SMCC indoor training with 360 Cricket

Booking guidance

Players should be booked into the correct session for their age-group. Booking into only the correct sessions enables players to build up friendships with their squad-mates and enables coaches to deliver the best possible sessions for all players. 

Girls are recommended to join the girls-only sessions, but girls may also book into any age-group-appropriate course. 

In the event of schools cancelling a session or changing the available dates of the sports halls, we and/or 360 Cricket will contact the relevant parents.

2023-24 spring term venues

Forest Hill School Sports Hall (Forest Hill Community Sports Centre) 

Forest Hill, London, SE23 2XX (view location on Google Maps). No parking in the school. Parking is unrestricted on various nearby streets.

Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich

Peckham Rye, London SE22 0AT (view location on Google Maps). No parking in the school. Parking is unrestricted on various nearby streets.

Equipment required

All sessions

Wear any clothing suitable for sport, ideally clothing that covers knees and elbows. Clothing for training does not have to be cricket whites, though many players do like to wear these if they have them.

Bring a bottle of water.

All items should be clearly labelled with the players's name.  Please check carefully at end of session that your child has not left any items behind.

Soft ball

Main type of ball used is a cricket-specific "incrediball". Tennis balls and softer plastic "wind balls" are often also used, depending on the activity.

Most players bring their own bat. Protective kit not required but some players like to bring & wear their own batting gloves.

Hard ball

Main type of call used a hard junior leather cricket ball (school years 5-8) or adult sized leather cricket ball (years 9+). Soft balls such as tennis balls will often also be used for some activities.

Bring own balls, bats and full protective kit - well fitting helmet with no missing parts, leg pads, gloves and for boys an abdo-guard (box) - to all sessions.

Cricket is not a risk-free activity

By booking with SMCC / 360 Cricket you are accepting that there is a risk of injury to your child while taking part in cricket.

Taster sessions

If you are new to the club and would like to try an indoor training session before committing, please contact 360 Cricket to request a free taster session. Let them know the session you want your child to join and the dates you can attend. 

We do not hold any places. All bookings are on a 'first paid, first served' basis. If there are spaces left on the course after your taster session, then you can book in to the remainder of the course.

If the course if full, we typically don't provide taster sessions, unless near the end of the autumn course and we expect space in the spring course.

You do not need to have full protective kit for a hard-ball taster session. Coaches will facilitate the lending / borrowing of kit if necessary. Please note that we cannot guarantee the safety of borrowed kit such as helmets, however.

Low income parents

SMCC as a club has an "ability to pay is not a barrier to play" policy. We don't want being on a low income to make it impossible for any child to play cricket. If you are on a low income and would like to request fees that are more affordable to your circumstances, please contact the club (smcccolts@gmail.com). 

If paying in a single instalment will be difficult for you, please contact 360 Cricket to request payment in 2 instalments and they will be happy to provide this option.

Separated parents

If you are only able to bring a child every other week (or similar) we will be happy for your child to attend only those sessions and for the fee to be reduced accordingly. Please contact 360 Cricket to arrange this.

Sharing of data between SMCC and 360 Cricket

Please be aware that when booking with 360 Cricket, some of your data will be shared with the club for the purposes of us running junior cricket, safeguarding and keeping you informed of junior cricket at the club. Read more on our Data Protection page.

What is a typical indoor training session like?

Training sessions generally follow the ECB’s recommended best practice, for example for a session for young beginners might look like this:

1. Short, highly active warm-up (for example,. a team-based throwing/catching game)

2. Focused demonstration and practice on learning and practising 1-2 particular skills (for example, driving at a ball placed on a tee)

3. Using the skill in a more varied, more game-like, but still controlled practice activity (for example, players work in pairs; one feeds the ball for the other to practice driving)

4. Match-like activity (for example, two teams playing competitive ‘tip and run’ cricket with bonus runs for hitting the ball straight)

5. Cool-down and recap/evaluation talk from coach

However, sessions tend to be tailored to the needs of the players attending, and are varied in format to keep them interesting. Our coaches also keep up with the latest developments in coaching best practices and have recently been moving towards running more game-based learning than skills drills.

What skills will players learn at indoor training?

Both indoor and outdoor training will cover core all skills and will incorporate game-based practice. Even in the youngest age groups, we aim to teach all of the players a full range of cricket skills. Coaches will usually focus on one or two key skills per session, gradually covering a full range of skills over the course. New players also pick up much of their understanding of the game by watching and copying their more experienced squad-mates. Of course, the more cricket that players play, the more skilled they will become. Cricket is a fairly easy game to learn, but usually takes years to master.

Will courses be cancelled if there are not many players booked into a course? Can I book mid-way through a course?

All courses will run. 

We expect to continue to take bookings during the courses. If you are joining mid-way through a course, you need to pay only for remaining sessions. Contact 360 Cricket to make payment.

Our coaching partners, 360 Cricket

360 Cricket is owned and run by Robbie Gunn and Lloyd Edwards - two very experienced junior cricket coaches. 2021-22 will be our fifth year of working with Robbie and we're delighted to see 360 Cricket continue to grow and provide an increasingly excellent coaching programme year on year.

Robbie and Lloyd have worked as professional cricket coaches at various clubs and schools for many years. Robbie has led Surrey's Pride Of Lions courses and has coached a pro-am T20 franchise team that included England players Monty Panesar and Liam Dawson. He has coached the women and girls' performance pathway squads with Cambridgeshire and Kent and is currently a coach with the women's semi-professional team Sunrisers (combined Middlesex, Essex, Northamptonshire team) . Lloyd is a qualified PE teacher who has worked in schools for several years. Robbie and Lloyd both play cricket themselves in the Surrey Championship Premier Division - the highest level of club cricket in the Surrey area. 

360 Cricket bring with them a number of great male and female coaches and assistant coaches, most of whom have been working with them for several years. 360 Cricket are also great at involving some of our parents and Young Leaders who assist with coaching.

We plan for a maximum coach:player ratio of around 1:7 when all players booked into a course are attending, but typically some sessions are not full and a few players are missing per session, so the ratio is often closer to 1:5 on average across all sessions.