Optimists Cricket Club

Saturday 15th October was the first day of Ben Embleton’s employment as Luxembourg’s National Development Officer. Hailing from the northeast of England, Ben (aged 25) is a pretty decent cricketer having played for Durham U17s and in Australian grade cricket. More importantly for this role, he has the English level 2 coaching qualification, has recent experience working with kids in sport (a football project in Munich) and speaks German.

The focus of his work will be to boost the existing youth programme and also establish links with the wider Luxembourgish population. Inspiration for this is Luxembourg rugby which has become a very strong national sport over the last couple of decades after the appointment of their national coach/organiser. Ben will also be there to help adult teams develop, and this will included everyone from
international to occasional players. Planning Ben's programme is work in progress, so if you have any ideas of ways he could make himself useful, then please contact the LCF committee and we will give it some thought.

Ben’s appointment was a requirement from the International Cricket Council to guarantee our affiliate status, but this also offers us a huge opportunity. The ICC will provide part of the initial funding and we are now looking for permanent local funding sources to make thissustainable in the long term. The LCF will be his employer, so all of Luxembourg’s cricketers should feel part of this exciting new venture which will help us take the game forward.

Steve Evans