I play in the 2nd XI at school and last season we had a poor season and now struggling to get several of the players motivated for next season.
We had 19 players with so many players pulling out of games and we dropped something like 40 catches.
What advice can you offer to help as many of us will be moving up into the firsts and still very passionate for the team and the school to be better.

Hi Matthew, yes always a tricky situation when the team is struggling to compete. Often, we only measure our performance against the opposition, when indeed cricket offers us the opportunity to develop and improve on a number of parameters. Here are a couple of ideas to consider.
1. Make the team about more than just playing the game. For example, you might decide to raise some funds or create some awareness around a charity or cause. Perhaps something the school is already connected to! By making your training, play, and environment about something bigger than you, you will certainly achieve a great deal more than just the cricket. Perhaps you can have specific shirts made or logos attached. get the parents involved and get the school involved.
2. Set your own standard for what a gold medal performance looks like. Perhaps it will be making more runs off the bat, taking more wickets on average per game or even holding a higher percentage of catches. This will inform how you prepare, and preparation is (as we know) critical to performance in games. By having a focus on scoring more runs you can practice the elements of scoring runs with a focus on the areas you can achieve. Perhaps RBWickets, or even hitting lose balls to the boundary. In short, make it about more than the result.
3. Make game day as much fun as you can. Introduce something fun in the time before the game starts or the after match debrief. Have music or other activities that inform the mood.
4. Perhaps introduce an imaginary 12th player who can fill many roles, for example backing up in the field, supporting teammates, running drinks and providing humour. I've seen this work before and the team even came up with a name and an award for the 12th player. Our team called him Alfred and it was quite an honour to be nominated as the best Alfred for the game.

Above all, continue to believe and be positive yourself. People will follow leaders and leaders need to set the tone with a positive and can-do attitude. Just make sure the can-do is appropriate for your squad so others can also believe. Good luck. A chance to really achieve something unique & special.