New York City High Schools
The national governing body for cricket in the USA, the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) is pleased to announce a strengthening of the partnership with youth cricket in the New York area. The Public Schools Athletic Association (PSAL) and USACA will work collaboratively on enhancing and expanding the high school completion over the next few years. Established in 1903, the PSAL is the longest running scholastic athletic program in the country.
Two time champions Newcomers High School. (Photo by Shiek Mohamed)
PSAL co-ordinates interscholastic competition for all New York City public high schools. Four hundred (400) schools are members of PSAL with 37,000 students competing in twenty two (22) varsity sports, with cricket being offered in spring each year.
The partnership between USACA and PSAL will be founded on a shared commitment to building on the strong foundation of competition that has been build up over years past. USACA hopes to ‘add value’ by enhancing the cricket competition providing assistance and advice at a variety of levels. USACA will provide coach education and training opportunities for all coaches in the PSAL cricket competition to ensure that the players have access to the latest techniques and knowledge relating to cricket.
USACA has supported PSAL over the years and this was gratefully acknowledged by Mr. Eric Goldstein, PSAL CEO of School Support Services; “The United States of America Cricket Association was helpful when we debuted cricket and we look forward to continuing our relationship as we grow the league.”
USACA CEO, Mr. Darren Beazley explained the plans to expand this partnership in the coming years; “The PSAL cricket competition has set a very good standard of high school cricket in the New York Region. USACA has supported the PSAL staff such as Ms. Lorna Austin and Mr. Bassett Thompson in the past via the provision of equipment, but now the competition expands. PSAL is seeking professional advice and support to ensure that the quality of the competition takes another step forward and sets an even higher standard for the competitors.
The release of the USACA Strategic Plan 2014 – 2016 recently outlined a commitment by USACA to junior and youth cricket development across the country. We hope to use our skills and expertise to support the great work of PSAL further and to use this competition as a shining example to the rest of the country of what is possible. We are taking a long term view of development of cricket at the youth level and we have plans to establish similar competitions to that which the PSAL runs across the country, using their system as a ‘light house’.
It is an exciting time for cricket in America and I am confident that by working closely with the PSAL administration, its coaches and the hard working volunteers, we can “add value”. Our goal is to assist the PSAL to continue to grow their cricket competition in the New York public high school system and enhance it as an attractive option when students choose their spring time sports next year”.
PSAL Deputy Chancellor of Operations Ms. Kathleen Grimm was delighted to continue the partnership with USACA; ““The PSAL offers a variety of sports to engage our students and our cricket league will benefit from this new partnership. We thank the United States of America Cricket Association for the support they have given to the PSAL since we created the cricket league in 2008.”
Mr. Donald Douglas, PSAL Executive Director was equally positive about the potential for the PSAL cricket competition to include more teams with the support of the governing body; “Our student athletes and coaches will benefit from this strong partnership that we hope will attract more student athletes.”
Planning for the 2014 season is underway with coach education the first scheduled activity.
