Friday, February 22, 2013

Cricket Growing Popularity in the US

Cricket is a sport that has been around since the 16th century in England. In the 1800's international matches began and cricket eventually became the 2nd most popular sport in the world. United States cricket teams started competing in the mid 1800's sometime and have been growing in the US very slowly over the past 2 centuries.

In 2004, the ICC (the International Cricket Council) announced Project USA, which was a large project dedicated to increasing cricket acceptance in the USA. Unfortunately that project failed but it did increase cricket awareness and today there are over 200,000 cricket players in the United States, many of them from countries such as India or Pakistan. Most of these players are men and women playing on recreational cricket teams throughout different US cities.

Currently there are competitive cricket teams at over 50 colleges in the US. These colleges enjoy matches throughout the season as well as a yearly championship. The group, American College Cricket, has been growing and adding colleges and Universities to their association every year. Currently Minnesota State holds a very large cricket tournament every year that involves a large group of teams in the Midwest competing in a cricket tournament; hopefully this will start a trend?

Now most US states have youth cricket leagues that are supported by the United States Youth Cricket Association. The United States Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) is growing quickly. their continuing efforts to grow the market in all areas across the United States has not gone unnoticed. Currently the USYCA has a project for schools across America to received free cricket kits just for adding cricket to their PE program and becoming part of the organization. You can get more information on their website at http://usyca.org/. What an excellent way to start a new youth sport and grow an ever-popular sport. Earlier this year the United States Junior Cricket joined the USYCA as an affiliate member. This merger is brilliant as both groups had similar visions and work toward one common goal, to expand cricket in the United States.

In conclusion, cricket is growing in popularity in the United States. I believe many important things start with our youth and fortunately we have fabulous cricket youth organizations in the United States. I hope to see this growth increase in the near future, as this sport is a valuable part of our world history and a very exciting sport to watch.

Lyndea Ward is the author and can provide more information on this and other cricket shopping and caring for tips. Visit http://www.thecricketspot.com today, at thecricketspot.com we focus on selling top of the line cricket products from premier lines such as; Kookaburra, Gray Nicholls, Gunn and Moore and more. Visit http://www.thecricketspot.com today and receive 10% off your order with coupon code enjoy10.
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