A Time for Change
The past several years have seen a surfeit of organizational issues and controversies arise at USACA. One of the consequences of the litigations and ICC suspension has been a loss of confidence. With new national elections you have the opportunity to elect an experienced team of brand new faces to lead USACA – a break with the past and a team you can have confidence in! Many clubs, leagues and regions feel USACA is irrelevant to them because it has not historically done much, if anything, for them. We understand this concern and believe we can transform USACA into a relevant and value-adding national organization for cricket.
The status quo must change. We as US cricket lovers have decided to offer some of our skills, dedication, entrepreneurship, and transparency which are hallmarks of governance in any US institution.
Goals will be set – see our sections called “Our Vision” for USA Cricket and “Election Manifesto.” As Americans we want to be the best at everything that we do. Cricket is no exception. We need to invest in improving facilities, attracting and developing youth and women to the sport and a myriad of other issues.
Please join us is bringing sweeping change to management of cricket in the US. Let us leave the past behind and work together for a brighter future for US cricket!
February 26th, 2008 at 3:35 am
Its about time and I am glad to see some new faces with great enthusiasam and bright ideas with strong professional management backgrounds have formed a winning team. I knew few of you as I have worked with John Thickett and John Arron on cricket matters as the past president of Houston Cricket League. Both are very dedicated and true gentlemen who cares for cricket. I wish you all teh best and will be looking forward to more information from you. Its time we get rid of Dainty and his Gang who has destroyed US Cricket.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Well, you have great resumes on the business end. But the one and only question
remains: what are you going to do to take cricket beyond the immigrant community,
to mainstream Americans? ARE you planning to do this? HOW are you going
to do this? Or will cricket in this country remain entirely an expat sport, invisible to
Americans. Are you familiar with what Allen Stanford’s been doing in Ft. Collins?
Just spent $3.5 million dollars promoting 20/20 cricket to mainstream Americans
(www.yougottaseethis2020.com). Is the USACA prepared to do things like this?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Political stand in cricket is killing us in the first place here in USA. Secondly, in the past we never paid attention to developing cricket in the American community or provide more help to young kids born here in the USA. Many USA teams in the past were made up of with a few exceptions, a bunch of old guys who did nothing worthwhile back in their own home country. As far as I know only 3 big training initiatives are in USA right now, all run by Indians - on the east coast, Ashok Patel does his stuff with USACA - don’t have to say more here. On the west coast, Mr. Hemant Buch does with partial from USACA but more under his own training academy, and there is one in Midwest. Florida under GCCUSA by Jatin Patel does coaching camp without any links with USACA or other cricket entity here in USA. Some how will they all speak one langauge.
I think we need to bring such people under New USACA to improve our credentials in world cricket and bring more cricketers who are developed right here in USA.
Selection committee in USA cricket is run by a bunch of idiots so far. Most of them are internal moves. many deserving players never get any attention or chance to play for USA. That’s another area need for improvement.
Finally sponsors. When we are not doing any thing positively, who will pay? Wake up - more sponsors can come forward only if we do good work for your young kids in this country and not to support teams made up of 42 years or older “boys” playing for USA.
At Last USA cricket is not just Indian, Pakistani & West Indies interest. There are people from other cricket playing countries and we need to include them to balance it to begin with.
Bottom line - If you build million dollar offers and there are no customers to walk in for business, whats the use. Most of our leagues are run by old dogs and there is no way for young kids get a chance. On top of that, many visitors and illegal immigrants play in our leagues which are the main reasons for lack of opportunities for our next generation.
February 27th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
In reply to timmyj51: The whole premise of our team is to be inclusive, rather than exclusive, just look at the ethnic and cultural diversity of our team, for starters. However, more importantly, we recognize that cricket will not take a foothold in the USA, without expanding the sport to include American nationals – and not only those of immigrant parents.
So, yes the plan is to take cricket beyond the immigrant community of the USA, by further developing programs within the schools and college systems. It is the only type of business plan and results-oriented performances that will attract “cricket investors” such as Sir Allen Stanford.
John A.
February 27th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
In response to Tejpal Singh: You raise some very valid points in your post, which is why this New team of individuals will succeed - because we intend to do twice as much listening and taking action, rather than just talking.
By reaching out to all ethnicities and nationalities - including American-born players and cricket enthusiasts, we hope to build development programs aimed at broadening the base of the sport here in the USA. In doing so, we hope to attract more that just the expatriate recreational cricketer.
We are mindful that we must build interest and enthusiasm from the ground up, and through a farm system. Thereby, encouraging youngsters to want to represent the USA. And with the help of the older players currently engaged in the sport here in the USA, we will succeed.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I too am excited at the thought of having a change of leadership at USACA. What has gone on over the last 10 years has been ridiculous and simply highlights an horrific lack of vision for cricket’s future in the U.S.
The root of the problem comes down to funding, as crude and simple as that sounds. Without a well financed national support organization, cricket faces a far greater uphill battle than soccer for the simple fact that equipment is expensive and not readily available in this country.
For example, I have been working for the past 7 years with my local school district to add cricket to the physical education curriculum. I managed to convince the athletic director for the district to allocate $2000 of grant money to purchase Kanga Cricket and Kwik Cricket sets for every school. This $$ didn’t go very far, since all the kits had to be imported and with shipping, they wound up costing $130 each. This wound up with 1 or 2 kits at each school, which is great, but over the years, things get broken, balls lost, etc… and many kits aren’t complete anymore, but there’s no $$ to purchase replacements (the grant was a one time thing….). Without equipment, it’s easy for teachers to stop playing the game, and then I have to go back in and reinvent the wheel with them…. and donate replacement equipment out of my own pocket! I do it because I love the game, but it’s certainly no way to create a national awakening in the sport. I just don’t have enough $$ to do it myself.
Another example is high school cricket. I managed to get the local high school to allow a club team…. but there’s no money for equipment or coaching. We are an inner city school, so most of the kids can’t afford their own gear, so once again, I spent almost $1000 of my own money to get some basic team equipment and team shirts for everyone. I managed to find a local supplier who imports directly from India and gives me a good deal, but he operates out of a garage in his house, and doesn’t deal in a high enough volume to get really good equipment for a decent price. He sells me the stuff at what must be close to cost because he appreciates what we’re trying to do here, but again, this is not a model for success on a national level.
As long as there is no national funding, there will be fractured, scattered and unconnected pockets of success throughout the country, each one promoting their own vision. And the game will languish in ex-pat backwaters everywhere as a mere curiousity that generates the occasional human interest story in the back section of a local newspaper about “cultural diversity” or something like that.
I certainly hope the USACA elections bring in the winds of change, but I’m afraid without some sort of significant cash infusion, there’s little a new board can do to change things. And I’m willing to bet I’m one of the LEAST cynical proponents of cricket in the U.S. !!!!!
February 27th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
The inclusion of Manaf, who is the most respected cricket administrator and synonymous with cricket development in South Florida gives us a glimpse of your organization’s vision and foundation of credibility. The SER has suffered for too long and the promise of light art the end of the tunnel gives us hope. It is my hope that the league’s president do the right thing.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:05 am
In reply to Mr. Aaron. Happy to hear you’ll be “inclusive” in your objectives. But we’ve been hearing this from everyone trying to promote cricket in the USA and we still have’nt seen any Americans. We await to see if your organization, when all’s said and done, will be any different.
In reply to Mr. Singh: Money? Everyone’s been screaming about this for who knows how long. But look at what happened in Ft. Collins. Stanford reportedly spent $3.5 million there. Did he light a fire under the Americans? Doesn’t seem so. No, I’ve come to the conclusion long ago that it’s not a lack of money but proper approach and strategy (even Stanford himself made many basic promotional mistakes with his program)
March 8th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Dear Mr. Varadarajan and team,
My name is Gokul Ramadass Chakravarthy. I am originally from Chennai and Mumbai (India), but I currently live and work in New York City.
I have myself been thinking about the state of US cricket and had made up my mind to start doing something about it just last week. However, it was in the aftermath of that decision that I realized; first to my despair that the deadline for submission of nominations had passed, but then, to my pleasant surprise, I also discovered that your team is running for office.
I am 31 years old - an engineer by educational qualification, but a cricketer and aspiring film-maker by choice. Cricket is one of my less-than-a-handful of passions. I have played cricket at a pretty good level in Boston and NY leagues, and am known in those circles.
Currently, I am the Asst. Secretary of the USA Cricket Umpires Association (USACUA) and a fully qualified (even for international matches) umpire there under. I am also in the process of securing qualified umpire status from the ECB ACO in the UK.
The only reason I considered running for some office in the USACA was to be able to bring about some changes to cricket in the USA … ANY CHANGE has to be better than what is happening (or NOT) right now in USA cricket.
So I offer my full support to your team - now, during the campaigning stage, as well as later on when you have secured office.
Your team will most certainly benefit from my assistance, because, other than the unique set of skills and passions that I bring, I am in it purely for the following reasons - I want to be able to enjoy good quality cricket as a player, spectator, cricket journalist, and umpire, from right here in my home in the USA. Further, I see no reason why this can’t happen within a decade. I could not care less about the money and power that could be at stake.
Let me know how I can be of further assistance to you and your team.
Sincerely,
Gokul Ramdass Chakravarthy