New Women’s Rep Cricket Coach Confident

Recently appointed Wairarapa senior women’s cricket coach Patrick Wootton is looking forward to the new challenge. “Yeah, I’m pretty happy and looking forward to stepping up into the senior space and challenging myself and seeing how we can go as a team,” he says.

This year’s squad has a number of new players whom Patrick has coached at secondary school level. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the younger girls can do at the senior level. So seeing how they stack up against the older players around the region will be good."

“I’ve been coaching through the pathways system for both the boys and girls sides over the last, probably four, years so I know some of the younger ones pretty well, and then I know the senior players because I’ve been working with Tony (Lyford) over the past couple of years.”

Despite his young age Patrick has plenty of experience coaching cricket and football. The 25-year-old also coaches the Wairarapa College senior girls’ cricket team, the college’s senior girls’ football team, and the Wairarapa United senior women’s and U19 teams.

The cricket squad has started training, although for now senior player and Wairarapa Cricket Operations Manager Melissa Hansen is taking the lead and running the sessions while Wootton concentrates on preparing the Wairarapa Utd U19 football team for their national championships in a few weeks. That team has just won the U19 Harbour Cup competition and he has them looking well-prepared for a top four finish at the national tournament.

Once that competition is over, Patrick’s main focus will be on preparing the cricketers for their first game on November 8. When asked if he has been set any targets for his first season as coach, he says that it’s mainly about developing and strengthening the team. “It’s a young, new team, with some very good, experienced players, so our focus is on building and developing the squad. However I’m confident, I’m always confident.”