Some of the participants that took part in the two-day event.
As the International Cricket Council (ICC) continue to iron out the many wrinkles, confusion and negativity in USA cricket, it is doing its best to help promote the sport in the USA.
After a few very successful first-of-a-kind milestones in 2015, the ICC Youth Seminar last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was the first step in 2016, toward a serious national youth development program in the USA, and promotion of the game to novices and other beginners.
Coaching and cricket education for school teachers and more game knowledge for the volunteers are very important. The ICC is moving forward one step at a time based on their research and best practices of successful start-up projects around the world.
“Cricket is team sport and it’s time for all of us in this country to team up and work as one unit with the game uppermost in our minds, if it is to succeed,” said Jatin Patel, a pioneer in cricket education for schools and colleges, and a long-time advocate for the game, with a vision to “Educate America.”
The successful ICC Americas weekend-long seminar in Colorado Springs, an administrative capital for many sports, saw some 50 cricket coaches and stakeholders engaged in efforts to help raise the standard of youth and women’s cricket in the USA.
The practice/presentation sessions at the prestigious USA Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, was intended to increase youth participation throughout the country and to make cricket the fastest growing sport in the USA, by the end of 2017.
The ICC’s strategic plan for cricket development in the USA, was set in place at the end of 2015, following a series of Town Hall meetings across the country. The coaches and stakeholders from all over the USA in attendance at the seminar exchanged views, shared ideas and opinions, and listened to three other International development experts, as well as other sports leaders in the USA. At the end of the seminar attendees walked away with many ideas on how to promote interest in the game, with Cricket Australia’s online resources being made available for reference.
Frisbee was part of the training.
The seminar began with a session conducted by USA Ultimate, one of the fastest growing sport organizations in the USA, and based on the simple concept of try and learn with no rules but the basic skills needed for the game of Ultimate Frisbee. USA Ultimate raised its participation from 342 registered youth players in 2001 to over 12,000 in 2014. Over five million people played the sport last year.
USA Ultimate administrative and coaching program development material was made available, and there was significant interaction by seminar attendees in the sport of Frisbee throwing. USA Ultimate experienced similar difficulties as a start-up sport, as youth cricket in America is experiencing among youths being exposed to cricket for the first time in America. Fun and success were the main ingredients in the initial start-up of USA Ultimate, with very little adherence to the rules of the sport.
Cricket is a team sport and the weekend was just one positive step forward. ICC Americas officials Tom Evans and Ben Kavenagh summarized the challenges and difficulties facing USA Cricket. Youth and women participation are at minimal levels, and the major interest is to focus on development, to introduce young participants between the ages of 5 and 8 years old to the sport of cricket.
Matt Featherstone of Cricket Brazil, Esther De Lange, a Cricket Development Officer and Captain of the Netherlands women’s team, shared their individual programs, and how they succeeded. Those presentations were followed by Jamie Harrison of the United States Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) and Sham Chotoo of Bowie Boys and Girls Club (BBGC) of Maryland, who shared their success stories of bringing cricket to the forefront in their state-wide schools, resulting with a junior league.
Ajay Jhamb and Sue Harris of the American Cricket Academy and Club of St. Louis covered “Beyond Cricket,” a concept involving more volunteers who do community service to gain support for the game.
Pat Hassett, a National Field Manager from Cricket Australia presented the most critical components of the school cricket game, introduced in the most simple way, involving sample training sessions with no rules, just the basics and without any technical training or coaching, providing much more fun for the participants; hit the ball if you are a batsman, aim at the wicket if you are a bowler, and grab the ball if you are a fielder. Such activities are cherished, with fun, music, movement, whatever it takes to keep the kids engaged, stimulated and involved.
Less attention with simple instructions and fast fun activities, are the keys for maximum youth involvement in cricket.
The ICC’s goal is to make cricket an American sport with a theme of unifying cricket and the Americanization of the sport with maximum participation, and involving more coaches and parents.
The plan is in motion with the goals that are set, and a time frame established. The weekend event was a ground-breaking one and hopefully it picks up momentum for the development of youth cricket, with the help of volunteers and coaches in place to spread the sport nationwide.