{"id":8552,"date":"2023-04-27T04:23:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T04:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/vaisakhi-cup-developed-by-warwickshire-cricket-board-to-boost-participation\/"},"modified":"2023-04-27T04:23:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T04:23:05","slug":"vaisakhi-cup-developed-by-warwickshire-cricket-board-to-boost-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/vaisakhi-cup-developed-by-warwickshire-cricket-board-to-boost-participation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vaisakhi Cup developed by Warwickshire Cricket Board to boost participation"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Warwickshire Cricket Board hosted an event to celebrate the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For 19-year-old Ria Gill, cricket is much more than just a hobby.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“It’s not about playing, it’s about the community, it’s about helping people and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for cricket,” she told BBC Sport.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gill works as a volunteer coach with Warwickshire Cricket Board while in her first year of studying biomedical science at the University of Sheffield.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it’s through her work at Edgbaston that she was in attendance at the inaugural Vaisakhi Cup last weekend – a competition formed to celebrate the Sikh festival of the same name.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Vaisakhi is important for me as it’s a time to reflect and connect with my roots and heritage and there’s this big sense of community and togetherness,” said Gill.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a reminder of those values and it’s an opportunity to check back in with your faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

“This event helps with keeping healthy in a welcoming social atmosphere powered by sport.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Gill started playing cricket when she was 12 and since then, through Warwickshire, has had the opportunity to bowl against India’s Under-19 World Cup winner Shafali Verma and her batting idol Smriti Mandhana in the nets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ria<\/span><\/span>
Ria Gill (left) and India batter Shafali Verma (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“It helped me personally with my game being around professionals and speaking to these big personalities who look like me, it was so inspiring,” said Gill.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Cricket has opened up so many different pathways for me and I want other girls to be fearless too, give cricket a go and just have a good time. It’s not about the outcome, it’s about feeling good about yourself.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The event was also a source of inspiration for 13-year-old Millie Kalia.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s important to see people like me enjoying the sport, it shows me that if they can play then so can I,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“When I see other Sikh or South Asian girls playing it boosts my mood and it’s so encouraging.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There should be more events like this because it’s not about hitting a ball with a bat, cricket helps me have a good mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I use it to take out my stress and whenever I get home I’m always happy that I played.”<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent Sport England <\/span>report<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span><\/a> revealed participation in sport was returning to pre-pandemic levels and cricket numbers were up by 124,000 last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the sport is still dominated by men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Warwickshire’s Community Participation Officer, Simran Riat, helped to organise the event in the hope of developing women’s cricket in the Sikh community.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We don’t have enough role models in the South Asian community and we want to help introduce them to the game,” Riat said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event also provided an insight into the different kinds of opportunities available off the field, including coaching and umpiring.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the UK, there is currently <\/span>only one woman<\/span>external-link<\/title><\/svg><\/span><\/a> who is part of the groundstaff at international venues.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event included a round-robin cricket competition aimed at people who were new to cricket with a local Sikh drummer group performing later in the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warwickshire Cricket Board hosted an event to celebrate the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi For 19-year-old Ria Gill, cricket is much more than just a hobby. “It’s not about playing, it’s about the community, it’s about helping people and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for cricket,” she told BBC Sport. Gill works as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8554,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8552\/revisions\/8554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}