ACF Launches Women’s Cricket Initiative
The American Cricket Federation (ACF) today announced the launch of the first phase of a major women’s cricket initiative aimed at fully embracing and supporting women’s cricket in the United States.
The initiative was recently approved by the ACF Board of Directors and will be implemented in three phases. Titled ACE for Assess, Create and Execute, the strategic plan involves an assessment of the talent and volunteer pool available, the creation of programs aimed at helping the female genre of the sport grow and develop; both at the grassroots and established senior levels, and the execution of a comprehensive plan for making women’s cricket a definitive part of the cricket landscape in the United States.
ACF’s elected Women’s Cricket Representative, Durga Das said, “I’m delighted that we have been able to draft the ACE initiative, along with the support of several persons passionate about women’s cricket. This initiative will provide the shot of adrenalin that women’s cricket in this country so desperately needs.” The former USA national women’s cricket captain and a business entrepreneur on two continents, added, “USA women’s cricket has been in the doldrums for several years, because it lacked any comprehensive vision, structure and real support at the national level. The ACF plan will enable women cricketers to take their passion to another level.”
The ACF women’s initiative will kick off with a “Women’s Cricket Awareness Week” May 19-25 and coincide with the 4th Annual Atlanta Women’s T20 Cricket Tournament, this Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. ACF is a sponsor of the tournament organized by the Georgia Women Cricket Association.
The first phase of the initiative will be conducted primarily in the six Divisions which currently shape ACF’s national men’s cricket structure, and establishing the number of players, both experienced and novice, as well as volunteers wanting to make a contribution to the development of the sport among young girls and women.
For the first time in US cricket history, women cricketers are represented at the national governing level of the sport, one of the early Constitutional initiatives of the American Cricket Federation.
ACF plans on releasing additional details of the strategic ACE plan in the coming weeks.
