Paulo Vitor Campos article – Sport Wells

The city received important members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday. Andy Hobbs, Head of Global Cricket Development, Fara Gorsi, Manager of the sport in the Americas, Greigor Caisley, C.E.O. of Cricket in Brazil, Tobias Hanbury, Vice President of Cricket Brazil.

In the morning they participated in a meeting at the Associação Atlética Caldense with Matt Featherstone, great responsible for bringing the sport to Poços de Caldas, and professor Alexandre Felippe. The meeting was also attended by the current president of Caldense, Antônio Bento Gonçalves, and the elected president, Rovilson Ribeiro.

“ICC is equivalent to FIFA in football. They were invited to come to Poços to follow the projects that we are developing in the city and to debate ideas to expand further. It was a rare encounter, as we received the world cricket chief, who came from Dubai specifically to visit us ”, commented professor Matt Featherstone, who is also the president of cricket in Brazil.

Andy Hobbs, global cricket manager, was optimistic about what followed the sport in the city.

“We try to understand what cricket is like in Brazil and provide support to help further develop the sport in the country. We perceive here a great passion for the game, a whole community involved. But, the most important thing is that the sport brought many benefits for the practitioners, such as social integration and the development of human beings ”, he said in English, in a literal translation.

Fara Gorsi, from Colorado, United States, also liked the issues discussed at the meeting. “We were impressed with the work developed here, we congratulate everyone for the results obtained and are available for whatever is needed. Cricket is not just a sport for young people, it is something that teaches many things. They play with their hearts, make friends, learn to have discipline. This is the legacy we want to leave ”, he commented, also in English.

“We want to show service, so that everyone can see that the project we are starting is promising. We currently have 1,480 practitioners in the city and we aim to reach 5,000 by the end of 2020. Our goal is to train new cricket teachers and consequently encourage new practitioners. We want to expand the project to other cities. Our long-term dream is to implement the sport in all cities in Brazil ”, added Matt.

“We came to learn” “I am in Poços de Caldas amazed by all the work that is being done here. I want to learn everything that was implemented in the city to take to Rio de Janeiro and try the same success there. Everything here is fantastic, ”said Tobias Hanbury, vice president of Cricket Brasil and also president of the Carioca Cricket Club.

“The model practiced in Poços de Caldas is very beautiful and we want this in Rio de Janeiro,” he said. According to him, cricket played in Rio de Janeiro nowadays has only repatriated players and few Brazilians interested in the sport. He wants to change this scenario and repeat what was done in Poços de Caldas by Matt Featherstone.

“We want to look for children in the communities to practice the sport and repeat this structure that exists today in Poços de Caldas and we don’t have anything like it in Rio de Janeiro. So, this visit serves to get a sense of what is done and how everything that is good is to be copied, take this to our city and expand cricket even more in Brazil ”, said Hanbury. “Rio has the potential to be a force in cricket, which arrived there around 1900, before football, but did not grow as it does here. We want to change this scenario ”, he concluded.