved with the club, meeting and greeting people, building a community and Leicestershire culture.

Some might say Sean has joined in the most difficult circumstances, I say, Sean has the best opportunity any CEO has... to press the reset button. He alongside the board have clearly identified Leicestershire has a proud history of developing players recent examples being Stuart Broad. By identifying as the "Academy of Cricket" its an honest appraisal of the club.

I truly believe great things are going to come from Leicestershire with this new leadership and vision.

Sean - the silverware will come soon.

Good luck Foxes!