IUPUI Undergrads Complete ACF Cricket Training Program

By Balbir Singh
Indianapolis, IN – Fifteen more undergraduate students with Physical Education as their Major at the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), recently completed a “Basics of Cricket” – Indiana Youth cricket training program (ACF Level 1 certification) that’s prepped them to eventually coach children in the sport.

Sandy Barnett, Instructor, Ra’naa Abdullah, Haider Alborno, Logan Bailey, Sheldon Batalis, Marcey Burton, Ryan Camp, Steve Christopher, Roemello Francisco, Michael Gross,  Austin Hendershot, Jordan Piatt, Kristin Rowland, Shawn Verhey, Mac Wever, and Jeffrey Wiseman all competed the ACF Level 1 certification.

During the 2013 an inaugural batch of 14 IUPUI students were the first undergraduate physical education students at any U.S. university to receive such training. Since then almost 50 new coaches have completed the course, including practical sessions, that meet the requirements for the American Cricket Federation Level 1 Coaching Certification.

Since 2013 Indiana Youth Cricket Association has continued to provide cricket-coaching education at colleges and universities to train PE students. Indiana is the only State in USA with four Colleges/Universities providing such cricket education to their undergraduate students. The IUPUI students were part of a course taught by Sandy Barnett, a lecturer with IUPUI’s School of Physical Education and Tourism Management, which exposes students to a variety of sports.

Barnett said her students first studied the rules of cricket online to soak up its rules and familiarize themselves with its equipment. Later, they later participated in demonstrations of the sport and the finer details of its rules by Jatin Patel.

A pioneer in cricket education, Jatin Patel said the training he provided is part of an effort to reach out to lecturers and instructors at nationwide colleges and universities, to involve them in the training of physical education teachers, in the sport.

“To overcome the dire lack of cricket coaches in the USA, game knowledge through education is very important for the growth and development of the sport of cricket in the USA. Such training is the most efficient way to expand cricket in the USA. Those PE teachers may be working at one or more schools, but cricket will go with them so they can teach many scholars for many years to come, which will help to grow the sport in the USA.”

This story courtesy of sportswire.