Kirsty will work under performance director Fiona Geaves and it is a significant appointment in her coaching career.
To add to Pontefract's international success, Katie Smith has been selected to represent England for the first time at the same event, having been among the top few girls of her age in the country for some time now.
There are cuurently 10 players in action at Pontefract who have represented their country, as well as the four Indian internationals.
Pontefract's Yorkshire Premier League side consolidated its place at the top of Division One with a 3-2 win over nearest rivals Hallamshire.
Neil Cordell, James Earles and Sam Wileman all won comfortably 3-0 and Harinder Pal sandhu and Andrew McDougall both lost 11-9 in the fifth, having looked the more likely winners for much of their matches.
Pontefract head into 2010 having lost only once in ten matches and with such a talented group of young players, backed up by James Willstrop, Lee Beachill and Saurav Ghosal if required, Pontefract look to be heading for the league champonship.
A very young Yorkshire League fourth team scored a splendid win over Hallamshire third team.
The promising Tamindar Gata-Aura, Nathan Bedford and Tom Lee all won and 13-year-old Jack Cooper, making his Yorkshire League debut, played well in a 3-1 defeat.
For the first time in the league's history Pontefract turned out an all girls team in the Yorkshire League third team match against Collingham. Four of the team have played internationally and although they lost 4-1, had number one Lauren Siddall been available it would have been a lot closer.
Pontefract's talented group of young girls continue to thrive and Millie Soulby, 11, won the Sheffield under 13 open and the Aycliff under 13 junior open on successive weekends, winning all her semi-finals and finals 3-0.
Jessica Beachill, who is upholding the family name, won the Heaton under 13 Open, beating clubmate Ellen Cooper in the final and the most promising of all, six-year-old Sam Todd, won the under 11 plate.
This week Pontefract, who have won the under 19 mixed national title on several occasions, begin this year's challenge against Northumberland LT and SRC. The team is James Earles, Karan Malik, George Wileman, Katie Smith and Maria Emmerson.