LAUDERHILL – On the heels of staging the historic and succesful American College Cricket Spring Break Championship ’09, American College Cricket’s Lloyd Jodah and Nino DiLoreto are gearing up for the 2010 Championship.
The first order of business was meeting with Chris Thakoorpersad, Manager of the 2008 ICC Cricketer of the Year Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Mr. Thakoorpersad affirmed Chanderpaul’s longterm commitment to support College Cricket in the United States. “With all the honors Shiv is receiving, he wants to give back to the game he loves and boosting youth cricket in America is one way of doing that. One day his son may want to go to college and play cricket and that may very well be in the United States” stated Thakoorpersad. Chris went on to say that he and Chanderpaul are proud to be associated with American College Cricket and its plans to develop College Cricket in the United States. “Whenever Shiv’s cricket schedule permits, he will make appearances at American College Cricket’s majoe events” added Thakoorpersad.
Nino DiLoreto, Vice President of American College Cricket, stated that the Championship will return to the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida next year. ” We received great support from the City of Lauderhill. Mayor Richard Kaplan, Commissioner Dale Holness and Leslie Tropepe did a great job” stated DiLoreto. “The South Florida Cricket Community supported the Championship especially Brian Edun of Laparkan Shipping, Eddy Edwards, Ravi Bedessee of Bedessee Sporting Goods, Danny Khan of the Florida Cricket Umpire Association and Hal Batson among others” added Nino.
The Quality Inn Conference Center at Sawgrass Mills will once again be the Official Hotel of the Championship. “The Hotel staff really did a great job of taking care of the Teams. Round trip transportation to the stadium was provided and the players enjoyed the amenities” said DiLoreto.
The American College Cricket Spring Break Championship received unprecedented media coverage. The New York Times provided a two page special report on its national and international editions. In addition a video highlighting the Championship was also produced by the New York Times. DreamCricket.com, CricketWorld.com, NewYorkCricket.com, Caribbean National Weekly, Sports Illustrated and a host of International Media outlets from the UK, India, Australia and others provided coverage of the Championship.
Lloyd Jodah, President of American College Cricket, announced that the 2010 Championship will be a four day event. “There will be a minimum of 16 College Teams competing for the Shiv Chanderpaul Championship Trophy in 2010” stated Jodah. “CricketWorld.com’s Jim White is planning on bringing 2 British Universities Teams and we plan on inviting the University of the West Indies as well,” added Jodah.
The five pioneering Teams that participated in the 2009 Championship: Montgomery College, Carnegie Mellon University, Boston University, The University of South Florida and the University of Miami have already indicated that they will return.
This year’s Champions Montgomey College are getting kudos at home, including a Press Conference by the College. Participating Cricketers from the other Colleges are also receiving attention as requests for interviews are coming in from as far away as Australia.
Tangible benefits have emerged as a result of the Championship. The University of South Florida now has a Coach. Hubert Smythe, an ICC certified Umpire and Coach, will do the honors. Likewise at the University of Miami where Brian Edun will coach the ‘Canes. Barry University will field a Team for the first time and has a Match scheduled with UM. According to Mr. Jodah, students at Hofstra University have taken the first steps in starting a Cricket Club. “This Movement has spread like wildfire. The enthusiasm and passion exibited by the student athletes for the Sport of Cricket is unbelievable. It makes myself and Nino work that much harder to bring College Cricket to the mainstream of the American Sports landscape,” stated Jodah.
The tentative dates for the 2010 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship are March 18-21, 2010. The Semi Finals and Finals will be played at the Cricket Stadium and will be webcast worldwide.
