Q’town’s inspirational cricket coach

• Published date: 14 March 2024
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

IF there’s a reason Queenstown Cricket Club’s on a good wicket, with flourishing numbers and ever-rising young talent, coach Emma Campbell’s a large part of the answer

Ask 16-year-old prodigy Hugo Bogue, probably the youngest ever century-maker at the national under-19s — ‘‘if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be where I am’’.

His mum, Angela Spackman: ‘‘I think she is a huge asset for our community ’cos her passion for the game gets lots of people involved.

‘‘She makes it fun, she gets excited about it so she gets other people excited about it, and she works tirelessly to make things happen in our region.’’

And club president Daniel Gibbons: ‘‘Her passion for children’s and women’s cricket has been amazing, and been extremely important to our success [like being New Zealand Cricket’s ‘club of the year’ in 2018].’’

‘‘She goes above and beyond, and the kids just love her because she genuinely cares — she just reaches them on their level.’’

Growing up in South Canterbury, Campbell...