USACA announces the move to have an overall head of youth development and competitive youth development for 2014 with Hemant Buch.
Hemant Buch
Michael Gale, the 1st Vice President of USACA says: “The key is to have an owner who is currently engaged on a day to day basis with the youth communities in a key market like Northern California. Buch has also been actively engaged at a national level in organizing and supporting the development of competitive youth cricket in the US.”
The forthcoming tournament along with the American Athletic Union (AAU) is a critical early step for developing the sport in the US. Buch is seen as a crucial part of the USACA leadership team focused on the development of the sport at a youth level in the US.
Cricket academies and some leagues in the US have several thousand youth players actively involved in learning cricket, while regions are seeing active participation on a less frequent basis with an additional couple of thousand players a year.
Buch’s commitment in Northern California with the academy and tireless focus on fund raising and sponsorship support make him an ideal candidate to take on this role with USACA and the AAU on a national level.
Buch brings together the efforts of a number of other regional and academy leaders in order to develop the game amongst more traditional youth cricket playing audiences in the US. Even more importantly, utilizing the AAU model enables USACA to expand participation and ongoing engagement with less traditional groups and parents.
The national youth championship tournament (U17) will be held during the July 20th weekend at the AAU Junior Olympics in Iowa with up to eight teams. Over 350 leading youth players have participated in the build up to the tournament through the trials process.