Bowie, Maryland — In a area in Bowie, Maryland, a gaggle of youngsters are taking part in a sport unfamiliar to most Individuals, cricket.
“After I first began taking part in, my mother was like, ‘woman what are you doing?'” mentioned 13-year-old Jordyn Hinkle-Walker.
Hinkle-Walker had by no means even heard of the sport till three years in the past, when coach Sham Chotoo introduced cricket to her classroom.
“I referred to as up the principal and mentioned, ‘Hey, I wish to come to the varsity and do a cricket demo,'” Chotoo instructed CBS Information.
And the response from the scholars was instant.
“It was loopy,” Chotoo mentioned. “You see they might get so excited, and also you see their complete faces would mild up.”
Chotoo grew up taking part in the sport in Trinidad and Tobago, and has made it his mission to share the game within the U.S. since transferring right here 30 years in the past.
“Again then, it was primarily the immigrant inhabitants taking part in cricket,” Chotoo mentioned. “It was a enjoyable option to get collectively.”
Then, when he had kids, Chotoo needed to share this piece of his tradition with them.
“And I mentioned, properly, why do not I begin a cricket program right here,” Chotoo mentioned.
That program turned the primary elementary faculty cricket league within the U.S. Now, over a decade later, his program has 86 groups and greater than 1,000 kids taking part in cricket.
Nationwide, the game is exploding from coast-to-coast. In response to USA Cricket, the game’s governing physique, greater than 400 leagues have opened in America, with over 200,000 gamers and counting.
“It is actually a watershed second for cricket on this nation,” cricket reporter Smit Patel mentioned.
Patel predicts extra aggressive progress of the game within the U.S. Final 12 months, Main League Cricket debuted within the U.S. And cricket will probably be featured on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It is the second most performed sport on this planet,” Patel mentioned. “The potential is immense.”
This month, for the primary time, the U.S. is co-hosting and competing within the Worldwide Cricket Council’s Males’s T20 World Cup.
“I consider the World Cup goes to behave as a catalyst, the identical manner the FIFA World Cup acted as a catalyst in 1994,” Patel mentioned.
And on Thursday, the U.S. made main headlines when it pulled off a surprising upset defeat of Pakistan. And on Sunday, India and Pakistan will sq. off within the Nassau County Worldwide Cricket Stadium in New York, a 34,000-seat, $30 million non permanent stadium constructed for the T20 World Cup.
So now, with the world watching and a pathway to go professional right here in America, younger cricketers can dream larger than ever earlier than.
“Now I can say, you already know what, you could be a skilled cricket participant, you may earn a residing by taking part in within the Main League Cricket program right here within the U.S.,” Chotoo mentioned.