Brisbane Heat honours young girl for calling for gender-neutral sizes

Olivia Cotter, a young girl, who, in her own words is "completely obsessed with cricket," recently wrote a letter to cricket equipment manufacturer, Kookaburra. The letter addressed how Kookaburra's equipment available at a local Rebel store near her had only boys' sizes available, instead of gender-neutral sizes that catered to the girls involved in the sport as well.



In her letter, 11-year-old Cotter, a junior player at Bulimba Cricket Club argued that due to the growing popularity of the Women's Big Bash League and the Southern Stars' recent Ashes' victory, having junior equipment labelled as 'kids' instead of 'boys' is important, as the rise in popularity of the women's game has inspired more girls to play it.



 



https://twitter.com/BulimbaCricket/status/1032931994601107456



 



Her letter prompted a quick response from Kookaburra saying they had launched gender-neutral sizes earlier, having seen the increase in interest in cricket among young girls, to better represent those who play the sport.



“Kookaburra changed all its sizing to ‘Adults’ and ‘Juniors’ in 2017 to better reflect the growing female participation in cricket and break this anachronism. Before 2017 all cricket equipment used a convention of  ‘Boys’ and ‘Mens’ for sizing, so Kookaburra were leaders in adopting gender-neutral sizing.



“We understand young Queensland cricketer Olivia has seen some old stock that has old sizing. Regardless, her letter shows how crucial these changes were to reduce the barriers for girls to play cricket. It’s another reason why we proudly sponsor so many female players in Australia. This includes Alyssa Healy, Nicole Bolton, Megan Schutt, Rachael Haynes, Sophie Molineux and many more." Kookaburra said in their response.



The Brisbane Heat took notice of the letter and Cotters' passion for the game and invited her and her teammates from Bulimba to the Brisbane Heat Headquarters. There, they were gifted a WBBL jersey and a club fan pack  from Heats' captain, Kirby Short and Australian all-rounder, Delissa Kimmince.



Because of the WBBL, their has been a marked growth of female cricket in Australia, as shown by the number of opportunities young girls now have to play in all-girls teams and all-girls competitions.



This growth can also be seen through the Heat Girls League, an initiative of the Brisbane Heat, which they started back in 2016. This initiative has spurred an increase in female participation in cricket in Queensland, with the number of teams in the league rising from 31 in 2015-2016 to 157 in 2017-2018.