Cricket at grassroots level begins to get traction, USACA gets involved

Jamie Harrison stumbled upon a game of cricket when he was a high school history teacher several years ago while on a civil war trip with his students in Richmond, Virginia.

Within a few minutes some of his students were trying to play the game.

The seed had been sewn. Now Harrison, 46, has an association with the game he hopes to introduce to schools across the United States at grassroots level.

As a former teacher, he knows how to implement the idea where six and seven year olds can be introduced to the game just like millions of youngsters begin their association with mainstream sports like football, baseball, hockey, basketball and soccer.

Harrison’s relationship with cricket began to firm when his students asked him to moderate their cricket club.

He grew to love the game, saw how easy it was to play and how the students began to read about cricket Online and watch it on You Tube. They also gave him money to buy equipment like bats, pads, balls, gloves and stumps.

Harrison has taken his affiliation a step further by forming the United States Youth Cricket Association and the plan is to establish the game at schools across the country and introduce it to students before they connect to another sport.

Harrison’s idea is now gaining traction and he has met with United States of America Cricket Association CEO Don Lockerbie and USACA President Gladstone Dainty in Greenbelt, Maryland.

At the meeting, the USYCA organization, schools program and future plans were discussed and Dainty and Lockerbie expressed their support for the Harrison and USYCA’s mission.

In an interview with cricketusamag.com, Harrison said he hoped to make a presentation at the next USACA board meeting with a view of exploring a formal relationship between the two organizations.

The USYCA board has 11 members, including Ed Fox from Wichita, Kansas, and David Sentance in southern California, who have long been strong believers in introducing the game at grass roots level for the game to mushroom across the US.

USYCA also has 16 affiliate organizations.

Harrison faced a few bumps in the road before he formed his board. He knew that cricket was a great game, but it was a sport reliant on the children of immigrants from cricket countries who were playing the game.

Despite this he was not discouraged and he strongly believed that cricket could connect with American youngsters at a young age.

Harrison pursued his idea and began to write for cricket websites, but kept on hearing “Americans won’t play the game,” over and over. He wrote that if the game was taken to schools Americans would play.

“It fell on deaf ears,” he said. “Eventually people began to write to me and said that this idea could work.”

There was also some help from unexpected sources. Cricket Australia has warmly embraced Harrison’s idea and has sent USYCA printed material about coaching and posters.

“Australia has been a great friend,” he said.

Harrison’s idea of teaching cricket to youngsters at schools looks like it will spread with the right promotion and support of cricket leagues and USACA.

And the idea of teaching youngsters outweighs the idea of aiming at teenagers because, he says, if cricket was taught to teens it was too late. He says that at that age they had already decided on what they preferred to play and were not willing to look foolish by trying to compete in a new sport and learn its rules.

Harrison said: “The kids love playing cricket and the teachers also love it.”

He said the infrastructure of the game at schools will come as the game grows and that USACA had to be patient as the popularity began to spread.

“It will require patience and discipline,” he said.

Harrison was optimistic about the game’s growth in schools and predicted: “I envision within 15 and 20 years the US will be a power in Test cricket.”