It was one of the most satisfying feeling I had on Sunday evening after the conclusion of first ever day & night cricket camp in Atlanta conducted by Cricket Academy of USA (CAUSA) in partner with Atlanta Georgia Cricket Conference (AGCC). It was very refreshing to see the young & aspiring cricketers of Atlanta coming to the fore & rough it out on the field for more than 8 hours per day. Hats off to all the participants! Great job guys! Zahid bhai as usual took care of all the back stage activities for us to be able to just concentrate on cricket. He was ably supported by Sabbir Mahmud who was also giving 100% on the field.
We started off on Friday evening with a brief meeting about the camp & what the players could expect. It was nice to see Sachin Pande, being a senior in our league, leading the players from the front in all aspects. We had planned a rigorous physical training schedule for Saturday morning & to my surprise, the participants pulled through with tremendous enthusiasm & flair. We did 25 minutes running, interval training, ran 30 runs & 5 50 meter sprints. The players continued with same flair during fielding drills & later in open net sessions. Every one was talking about cricket & was enjoying the challenges thrown at them. I would like to make a special mention about Japen Patel & Zain Sayyed who being the seniors in the group made sure there was great camaraderie among all players. Junior players Sunil Kumar, Chad Lessing, Tyron Lessing, Saqlain & Sidhu put their best foot forward to make an impact in this camp.
Viraj Patel, as always, showed us again what a superb talent he is on the field. He has, many a times, helped his club (Shakti) win games by taking breath taking catches & stopping crucial runs on the field. Awais was looking solid during the two knocks he had out there in the middle. Vivek, Samarth, Ishan, Tanmay, Asad, Tuseet, Hassan, Karan & all others showed great spirit & learning attitude.
After all the training, fielding & net sessions on Saturday we had about 4 hours of video analysis in the evening. All players were eagerly waiting to see themselves on the big screen & also to get some useful tips to improve their batting. We did batting videos on Saturday & bowling videos on Sunday.
After a long Saturday, I felt the players would struggle a bit to start off on Sunday morning, again, I was wrong, every one was on the field on time except for a couple. After a brief stretch & a warm up game, we ran 74 runs in 6 minutes. Once again, the youngsters proved that human tenacity could be stretched to any extent. Making sure the players have experience of batting & bowling during morning & afternoon the open net sessions were split into afternoon & morning sessions on Saturday & Sunday respectively. We did bowling video analysis on Saturday afternoon for about 3 hours where the bowling basics such as run up, delivery stride, coil, importance of non bowling arm, back foot drive through & follow through were reiterated to youngsters.
Khalid bhai was a tremendous source of guidance & inspiration to all of us during these two days. He not only spent time with youngsters but made sure that all players went home enriched with some knowledge about cricket. It was nice to hear him speak about his cricketing experiences during his 15 year first class career in India playing for Hyderabad, South Zone & Board President's XI & also when he faced the greatest ever fast bowlers to walk on a cricket field - Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding & Andy Roberts. It has been a boon for CAUSA since Khalid bhai has joined us as a Coach & Advisory Board member. He not only has a world of cricketing experience but also makes sure whoever meets him is reassured that cricket will always remain a gentleman's game. Very modest & humble human being. Chris Lessing, a qualified level 1 cricket coach from South Africa, was also present during the camp, offering valuable advise to players.
All players & CAUSA Team was motivated by the presence of Mr. Aditya Gajjar, President AGCC. As usual, he was full of praise & encouragement for all.
All players proved that cricket is a never ending process of learning. This camp is just the beginning, keep following us for many more exciting camps to come....thanks for all your support.
Head Coach
Anand Tummala
