As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2024, three of our female staff speak about their experiences at Worcestershire County Cricket Club and in cricket.
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My name is Chloe Hill. I play professionally for the South East Stars and I’m the captain of Worcestershire Women’s Rapids. I’m currently in the process of completing my level three coaching qualifications and I coach the Buckinghamshire County pathways girls’ side.
I’ve played cricket since I was about three or four years old with my dad and two older brothers. I played boys cricket growing up as there wasn’t a girls team until I was 12 years old. I joined Worcestershire when I was 17 and have been here ten years now.
Worcestershire has been like a family to me over the years, and I’ve created many lifelong friends in the game and I love playing at New Road.
My experiences in the game have always been positive. I’ve played men’s club cricket at a high level and always been respected because I can do the job well.
But I know for others they haven’t had the same journey. I’ve been brought up with cricket all around, so I’ve developed that resilience to the game to always see the positives.
The biggest change I’ve seen in recent years is the chance for girls to play professionally once they finish their education. Girls now can aspire to play cricket as a career and don’t have to juggle two or three jobs around playing.
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My name is Sarah Gluyas and I’m the Head of Finance at the club. I’ve been here since 2017 and before that I worked in construction, manufacturing and financial services, a real variety.
Working in sport is unique; with the funding structures, the challenges, and many different areas to oversee. The people I work with are what motivates me every day and why I come to work. I think we’ve got a hard working, positive, enthusiastic group of people to work with, and that becomes infectious.
Accountancy as a profession tends to be quite an even split gender wise. Within cricket it’s not an area that is dominated by a male workforce overall, but there is room for improvement at a senior level.
I’m involved with a couple of different professional organisations where we look to encourage anyone – but specifically women – to be involved in accountancy as a profession and encourage young people to think of it as a career option.
At the moment, there is an emphasis on giving more resources and focus on our Worcestershire Women’s Rapids team. We know how much women’s sport is growing and we want to encourage young girls in the region to get involved in the sport.
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My name is Helen Grayer and I’m the Head of Operations here at the club. I’ve worked in sport for 24 years, both at Worcester Warriors and Gloucester Rugby before coming here in November 2021.
The role can be very demanding and sometimes disheartening, with all the floods and external factors which can affect our plans.
But we have a very hard-working team here who adapt to the changing circumstances and show their resilience to get New Road looking wonderful each summer.
I’ve been able to get to know some of the facilities staff at other counties and it’s great to see several other women heading up the operations department around the country.
Sport can be a male dominated industry, but I’ve found everyone here to be welcoming and Alan Richardson and his team are helpful and supportive of all the departments at the club.
