Jatin Patel with members of the Minnesota Cricket Association
Jatin Patel, 2nd Vice President of USYCA and trustee of the USA Center for Excellence in Cricket, recently visited the Minnesota Cricket Association (MCA) in the Twin Cities, Minnesota.
Patel met with the MCA President Prashanth Upadrashta, Charles Peterson (MCA Cricket Development) and Sandeep Hirekerur (MCA Corporate Affairs), Narsi Murthy and Rajesh Kumar (MCA team manager) over lunch on March 17, while discussing the development of youth cricket. The MCA is interested in particular to leverage Patel’s experience and insights in getting cricket into Minnesota schools.
Jatin Patel (left) poses with Charles Peterson and Prasanth Upadrastha.
Peterson indicated that the MCA, with 26 teams, is planning an ambitious 2013 campaign to establish youth cricket in the Twin Cities. The goals for 2013 include the initiation of a minimum of six youth regions, ten teams participating in the summer league, and several week-long youth cricket camps, which are to be launched this summer.
Additional plans are in the works to get cricket into several schools through the PE route, beginning this Fall. Mr. Peterson said, “Partnering with USYCA will be extremely helpful to achieving these goals, especially leveraging the work that Mr. Patel has done in Indiana.
“New MCA President Prashanth Upadrashta,” Peterson continued, “has given the youth program top priority for cricket in Minnesota.”
On March 18, Patel conducted a training session with coaches and youngsters. He stressed the importance of fundamentals, age & level-specific coaching, and cricket exercises to ensure that the youths have fun and want to come back.
Patel explained and demonstrated a typical coaching session and presented several helpful insights and tips on how coaches can engage youths at different levels of their cricket journey.
The session ended with all groups (coaches, youths, & Jatin Patel) agreeing on the benefits of a very productive session and vowing to continue the relationship to develop cricket in Minnesota.