Friday the 8^th of March saw the Scottish Cricketers Association(SCA) gather at Clydesdale cricket club for its 2019 Annual General Meeting(AGM). This date was deliberately timed to coincided with the Cricket Scotland 2018 Awards Dinner in Glasgow that evening. The premise behind this was to hopefully allow as many of the players from all over the UK to attend both events and enable the SCA to engage with as many of its members as possible.

The purpose of the AGM was twofold, firstly to provide an update to the members on the latest developments from the association and the global player movement, the second was to provide the players with several important workshops for personal development.

The event started with the re-election of the SCA Executive Board. The board sits for two-year terms and all four members of the board were re-elected with no opposition. This then led onto an informative speech from the president of the SCA, Alasdair Evans, on the positive developing nature and the direction being taken from the players association.

The first guest to speak was Tom Moffat, Chief Operating Officer of FICA (Federation of international cricketers association). Tom played a big part in helping form the SCA in 2017 and currently advises and keeps us up to date with the current state of play within the international game. Tom spoke to the group giving valuable information regarding the direction the global game and where our players and Cricket Scotland currently sits. This type of information is important to the players, as it provides them with a realistic angle on where they stand and the positive impact on the global game that ICC associate cricket is having. It also indicated the importance of all players being aligned with how collectively they can fight the cause to develop associate cricket.

Tom was followed by Susie Elms, who is the Head of Performance Lifestyle at the Scottish Institute of Sport, and she provided advice and information to all of our members across a range of topics; from methods to cope with life changing events to how to continually develop their careers outside the game. One of the big goals of the SCA is to help players find a way to continually develop both in life and with their transferable skills to help with career transition after cricket. With help from Susie and other sources of support this is something that we hope will come easier for players. The support is also there for players who have any personal struggles. Having Susie joining us for the AGM it helps the members become more familiar with her and helps create a valuable relationship where players can feel comfortable in sharing sensitive information. In my opinion life style managers are invaluable in the current climate of sport with greater awareness of mental health struggles becoming more apparent.

Last but not least Jamie Sole from Virtuo Wealth kindly came in to discuss various insurance advice and potential covers for the players. Previously players would be left on their own to arrange these and often be unsure of the best policies. Jamie will offer valuable support for the players and over time he will help players to have a more rounded and wholesome support network.

Days like the AGM are a real positive step for the SCA. With momentum building and the support network growing in and around the association, the players in Scotland can now start to see how cricket can potentially be a career path and now understand that they have people around them to help. Even though the SCA is still in its relative infancy the strides gained have been nothing short of extraordinary since its inception. I look forward to helping the SCA and its players continue this journey and over the next year or so we will be looking to engage as much as possible with previous Scotland players and continue to build our network on and off the field.

Kyle Coetzer