Calgary cricket group pushes for junior league

A Calgary cricket program hopes to shine more light on the sport, attract more young players and possibly, down the road, have Alberta and Canada represented on the world stage, says an organizer.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Calgary's mounted patrol: A unique kind of policing
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |A meditation on Calgary in our turbulent times

Matt Honywood is a head coach at the Glenmore Cricket Club.

He says, while cricket is gaining more attention in Calgary, there is still a ways to go to increase visibility in Canada of the world's second most popular sport.

It starts though, with a place to play.

"The biggest challenge we face with junior cricket in Calgary is just the lack of facilities," Honywood said.

"At the moment there is just one ground that is available which if we want to have a larger league, it just means we can't get as many kids out as we possibly could."

The club's junior cricket winter program launched Friday evening.

Aditya Swaro, who grew up in the United Kingdom, says he became interested in the sport during the 2010 World Cup.

"It is different from other games," Swaro said.

"It is not two nets and two sides of a field. It is everyone in the middle and they are trying to get ball outside. There is no other game like that. It is very unique."

Fellow player Jared Fernyc likes that cricket is unique compared with more popular Canadian sports.

"When I first played it I really thought it was a cool sport because it was different from everything else we had played," Fernyc said.

"It was more fun because it was different."

He says forrightnow though, it's about staying active and getting some exercise.

"I think it is just going to stay a hobby for now, but one day we will see," he explained.

Meanwhile, Honywood hopes there is enough interest to create a junior league in Calgary with three age categories.

"Our goal is to have a child come and join our club participate in our three programs, move onto junior cricket and then eventually represent Alberta, move on, represent Canada," Honywood said.

"That is the goal of our junior program."