Formal Training Courses

The recommended route of formal training for groundstaff within the recreational game is via The Grounds Management Association (GMA) who are partnered with both the ECB and Sport England to provide expertise in fine turf surfaces.

From 2022 the main offer is via online learning, this substantially lowers the cost per candidate as well as removing the need to travel. Once enrolled on a course, the candidate has up to 28 days to complete it. Within that time the candidate can dip in and out of the modules as their time allows.

The refreshed suite of courses available are as follows:

Both the Kent Cricket League and Kent County Village League offer subsidies towards member clubs completing these courses.

For more information on formal training courses, please visit The GMA website.

Seminars

Maintaining a cricket facility can be a thankless task and we have seen great support for short, relatively informal seminars where like-minded ground-staff  can get together over some refreshments to talk ‘turf’. Our seminars generally take place of an evening for between 2 and 3 hours, led by an industry expert or one of our ECB Pitch Advisors who prepare a brief talk or demonstration.

Our latest round of seminars were run in partnership with the Kent County Village League on the topic of end of season renovations. Two sessions were delivered, one at Eynsford CC and another at Sissinghurst CC, each co-delivered by Phil Jeggo the South of England Pitch Advisor for The GMA.

County Pitch Advisors

We currently have two active County Pitch Advisors who are able to carry out formal reports and provide guidance for clubs on fine turf surfaces. These reports should be used to benchmark the quality of the playing surface and identify areas for further improvement or investigation.

Fine turf is an incredibly specialist area of expertise, and many undertakings carry substantial risk, dealing in fine margins for error. As such, in many situations clubs will be advised to engage with an ECB recognised fine-turf consultant to design a programme of works to tackle an issue that is identified within a pitch report.

Michael Llong
County Pitch Advisor		 James Moss
County pitch Advisor

Pitch Doctor Videos

The ECB Pitch Doctor videos are a series of short, hands-on clips that demonstrate some of the typical tasks that volunteer and recreational ground-staff will benefit from understanding. In this playlist you can find the following topics:

  1. Pre-season rolling & marking your square
  2. Final pitch marking and preparation
  3. Repairing footholes
  4. Follow-through and general repairs
  5. Maintaining nets
  6. Plugging
  7. Pitch preparation
  8. Over-seeding and calibration

  • Machinery Seminar
  • Outfield Rotary Demo
  • Core Sample
  • Scarifier in Action
  • Variety of Cassettes