The latest edition of the operational report of the ICC Americas’ USA Project is very enlightening and shows an even more definitive approach to the establishment of the next national governing body (NGB) for cricket in the USA. Following the last report a fortnight ago, Eric Parthen – USA Project Manager revealed the latest developments regarding USA Project.
As previous reports indicated, the USA Project is structured on the four identified framework pillars of Sustainability, Participation, Performance and Fan and Market Development, aimed at the growth and development of the sport in the USA.
Parten highlighted the following areas of development, since his last operations report.
SUSTAINABLE FOUNDATION
• I attended the recent ICC Americas Regional Conference in New York as the representative from the United States. It was a great two days of relationship building and best practice sharing with colleagues from all over the Americas region including the West Indies, Canada, Belize, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Bermuda, Chile, Costa Rica, Cayman Islands, Suriname, and Bahamas. My biggest takeaway was how engaged Cricket West Indies was as the full member and their desire to play a meaningful role in cricket development in the Americas.
• I met with the American Cricket Federation Board via conference call to continue to keep an open dialog with all cricket stakeholders in the United States. It was a great discussion and I look forward to continuing to work with their leadership as well as leadership from other stakeholders as we build the new national federation for cricket in the U.S.
• We are in the process of finalizing the minor legal changes to the Constitution and it should be released publicly soon. Until such time, we will discuss the key sections openly at the roadshows and will commit to one off conversations for anyone who has additional questions when the full draft is released.
• As everyone is hopefully aware, registration for our first two Membership Roadshows is open for Washington, D.C. and New York. Unfortunately we had to cancel Florida due to Hurricane Irma, however we will reschedule that one in the future. In the meantime, I would encourage you to register and attend any road show in your area to learn the latest and greatest information. We also plan to have the last few roadshows available online to engage more of the community that aren’t near a roadshow city. Thanks in advance for your participation as we seek to continue to unify the cricket community. To register for the New York meeting click here and the Washington, D.C. meeting click here.
PARTICIPATION
• The ICC’s Development Division has recently announced their global Project Wildfire project. What will it take to make cricket “grow like wildfire” around the world? Watch the teaser here. This will be a quick four month project using design thinking that we look forward to the U.S. cricket community being involved with both during the project itself and helping to implement whatever the new and exciting outcomes are. If you would like to be involved in the research side of this project in September/October, please let us know and we can keep you posted as information becomes available.
• Work continues on the development of the National Entry Level Program with coaches from the most recent Florida seminar, Participation Advisory Group along with individuals from Cricket Australia, Education Professionals and other industry experts. This will include a one-day one-off ‘Awareness Lesson’ plan and a 4-6 week Entry Level Program targeted at Elementary age kids who have most likely never played the sport before.
• A number of coaching resources bespoke to the USA are currently been developed with help from Cricket Australia and other members of the U.S. Cricket Community as we look to create a library of best practices for you to benefit.
PERFORMANCE
• The Team USA Men will arrive in Toronto ahead of the Auty Cup on September 12, 13 and 14. Both squads will be released publicly on Monday preceding the first game. Let’s hope Team USA can win back the Cup in cricket’s oldest international rivalry!
• The Auty Cup marks the start of an exciting 15 months of cricket for Team USA Men as they fight for inclusion in the next cycle of T20 and 50-overs World Cup qualification.
FAN & MARKET DEVELOPMENT
• The launch of the new national federation’s logo is only two weeks away. Keep your eyes peeled online for the release of the new marks on the new social media platforms.
• We received more than a dozen outstanding proposals for the development of the new national federation’s website and given the competitiveness of the submissions we are extremely confident the preferred partner selected will do a great job in fulfilling our needs, both now and as we grow in the years ahead.
• Phase one of the database implementation is well and truly underway and will continue to develop momentum to coincide with the launch of the membership program later this year.
• As you may have seen, we recently distributed a survey for feedback on the Competition Management Platform for the new federation. Thanks to more than 80 individuals who recently completed the survey. Should you still wish to participate please click the link here.
For more information on USA Project contact [email protected] or [email protected]
