Paulo Vitor Campos article – Sport Poços

Cricket has taken over the city with projects in almost every community. With this, players trained here are standing out on the national scene and drawing worldwide attention.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is one of the main supporters of the sport in Poços de Caldas and, due to the growth of the sport, decided to send a cameraman to the city. The images made in the local projects will travel the world with the expectation of being seen by about two billion people.

Filming focused on images of the city, such as Christ the Redeemer and various tourist spots, in addition to the projects carried out, focusing on the growth of the sport in Poços, which currently has almost three thousand practitioners.

Matt Featherstone, responsible for bringing the sport to Poços, says that the city drew attention by being among the top five social projects in the world. The result was that eight players from the city’s projects were invited to London to participate in the World Cup. They will have an agenda full of big events with the right to have dinner in the luxurious houses of the English lords, and also an unforgettable tour in the capital of England. It will be in this passage through the World Cup that the video made this week in Poços de Caldas and shown to the whole world.

“It is a unique opportunity in the lives of these boys and this is thanks to their work. The merit is all of them and it will be a spectacular trip”, said Featherstone. The trip is scheduled for July 11th and the stay in London will be until the 17th.

“In addition to all the enchantment of the trip, these athletes come back with more experience and with the notion of how big cricket is in the world. Living in South America is one thing, experiencing how the sport is out there is another ”, he said.

The images of the projects in Poços de Caldas were taken by photographer and videographer Léo DeValle. He is Argentine and is part of the ICC World. He spent the whole Thursday going through the projects and collecting the images that will be shown during the World Cup in England.

“These will be images that will pass on to two to three billion people. In addition, there will be an outdoor billboard in London with the boys from the Poços de Caldas projects and they will still have their photos displayed during the final on the stadium screens. Really a really cool experience that they will certainly not forget”, said Matt Feastherstone.

Cricket in Poços

Started in 2011, through Englishman Matthew Featherstone, coach and captain of the Brazilian male team and official representative of cricket in the Americas, the Cricket Project Poços de Caldas was born with the aim of popularizing the sport, which is the second most practiced in the world. With great acceptance from entities and the population, the program contributes to the local community, offering sports development, recreation and discovering new sports talents. The sports project currently serves students from 6 years of age, who attend classes free of charge in centers such as the Association for the Assistance of the Visually Impaired (AADV), Casa do Menor, Municipal School, Caldense Athletic Association, Bem Viver Project, Municipal Park , between others.

“We have many partners that make our cricket stronger every day. The World ICC is a great partner, we also have the Municipal Department of Electricity, Caixa Econômica Federal, City Hall. Alcoa and Caldense anyway, without them the project would not have grown as much.