The man who kept 750 young cricketers' love of the game alive

LOCKDOWN HEROES: THE WINNERS - CLUB HERO: Jon Speller took it upon himself to create a programme at Wimbledon CC which allowed junior cricket to continue during the coronavirus pandemic. He is your Club Hero

In a single night's work, director of cricket Jon Speller turned the fortunes of Wimbledon Cricket Club on its head. Once lockdown restrictions were eased to allow groups of six to exercise outdoors, he took it upon himself to build a sophisticated junior programme to ensure the club were not standing still during the period without cricket.

Suddenly, a black hole without structured physical activity, not least cricket, was filled. Jon created 4,000 sessions held daily between 9am and 7pm for their 750 youngsters, giving them a purpose when life was otherwise empty.

Coloured, spaced out training pods with individual routes from the club car park with hand sanitiser available at every entrance meant that on top of the physical benefits, it was staged in a safe and controlled environment.

Cricket Secretary Crispin Lyden-Cowan told The Cricketer: "The value for the children was huge because they'd been in lockdown for so long. To get out and get some physical exercise in the fresh air was phenomenal. They jumped into it. Most of the juniors didn't want to leave when the pod session was up."

"He is a superhero"

Additionally, Jon formed a summer camp scheme. Two thousand sessions were created and after selling out on the club website inside 48 hours, over £50,000 was generated for a team struggled during the pandemic. One parent even booked their child onto every single session.

"Our rateable value is too high so we weren't allowed to apply for any grants from local councils," Crispin added. "We had to think of creative ways of generating income to pay for our overheads.

"If we hadn't had that income we would have to have gone to members to ask for loans or find additional ways of generating funds."

The entire programme provided an additional, unintended benefit for parents. Allowed to engage in socially distanced conversations with others upon dropping off and collecting their children, if offered them some temporary respite during an otherwise turbulent time.

"For the kids and the parents it was a relief to arrive at some form of normality," he added.

"We are very keen to be seen as a community. A club that is very accessible, who welcomes girls and boys, disabled cricketers of all abilities. Footfall is the future of cricket and if we don't have children coming through our doors we don't have a cricket future."

Jon arrived in the United Kingdom 15 years ago from South Africa and represented Wimbledon's 1st and 2nd XI during a three-year spell as a player. After time at Belleville School and as DoC at Spencer CC, he returned to Church Road in 2018. And after his most recent efforts, there is little doubt about his status at the club.

"He is a superhero," said Crispin, "and all credit to him for pioneering this. The other sections of our club, the hockey and squash sections have asked him to help with their programmes so he is seen as the natural leader by our sporting directors. His heart is with us."

Jon's was one of dozens of stories of kindness, compassion and creativity during lockdown submitted to The Cricketer as part of the Lockdown Heroes project. You can read about every nominee by clicking here

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