This is a great start.  We hope these boys try out for the Atlantic Region team.

This is good for cricket. But what the hell is an all american team. Are american kids of indian, pakistani and west indian descent, are considered not americans? this kind ignorant racism is demeaning to the kids who are putting in hard work at dream cricket and ICUSA and other acedemies in NY and california, you can bet most of them were born in USA and they are as much americans as president Obama or George Washington. If Dream Cirkect has any respect for American spirit, they would amend this article to reflect more accurately

Mr. Pawnting:  The title and the sentence meant exactly what was said - there was no hidden meaning there.  The Cardinal Gibbons team may be the first all American born cricket team (there was no mention of descent) in Maryland (in that state) in decades.   We have removed the words that might be interpreted as racist.

Hey guys,

I am on the Cardinal Gibbons Cricket Team, thats me in the first row, far right.  In response to what Ricky Pawnting said, the meaning of all-American is that what you would normally see on cricket teams in the surrounding areas are players from families from such places as Sri Lanka, Indian, Pakistan, etc.  We are by no means considering these people "second class Americans".  We see ourselves as a new breed of cricketers, who have never seen the sport before as some people from foreign decent might have.    If you look in the center row, you will see a Asker, an incoming freshman, whose parents are from Sri Lanka.  He listed cricket as one of his favorite sports and we welcomed him with open arms to our training sessions.  Having a cricket team of all Caucasians is not something you would see unless you were playing an all ex-patriot team or you were in places like England, etc.   I hope this has cleared any hostile feelings to us and I hope that you will follow our team in the next few months.

Sincerely,

Justin Bruchey

Manager/Player of the Cardinal Gibbons Cricket Team

This team is a prototype for what must come in the US if cricket is to become a truly national sport there. Let's hope for its success.

Ricky: I think the problem is one of semantics. There is no moniker that adequately describes "childen whose parents are not from cricket playing nations" which represents 99% of the american market.  I don't think any offence was intended by use of the phrase "all american team."

If cricket in the USA is going to grow it's going to happen with boys like this, because that's 99% of the market.  And we should all want cricket in America to grow, and for USA to rise to the level of the other Test nations.

Let's hope that this remakable team gets much support and help from the international cricket community.

Where did the students at your school learn to play cricket?

First off thank you very much for your support!

And now for Timmyj51 (or anyone who is interested in learning more about us):

Here is a extremely boiled down version of how the Club was started.

Mr. Harrison and other students went on a field trip to Virginia to tour Civil War battlefields.  There, they participated in a game of cricket.  They brought the game back to school the following week and started an intramural league of four teams. I was captain of one of them.  It was up to us (the players) to learn the sport, all the rules, ways to bat, etc through the web and watching cricket games.  We were mediocre at best.  After our intramural season was over, we formed a smaller team from members of the intramural league.  I think the count is at 17 or 18 now, we chose to have this many people just in case some people could not make it to a game.  Now that we have been getting a lot of attention, Mr. Harrison has sought after some coaches from the area.  As it stands now, our two main coaches are Mr. Mike Thomas, a member of the British Cricket Officers of Philadelphia, Mr. Gregory Alleyne, an ex-member of the Baltimore Cricket Club, and we also have many guest coaches such as the President of the USA Cricket Association (as you read earlier).

Thanks Justin.  

Mr. Harrison: WICB is conducting a coaching certification in NJ.  Please let me know if you (or somebody you know) would like to attend.

www.dreamcricket.com/.../news.hspl

openingbat: I am already on the roster for the WICB training in East Orange, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

In an earlier post you say that you hope our boys will try out for the Atlantic Region team. We are scheduled to play in a trial match in the D.C. area for Mr. Butcher on May 9, which I hope might lead to some of our boys being invited to play in New York later in the month. A few weeks after that, our regular youth league season begins, which should carry us through most of the summer. The youth league, headed up by Keith Gill of the WMCB, will play Twenty/20 matches and then a 30-over tournament at season's end. We have on staff two experienced coaches from Barbados in Gregory Alleyne and Trevor Roberts, and we have also benefited from the coaching of Mike Thomas of the British Officers Cricket Club in Philadelphia. So, all in all, things have been coming together nicely for us.

Now, let me share with you my vision for youth cricket.

In the past year, I've become completely sold on cricket's future in America, mainly because of what I've seen at Cardinal Gibbons.

I have become convinced that cricket is on the threshold of breaking into the mainstream of American sport, largely because of its unique potential to appeal to all athletes, not just those who are typically large, strong or fast. As an example, a youngster in America knows that his future in football, baseball, basketball or just about any other sport is dictated by his size, strength and speed; after one day of workouts, a coach can quickly identify which players are physically gifted, and will therefore lead the team. Cricket, on the other hand, rewards patience, technique and intelligence; stature has very little to do with eventual greatness.

This is exactly the combination that once made baseball the American pastime, before the game became corrupted by an unhealthy obsession with home runs, which has led to small stadiums and increasingly large players. Fifty years ago, a small, scrappy kid from the city could grow up playing stickball in the streets, and getting by on grit and determination, one day become a professional ballplayer. No more. But that's OK. Baseball's loss will be cricket's gain.

Cricket, properly promoted to America's youth, can become the new equal-opportunity sport. Cricket can become the sport that encourages that undersized city kid to work hard and become the best he can be. Cricket can be the once and future "Great American Pastime." And once cricket had been reintroduced to a new generation of American youth, the United States, drawing from an under-19 population in excess of 40 million, will necessarily rise to international prominence.

I can testify to the addictive nature of the game. In the past year, I have seen students become completely obsessed with the sport in just an hour's time, and have participated in the development of a thriving cricket program where, only months before, no one even knew what a wicket was.

I believe in cricket's future in America. I am convinced that marketing the game and promoting it enthusiastically, especially to young people, is key to our long-term growth. I am presently working on a presentation to be made to Physical Education teachers this August, in hopes of convincing them to include cricket in their curriculum next year; I have discussed the idea with Mr. Dainty of the USACA, who has been very supportive. The USACA's addition of Mr. Lockerbie as CEO has brought with it much-needed energy and ideas. It's an exciting time to be involved with American cricket, and I, for one, am glad to be getting in on the ground floor.

What we need now are lots of primarily two things: publicity, to get the word out that young people are playing cricket and that cricket is on the move in the US; and sponsorship, because much of what we need to do and want to do to promote the game will cost money.

I will be happy to discuss the promotion of our great sport with anyone, from anywhere, at anytime.

All the Best,

Jamie Harrison

Head Coach & Director, Cardinal Gibbons Cricket

jharrison@cardinal-gibbons.org

So they learned the game at a Civil War event?  How did they do that and

who taught them?  Also, the idea of promoting cricket as a PE sport has

been tried by many people at many other times and locations (believe, few years ago, someone gave a cricket presentation at the national PE convention in New Orleans). Some of these have worked, some haven't.  It really comes down to having someone who's on the save wavelength as Americans and can immediately bring across the fun of the game.  Given the past history of the

game in this country not many people seem to be able to do this.

timmy: First about the Civil War event. A cricket historian named Tom Melville travels the country demonstarting cricket in period dress at Civil War sites. I just happened to be leading a field trip at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond at the time he was putting on a cricket match. He invited the boys & me to play, taught us the basics and we had a great time. Afterwards, all the boys could talk about was bringing cricket back home to Cardinal Gibbons. Within a month, they had a cricket club with 50 members (in a school of 350). In the fall, they orgaanized a four-team intramural softball league, and then 19 of them anted up $100 each to start the spring hardball team.  Here's a video of Tom Melville at an event in Michigan last year. Frankly, I think we had more fun than the people in this video.  www.vimeo.com/1239177

About cricket as a PE sport: I believe that seeing cricket played isn't enough, but once kids get a chance to run between the wickets a bit, a good percentage of them will become converts. I speak from experience, having watched this phenonomon as it happened at Cardinal Gibbons. Students thought the game was a bit silly, and then they played it and got hooked. My 12-year old daughter introduced the game to her neighborhood friends, and now I'm watching the steady advancement there. The game is positively viral, once played.

In my planned presentation, I want to entice PE teachers to the event with great door prizes (such as stitched NFL jerseys, baseball tickets, etc.), and good food. After the concept is introduced, I will then get them to actually play the game, so that they can experience how much fun it is. As an American teacher, I can relate to non-cricket playing educators, so that's no problem. Where they're at now is where I was at 13 months ago.

I can't speak for why anyone's attempts in the past failed, but this will work if done aggressively and systematically.

jharrison@cardinal-gibbons.org

Well, if this Melville guy can whip up this kind of enthusiasm with American

novices, in this short of time, he must have the Midas touch.  Why hasn't the USACA tapped into this guys expertise?

He's really more of a cricket historian than a modern cricket enthusiast. He's written books (Cricket for Americans, The Tented Field: A History of Cricket in America and Early Baseball and the Rise of the National League), and he does Civil War events as a hobby from his home in Wisconsin.

I don't think know that he'd be interested (or available) to become involved in the more modern aspects of the sport.

Also, I don't know that Tom "whipped up" our enthusiasm for the game so much as he provided us with the opportunity be become "whipped up" by the game itself.

It's the experience of playing cricket that changes everything. If we can just get people to run between the wickets for a bit, a decent percentage of them will become converts. Depend on it. We just need to find creative ways to get a cricket bat in people's hands.

The beauty of what Tom does is that it gives people a chance to experience cricket by using a tie-in to what they already know and love - the Civil War. Frankly, I wouldn't want to take him away from that.

Well, I can tell you from personal experience it takes more than just putting a bat in their hands to get Americans enthusiastic about cricket. I've seen plenty of ex-pats try to do that and totally fail to get the Americans they worked with interested in the game, at last not to the extent your students did.  As you said, it takes a CREATIVE way to get Americans to try cricket and it seems this Melville guy knows how to do it. Was searching the web and discovered he also wrote a book called Cricket For Americans.  So it seems he's been involved in more than just

the historical angle.

One thing you may not realize is that Tom Melville only demonstrated the game to the six students who were with me on the field trip. Of those six, three graduated two months later, so of the original six, only three played cricket this school year.

So how did three become a school club of 50 and then a dedicated hardball team of 19? (Keep in mind there are only 350 students in the entire school, and most of them already play other sports.) The handful who played the game in Virginia came home and just started playing at school, inviting their classmates to join in. As classmates tried out the game, they caught the addiction and the numbers grew. What I witnessed was a sport that went viral as people played it. I've seen the same thing in my neighborhood among my 12-year old daughter's friends.

When I say, "put a bat in their hands," perhaps I run the risk of oversimplification. What I mean is to find a way to get kids, teenagers, PE teachers, to try out the game. That's the key. The most important thing Tom Melville ever did was to call out to us, "Hey, would you guys like to play cricket?" There was no flash, glitz, gimmick or slick sales job involved. He just found a way to put a bat in the hands of six kids and four parents, who ended up have the time of their lives discovering cricket.  

If we could commit to doing something similar all over the country - just start playing cricket and inviting others to join in - or, in my PE idea, show PE teachers why cricket is a great idea for them and then (and this is the key element) get the PE teachers to try out the game for themselves, everything will change. I know because I've watched it happen spontaneously to dozens of kids in Maryland, without any hard sell, glitz or gimmicks.

We don't have to sell cricket, cricket will sell itself. But we do have to give cricket a chance, and we do that by getting people to give the game a try. How best to do that? However, and wherever, we can. We'll have to be inventive, imaginative and somewhat adaptable. We'll have to be persistent and thick-skinned. And we'll have to pursue it with a missionary's zeal.

If there was just one energetic kid in every neighborhood playing cricket today, by next spring there'd be sandlot cricket leagues springing up all over the country. The sport is positively viral, and all it needs to get going is a kick-start. Cricket will handle the rest.

Pingback from  Cardinal Gibbons School forms first school cricket team in Maryland | Cricket Blog

I tend to think this Melville guy might deserve a little more credit than this.  When he

first approached your students to play cricket my guess is you probably were slightly

cynical and hardly enthusiastic about the idea, just as the average American

would be.  But in a short time you and your students went away so sold on

the game you've taken to the rest of your school.  This Melville guy may have

done no more than provide the spark but, if you think about it,  having the knack for doing this may be the most important

thing.  Consider:  there's hundreds of cricket clubs in this country with many other

people trying to get Americans interested in cricket.  But I can't think of anyone, anywhere,

whos ignited the same kind of spark this Melville guy did.  Also consider:  thousands

of Americans travel, study, and work in England, Australia and other

cricket playing countries every year. Do you hear of these people coming home

saying "Hey, just discovered this fantastic game of cricket and now I'm getting

all my friends to play"?  Haven't heard of this happening anywhere.  So I'm not so sure

that cricket "will sell itself" to Americans. A lotta work is gonna have to be done along the line this

Melville guy is doing.  What he did may seem pretty simple and straightforward,

but sometimes what ends up appearing simple actually took a lot of time and hard work to achieve.  

In any event, the USACA should tap into people like this if they're really serous about

bringing cricket to Americans.   Next time you're in contact with Dainty or

Lockerbie you should ask if they intend to do this.  

You said "When he (Melville) first approached your students to play cricket my guess is you probably were slightly cynical and hardly enthusiastic about the idea..." Well, your guess would be wrong. We were curious and a bit amused at the idea. We didn't have to be "sold" on the game, any more than the 47 kids who had never met Tom had to be "sold" on the game at Gibbons. Their friends said something like, "This is really fun, you should try it." Many did and most loved it.

You are right in saying that there is much work to be done, but we mustn't psyche ourselves out that getting Americans to play cricket is so daunting that we need to zero in on the special few with "the knack" of teaching cricket. I watched a bunch of high schoolers who barely understood the game spread it throughout a school, until almost 20% of the school population was playing cricket.

One key may be making sure that non-pat converts are involved in the presentation, as it might be easier for them to relate to and develop a rapport with an unknowledgable audience. This was probably one of the factors in the game spreading like wildfire at Gibbons - it was all peer-to-peer. I suspect that it's also easier to work with young people than adults who are more set in their biases, so I think we're going to have to focus on building cricket in America from the ground up.

But once again, the single, critical component is just getting kids to try the game. Once kids play cricket, they fall in love, and as the game is taught, it will spread exponentially through the kids who adopt the sport and then take their new love home with them (just the way I saw it happen in real time).

It's really not that complicated - or daunting. Cricket just needs a few "Johnny Appleseeds" to step up, that's all.

I don't care where their parents are from - an XI of all yanks is rare.

Pingback from  At Cardinal Gibbons, We Played Cricket! - USA Cricketer

Pingback from  Dirty Credit Card Secrets | USACreditOnline.com | Credit Guide for USA citizens

It was among such inspirations that impressionism was born.

Sir,

    My name is samiullah.

I am 30. I am a cricket player for the last 15years.

I have played with many local clubs and have given so many match-winning performances.

Currently, I’m working with an NGO (Right to play) as a head-coach. And I’m working in my district’s biggest boy’s school.

I really want to work abroad as a cricket coach for any club. I have a vast experience of coaching U-14 to U-19 cricket players.

I will work whole-heartedly if you give me a chance.

Anxiously waiting for your reply.

Samiullah s/o inayatullah

samibrave@yahoo.com

mob:0333-9157502

Thank you for your posting! I think your post is very helpful for me.

eorgsojgdskgjdhjbdkjhidgjidhb

www.toryburchflats-online.com

Millet looked at me, immediately jumping up, and then directed at the already going up the elevator, as if they are still standing there when General Lisa: "Do you find it slow ! "I feel funny, shook his head, then with millet Stern said:" Do not give me row it night, and I about the people. "I know about the whole week's China Stephenson, millet puzzled: "SAFE technology is not hopeless we here yet? Why would also like to see candidates ah?"

Imagine the greatest athletes on the planet, such as Lance Armstrong or Bruce Irons, and try to understand their Cheap Oakleys commitment to be at the pinnacle of their chosen sport; only <br>now could you begin to grasp the demands they make to ensure Oakley Glasses the equipment they use is instantly reliable, instantly unbeatable. It is these very athletes that trust Cheap Oakleys eyewear with the protection of their vision as their simply is no rival. In this collection you will find Oakley Outlet sunglasses that are lightweight, shockingly revolutionary and astonishing in terms of their lens quality and frame comfort. This is probably the greatest collection of sporting eyewear on the planet and you have the chance to purchase into legendary sporting eyewear and understand why Oakley Sunglasses On Sale is simply the best available.

Pingback from  The story of Cardinal Gibbons Cricket &laquo;  American College Cricket

I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.

I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.

I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.

www.coachoutletonline.org.uk

I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.

www.coachoutletonline.org.uk

Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success.

louis vuitton outlet    www.louisvuittonoutletsuk.org.uk

Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success.

louis vuitton outlet    www.louisvuittonoutletsuk.org.uk

Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success.

louis vuitton outlet    www.louisvuittonoutletsuk.org.uk

Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success.

louis vuitton outlet    www.louisvuittonoutletsuk.org.uk

Thank you for your website, your web site for me are of great help.

coach outlet online     www.coachoutletonlinem.com

Thank you for your website, your web site for me are of great help.

coach outlet online     www.coachoutletonlinem.com

your article is really good.

louis vuitton uk    www.louisvuitton-uks.org.uk

your article is really good.

louis vuitton uk    www.louisvuitton-uks.org.uk