Text by Paulo Vitor Campos – Sport Poços

This Wednesday (31), a cricket tournament was held involving eight projects from the city, with about 150 students, all coordinated by professor Matt Featherstone. The competition was held at PMJ João Monteiro, formerly Sesi, in the south zone, and had an enthusiastic participation of students. “This championship was a great success and the boys were very motivated during the matches,” said Featherstone. “My joy is to see that this project in Poços de Caldas improves every year and the level of our players is excellent, which makes Poços a great force in the sport”, he adds. The competition was attended by PMJ João Monteiro, host, PMJ Santa Maria, Caldense, Growing in Fraternity, Lar Criança Feliz, Galpão das Artes, Bem Viver and Casa do Menor. “We are very grateful for the support of Hotel Minas Gerais, through the Incentive Law, in addition to the Sports Secretary, DME, Rotary, in short, very important partners that we have conquered and that are helping to make cricket in Poços de Caldas a successful project. . I am sure that this modality will soon be one of the most practiced in the city ”, said the professor.

Participation

Mantiqueira was present at the event and found a large participation of students. Each had a game strategy to make their team leave the winning court. The sporting spirit and the union between the teams were also great differentials. Little Mateus, from Casa do Menor, was one of the most excited about yesterday’s games. “It’s really cool to practice cricket and I want to continue playing for a long time. I made many friends after I started practicing and I am very happy ”, he told Mantiqueira.

Projects

About 1,200 children practice cricket in Poços de Caldas. Among the 21 projects in the city are Casa do Menor, Fazenda Lambari, two in the São José neighborhood, PMJ Joaõ Monteiro, Caldense (which provides space for training), Jardim Kennedy, Galpão das Artes, Colégio Municipal and AADV. The idea is to increase the number of projects to 30 in a short time.

Teachers

The projects are coordinated by professors Matt Featherstone, Alexandre Felippe and Richard Avery. Featherstone says that today what hinders the expansion of projects is the small number of teachers, which should be resolved soon. “Chipinho and Renatinha are doing physical education college supported by the project and as soon as they graduate they will help us work with the boys and thus we will be able to serve more people in more places in the city,” he said.

Season

Cricket will have a very busy end of season in the city. In addition to the tournament held yesterday in the south zone, another one along the same lines will take place in October. The Poços team will also participate in the South American Championship and about 25 children from the city will be part of the Brazilian team in various categories. This championship will be held in Poços de Caldas and with this the local fans will be able to see the games up close. The games will be against Argentina, Chile and Peru. On the 25th and 24th of September, the female selection of Poços will face the strong selection of Brasília. The adult team will also be active in Rio de Janeiro and the season ends with a special competition in December. “We want to finish this season well, which was wonderful and we are seeing our project be successful and we want a lot more for the next years”, concluded Featherstone.