EPISODE 2 SHOW NOTES

00:00:07—Introduction of Coach Sham

00:01:06—Coach Sham discusses how he started his cricket journey.

00:03:15—Ashwath shares his surprise about recognizing that even 30 years ago, cricket had a foothold in the States.

00:04:27—Coach Sham, prompted by Ashwath’s inquiry, discusses the landscape of cricket decades before and how there was no youth cricket.

00:05:45—Coach Sham discusses Milroy Dunn and how he began coaching young cricketers and took them to play teams in informal tournaments.

00:07:14—Coach tells Ashwath about the beginnings of the Bowie cricket leagues after being inspired watching his own kids play sports at the Boys and Girls Club.

00:08:13—Coach discusses Jamie Harrison, an American teacher who inspired Coach Sham to begin a cricket program at Bowie.

00:10:15—Coach expounds on American parents wanting to sign their kids up for cricket. Getting parents involved made the difference in spreading the cricket sport to other schools. This created a wonderful domino effect for Coach Sham to teach more than 1,000 kids to play cricket.

00:13:41—Ashwath acknowledges Coach for fostering the growth of cricket in Maryland, and asks advice for kids like him continuing to work to get more cricket into schools.

00:13:35—Coach Sham encourages all programs to start at the elementary level. Start them early before they select another sport to fully lean into.

00:15:40— Ashwath inquires about colleges starting cricket teams that could compete in the NCAA level. Coach shares that the hurdle is that cricket has to offer men’s and women’s programs.

00:17:00—Coach reminds that so few females are playing cricket and that we need to get those levels up so colleges can begin NCAA programs.

00:18:00—Ashwath discusses a bit of dismay about how other states lack support in taking care of the grounds or acquiring professional permitting. Coach shares that such a thing requires that all jurisdictions and city managers work together to build cricket pitches/fields. Coach shares how they went about it in Maryland. The bottom line is that it requires high levels of interest from a grassroots effort within the community.

00:21:51—At Ashwath’s prompting, Coach discusses how he sees cricket evolving for youth in the future. And it’s all good news, with the only reservation being that it takes time—but the U.S. Cricket Association is doing a good job.