Utilising fathers to support their daughters and enhance their cricket skills may be an innovative approach to addressing traditional socio-cultural views of cricket relating to gender, by improving girls’ enjoyment, participation and long-term retention in in the sport.
Purpose
To assess the feasibility of the ‘Daughters and Dads Cricket’ programme.
Methods
In a single-arm, pre–post study, fathers (n = 34, 43.1 ± 4.4 years) and daughters (n = 34, 9.4 ± 1.5 years) from Newcastle, Australia were recruited. The 9-week programme was delivered by trained facilitators and included weekly educational and practical sessions, plus home-based tasks. A priori feasibility benchmarks targeted recruitment (20 dyads), fidelity (≥80%), attendance (≥70%), compliance (≥70%), satisfaction (mean: ≥ 4/5) and retention (≥85%). Preliminary efficacy outcomes included cricket skill proficiency, daughters’ enjoyment in cricket, intention to keep playing cricket and long-term retention in cricket.
Results
Feasibility benchmarks were exceeded for recruitment (n = 34 dyads), fidelity (98% education, 100% practical), attendance (88%), satisfaction (fathers: 4.6 of 5, daughters: 4.8 of 5) and retention (97%). Home-programme compliance fell short of the benchmark (64%). Preliminary efficacy was confirmed with medium-to-large effect size changes in 11 of the 13 daughters’ cricket skill proficiency outcomes. Promising findings were identified for daughters’ enjoyment of cricket, intention to continue playing and long-term retention in cricket.
Conclusion
A cricket-focused programme targeting daughters and dads was feasible and led to medium-to-large improvements in cricket skill proficiency among the daughters. Additionally, daughters were engaged with cricket, as shown by high levels of enjoyment, intention to continue playing and their long-term retention. Examining future efficacy in a larger trial is warranted.
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