First-ever Astroturf Youth Cricket Tournament Set for Thanksgiving Week

Three non-profit organizations, Cricket for Cubs, SRCA Youth, and Dublin United League in East Bay, San Francisco, are coming together to host the first-ever youth cricket tournament on Astroturf fields between November 19, 2017. Sixteen teams in three age groups, U11, U13 and U15 will be playing 32 games during the upcoming Thanksgiving week at five different fields in Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Dublin.

For first time ever, a combined girls’ team will be competing in the U11 category with players from Northern and Southern California joining hands.

Steve Maher, Trustee, Pleasanton School Board, Jerry Thorne, Mayor, City of Pleasanton, Bill Clarkson, Mayor, City of San Ramon, David Haubert, Mayor, City of Dublin, Catharine Baker, Assembly Woman, California, Steve Glazer, California State Senator, and Eric Swalwell, US Congressman, along with Pleasanton, San Ramon and Dublin Council Members and Organizing Committee members will welcome all the participants and their families for the first every Youth Cricket Tournament in East Bay.

About Cricket for Cubs:
Established in 2016 to promote youth cricket in schools and communities at no cost to the schools, the program successfully introduced cricket in 18 schools in Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon school districts in California. The sport was established as part of the Physical Education (PE) curriculum in three Middle schools. The uniqueness of the program is; in each of the schools, a year around program (32 weeks) is conducted with professional coaches training the kids in the respective schools weekly, for at least one hour, with Cricket for Cubs (CFC) sponsoring the complete program in the first year.

CFC trains the PE/Athletic staff, builds the curriculum based on the school grade (Elementary, Middle and High Schools) to establish cricket as part of its P.E. curriculum in year #2 and year #3. We work with the school districts and the respective athletic leagues to establish cricket as an athletic program. Cricket for Cubs also hosts inter-school tournaments in three different categories, namely Elementary, Middle and High School, every year in the fall and spring. Fourteen teams from four different school districts participated in this year’s spring tournament hosted in May, 2017.

Cricket for Cubs is working with different cities and school districts to build a cricket infrastructure that’s shared with other community members at no cost to the community members. Cricket for Cubs completed its first infra project – two cricket batting cages at Emerald Glen Park in Dublin, and partnering with the City of Dublin, and is working on finalizing agreements with two other cities to construct cricket pitches. Additional information can be found at www.cricektforcubs.org

About Dublin Cricket League:
Established in 2017, Dublin Cricket League (DCL) is providing competitive cricket coaching to youths in Dublin, Pleasanton, Mountain House and Tracy cities, with year-round coaching of youth every day of the week.

About San Ramon Cricket League:
San Ramon Cricket League (SRCA) is currently running a year-round adult league in San Ramon, CA, with 30+ teams for the last eight years. The league started a youth academy in 2016 with dedicated practice facilities, cricket fields and Level II certified coaches from India and the West Indies. Currently SRCA is one of largest youth cricket academies in the nation with 150 children training every week. In just its second year of operations, SRCA players (7 out of NWR 12 member team) led from the front to win the U13 USACA National championship. In addition, SRCA was the runner-up in the U10 category NYCL tournament held this summer. More information about SRCA can be found at www.srcausa.com