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ASA: Nurturing young cricketing talent in rural India
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In continuing its efforts to advance sports as an effective and sustainable tool for the holistic development, the Anantapur Sports Academy (ASA) conducted the Vicente Ferrer District Level Under-13 Cricket Tournament to identify and train young cricketing talent in rural Anantapur.

ASA has been working towards sports development in the rural areas of Anantapur through its grassroots and development centres spread across the district. About 695 children (10% girls) are being coached in cricket in these centres. ASA aims to shape these young children into professional sportsmen and sportswomen while promoting sporting values, life skills and inclusiveness to help in their holistic development.    

The Vicente Ferrer District Level Under-13 Cricket Tournament was held from 13 - 15 March 2019 saw the participation of 200 children from 13 grassroots centres spread across the Anantapur District and was held at the Anantapur Sports Village (ASV).

The three-day tournament which was supported by the Anantapur District Cricket Association (ADCA), gave great exposure to the participants, and a platform to showcase their skills. Talking about his experience, 12-year-old male participant Chilakala Manoj said, “ASA has a wonderful infrastructure, this is my first experience playing in a stadium. This tournament is a memorable experience.”

All the teams performed exceptionally in this 20-over format tournament, the children’s all-round development seen during the tournament captured most accurately the impact of ASA’s grassroots programmes. Young players enjoyed being out in the ground. Their loud joy filled cheers for fours and sixers and warm hugs to the batsmen who returned to the pavilion spoke a lot about their approach towards the game. It was not just about winning, but about being out there in the ground and enjoying the game.

This tournament was a great learning experience for all the participants. Talking about his experience, 12-year-old boy Mastan Ali who was also the captain of the winning team Guntakal Railway Center said, “I am very happy with this victory, this is the first tournament we have won. This tournament was a great learning experience, we’ve learnt how to handle pressure and kept forming new strategies. This was a result of teamwork.”

Following the tournament, trophies and medals were handed out to the participants by KS Shahabuddin, Head of the Cricket Programme at ASA. He addressed the children and said, “It was a good tournament and a great learning experience for you all, there is a lot of improvement in your game. Keep playing and practicing and you all will excel one day.”

Authors

Communications Officer