We are pleased to announce David Shepard as the new cricket director for our junior female programs. He will be responsible for developing and delivering our female junior Academy and Pathway programs with assistance from our other coaches.
David played 193 games of Premier cricket for Hawthorn Waverley as a fast bowler and managed one first class and six List A games for Victoria. He featured in the first eleven win of in 1999
Once he retired from cricket, he was encouraged to take up umpiring and successfully moved through the ranks to first class, WBBL and BBL levels.
David’s coaching started back when he was playing when he led our state junior girls teams for three seasons, More recently, over the past 5 years David has worked constantly to introduce and develop female cricket at Parkdale United Cricket Club and has assisted the substantial development of female cricket in the south east suburbs through his work with the All Girls Cricket Association. He has worked alongside our own Ashley Ventura in this regard.
David’s interest in female cricket was re-ignited through seeing his own daughter and friends take up and acquire skills in the game and he has loved being an active part in their growth.
In considering his motivation in undertaking this new role he said, “ I want to use the skills I have learned to give young girls an opportunity to move successfully through to state and national levels of cricket. I really love the way the game has moved for females in the past decade and I believe I can be a positive influence at Dandenong. I have loved coaching young girls and relish their desire to learn.”
We warmly welcome David to our Club and look forward to his work with our academies and youth teams. Megan Pauwels, our women’s head coach is looking forward to working alongside David to develop the next Dandenong Panthers.