United States Youth Cricket Association Media Release
USYCA is disappointed to once again learn of disparaging comments about the efforts of its many volunteers attributed to USACA CEO Darren Beazley, this time in an article appearing today on cricinfo.com
The Germantown Kids Cricket Club Lifting the Naden/Lean Cup At The Maryland Youth Cricket Championship.
In the article, Beazley is quoted as commenting on USYCA’s work, saying, “It’s one thing to get lots of people tasting the game. It’s another thing to get them playing competitions week in-week out…” and “…it doesn’t have any sustainable or observable outcome at the end.”
The idea that USYCA would advocate “just going out and doing lots of one-day and two-hour clinics,” as Beazley says, is laughable. The highly successful USYCA Schools Program is simply the first step in bringing cricket to communities that have been ignored by Mr. Beazley’s organization. Once the area is seeded with schools cricket, USYCA advoactes for the next step, which is the establishment of community youth cricket programs. Once a number of community programs are up and running, a local league can be organized.
An example of the success of this philosophy can be seen in Maryland, which has progressed from having no organized youth cricket programs to holding the first-ever state youth cricket championship this past July. The Maryland Junior Cricket League started this year with four teams, and will increase to six next season. This is a blueprint that can help to make America a cricket-playing nation.
Where, we ask, is a single example of a USACA program that has had similar success? For that matter, where is a single example of a USACA youth program – period?
In our opinion, for someone whose organization has no track record of any kind in developing introductory youth cricket to be criticizing a highly successful program as being “not sustainable” is disgraceful. It is also, we believe, typical of the destructive brand of cricket administration employed by those who seek, by any means necessary, to preserve their control of the game in America.
Of course, since these successful USYCA programs are not under the dictates of USACA leaders, perhaps they are not counted by them as existing. If so, this is a sad and tragic commentary on the toxic atmosphere that politics has created at the national level.
Mr. Beazley, being new to the country and unfamiliar with the situation in the United States, can, we suppose, be forgiven these repeated dismissals of the hard work American volunteers are doing to establish cricket among young people. But at this point, he at least owes these volunteers an apology.
Article and photo courtesy of: United States Youth Cricket Association