Change in Action Week - Pioneer of Change FINALIST - Crispian Stewart

Crispian Stewart is long-standing passionate supporter of all things Cricket, firstly as a player (and dang good one too, with representative caps across New Zealand!), then coach, and also a selector for regional teams. He now puts his energy in to promoting cricket in the Rotorua community for women, especially girls. His motivation may have started as a passion in general for cricket, but is now also strongly motivated to create a better player environment for his daughter Sadie and her friends as they progress through their cricketing career.

Crispian is one of the greatest advocates for girls cricket in Rotorua, largely due to the fact that his daughter Sadie was often the only female cricketer in her team at local level. Crispian has managed to recruit female teams in Rotorua, and has organised fixtures including an invitational girls cricket fixture on the INTERNATIONAL cricket wicket - Bay Oval - under lights no less. This fixture highlighted the women's game in the bay, and gave these girls the amazing experience to play alongside experienced cricketers at a world class venue.

Growing women's cricket isn't something 'new' for Crispian, it's been a longtime passion of his, even being acknowledged back in 2020 by Bay Of Plenty Cricket as being a 'Grassroots Champion', where Crispian is quoted saying "I do have a couple of other goals that I am keen to progress, which includes the growth and development of the girls game in Rotorua to support the Bay of Plenty Cricket girls cricket initiative”.

Looking ahead, Crispian already has plans to grow the Geyser Blueberries team for the upcoming season and provide them with additional opportunities to play cricket together. Even working with funding providers to try and secure a girls specific playing kit so that these young women don't have to try to fit into uniform that is tailored to a men’s fit.