Major League Cricket taking the game to youngsters across America, says Indian American coach | Cricket News – Times of India
“I realised then that while in most of the major cities of the US one could find a field nearby; cricket enthusiasts had to travel hours to play the game if they lived in second tier cities or small towns,” he says.
Later, moving to northern New Jersey he found a club within a 45 minute drive, but there were still problems. “As a new guy in town without a car, it was very difficult to go to play for any club. Friends from Edison Cricket Club in New Jersey picked me up and dropped me off every weekend for an entire summer,” he remembers.
His next move was to the Capital Region of New York where Adikoppula found TriCity Cricket Club where he was the only Indian in the team. “I played with a great bunch of Guyanese and Pakistani team mates who welcomed me,” he says. But the long commutes to play cricket remained and sometimes he had to spend even six hours on the road, for games in New York City and Connecticut. “After all the travel, around 30% of the games got cancelled due to bad weather or unavailability of enough number of players in the opposition teams,” he says.
But things have changed a lot since then, Adikoppula feels, thanks to USA Cricket and Major League Cricket. “With cricket becoming a prominent sport under USA Cricket and their commercial partner Major League Cricket, thousands of young players are starting to take it up. In the next 10 years, the game will spread beyond just major cities and the 2nd tier cities will also have enough cricket playing youth,” he says.
Back in 2015, Adikoppula had set up a local not-for-profit cricket league with the support of friends in the Capital Region. “Capital District Cricket Association (CDCA) was formed when we had no local cricket except one team for the entire region. With the association, we were able to increase participation immensely and today we have grown to 10 teams in the cricket ball league in the area,” he says.
Early on, there were many hurdles with the lack of infrastructure and umpires. “We would apply for field access at every possible place where we could think of getting one. The local cities, towns and churches allowed us to use some of the fields for cricket games but the size of the fields, outfield conditions and pitch preparation were always a challenge,” he remembers.
But that did not deter Adikoppula and fellow volunteers at CDCA from making efforts to introduce cricket in many local schools, YMCA branches and town programmes. “We are starting to see some diverse community participation and more youth coming out to play cricket, and some schools starting to add the game in their curriculum,” he says.
Adikoppula, who had also started the Albany Highlanders Cricket Club, finds efforts to introduce the game in local schools gaining momentum across America.
“Many local leagues, cricket academies and summer camps are engaging the youth and working as grassroots growth engines to develop the game. We are also starting to see corporate sponsors and private investors backing cricket now,” he says.
Adikoppula is also an enthusiastic cricket coach but feels that one of the biggest challenges is that the game is not accessible to everyone. “Until cricket is played in most schools across the US, it is going to remain a challenge for boys and girls to find time outside their daily schedule. Most of the youngsters who are playing today in the USA are from south Asian and Caribbean descent as their parents’ passion is passed on to them. Most of the local area schools do not have a cricket field and there are not enough cricket sporting goods stores,” he rues.
In fact, to accommodate the growing demand for better facilities in the Albany area, Adikoppula, along with four other Indian Americans have built three professional turf wicket fields and practice nets.
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The life of a cricket player and coach in America is a very busy one and Adikoppula feels that he is sometimes compromising on family time and leisure. “It is not easy to follow the passion for cricket, especially when you are in a foreign land without any additional family help. Besides there are immigration related issues; challenges in keeping up with the day job and taking care of a family with young children. And putting hard earned money and sweat equity into something that has no return on investment requires a lot the support,” he feels.
He is happy that his family, friends and well-wishers support his cricket craziness.
