Issue No.2 - March/April, 2008 E Limited

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Michigan Cricket/Youth Cricket

M:1rch/Apnl,200e 121

ichigan Cri k tAcademy Profile of their to layers: MeA Player Profiles

Vignesh Janarthanan: Vignesh Janarthanan has the distinction of

being the first player to lead a Michigan Cricket Academy (MCA) team and represents MCA's ideal of a student athlete. who per­forms at a high level both on and off the play­ing freid, being accepted to The University of Michigan's school of Engineering. MCA is proud of Vignesh's accomplishments and here he is in his own words.

During the spring of 2004 I saw a flier at announced a cricket coaching camp run by MCA I was interested in cricket, but had played very little and went to the camp with a mixture of enthusiasm and hesistancy regard­ing how I would do. The atmosphere at the amp was very friendly and the coaches were

extremely patient and encouraging and helped all of us take the baby steps we needed eo progress at learning the game. The great thing was ehat e coaches didn't constantly criticize us or tell us what to do, but exposed us to var­ious Situations, allowed us co learn from our mistakes and kept challenging us to improve. I was one of the older kids in the camp and so I was given the opportunity to lead the side in a tournament at the end of the summer, It was also an opportunity for our parents to see how much we had learnt and realize that all their efforts in driving us around to camps and practice games were not In vain. We won the tournament and this was one of the moments

I will always remember MCA's coaches also constantly empha­

sized to us the values of good dlsciplme, calm thinking in difficult SituatiOns and Strong effort in anything we do. I really believe that being part of MCA's team has helped me improve In

all aspects of my life and I even described my cricket experiences as part of my un Ivers I ty application. I plan to continue playing the game and to help it grow as a club sport a, The University of MIchigan,

Rohlt MogalaypaJli: Rohie Mogalyapaltr is one of the youngesc

players to ever play at the Michigan Cncke, Academy (MCA). He joined MCA in 2004 at the age of only 6 and immediately caught everyone's eyes with hiS remarkable athleti­cism and unbounded enthUSIasm Over the last 4 years hiS crll::keting skIlls have pro­gressed rapidly and he has established hImself as a multlfaceted member of MCA's U 13 team, He IS an aggressive right hand baLSman, a sure handed fielder whether he is prowlmg the cover point region or donning the gloves as wicketkeeper and an accurate medium pacer. Rohit performed fearlessly at the National UI3 tournament in California, In spite of bell'lg one of the youngest players In the tou rna ment' and his biggest thrill ther'e was when he hit 2 fours of consecutive balls in one of the games He also loves playing Soccer and Basketball and is an excellent student. whose favonte subject is Math,

Gordon Makm, RHB, M1. Gordon (born II April 1996) jOined MCA in July 2007, Until then his cricketing experience had been limit­ed to the back garden of his Dexter home, where he played with his younger brother and his father Before cricket took over Gordon's life, he played soccer for Ann Arbor Youth Soccer ASSOCiation, which he ioined as soon as he could stand up, later representing AAYSA's Arsenal travel program In Michigan's biggest youth soccer league (which his team won twice) and In top-ranked tournaments across the Midwest. several of which his team won; he also played baseball in Dexter Little League for twO years. He tells everyone who cares to lis­ten that he recently set the best mile time recorded In the last three years at Wylie Intermediate School, Dexter. When not play­Ing sport. Gordon likes to read (especially fan­tasy) and to play the French Horn,

Gordon likes to field at midwicket and enjoys the challenge of opening the batting. HIS faVOrite shot is the cover drive. As a bowler. he continues to work on his right-arm sWing and seam. Gordon's favorite contempo­rary first-class player is Alistair Cook, whose dassical stroke play and gradual development Into an all-round batsman he hopes to emu­late,

Gordon has particularly enjoyed repre­senting MCA in tournaments, making his com­petitive debut at the Greater Chicago Cricket ASSOCiation Tournament in July and then play-

Continued to page 23

MichCa chairman Shahid Ahmed with handicapped cricketers in Karachi during his promo visit to Pakistan.

t'-1 rt.~/ApTlI, 2008 12 MCA Player Profiles:

ominued from page 21

ing every match for MCA U-J 3s in the Academy's home tournament in September. He tells his family (father Michael, mother Alina, younger brothers Neil and Nigel) that a high point of the Chicago trip was the stop on the way home at a Chicagoland Temple. He was particularly enthusiastic for reasons that any parent of growing boys would recognize ­- "the food was great". He hopes to see England regain the Ashes. Essex win the County Championship. and MCA dominate US youth cricket - ideally all within the neXt two years.

Aniruddha Mayasandra: Aniruddhil Mayasandra is an ambitious 13

year old I fty who is playing cricket for MCA He joined MCA in the summer of 2004, when MCA was still in its infancy. Anlruddha is Involved in many things other than Cricket. He takes drum lessons at Je's drummin' music center, and also plays Indian drum, the Mridangam. He recently finished his football season for West Middle School. which went undefeated this year. He is currently plaYing basketball at the Joe Dumars Field house in the 7th and 8th grade division. The summer of 07 was one of many accomplishments for Aniruddha. He played in California and was noted one of the "players to watch" on Yahoo.com. Aniruddha also played in Chicago. and was a big help to the team.Aniruddha also played in Michigan. scoring 32 runs and boos(­ing MCA to the finals, which MCA won. For hIs

bawng,Aniruddha received the MVP award for the tournament. Anlruddha began play~ng With the adult league In the summer. and Will begin ag'l.II'1 soon. When Alllruddha. went to India recently. he attended a cricket camp. learning a lot from the coaches there. Aniruddha also attended camps taught by Greg Chappel. Mohammad Azaruddlf\, and Larry Gomes. Anlruddha's favonte batsman is Adam Gilchrist, While h,s favorite bowler is Irfan Patnan. Amruddha IS a regular p~ayer for MCA and comes to all the camps. dinlcs, and prac­tices he can go to.

PROFilE OFTHE COACHES: Vasanth Krishnaswami Education: B. Tech (liT Madras), M,S" PhD (Ohio State UniverSIty) Profess ion: Sen ior Sci emi St. Un Ive rs I[y of Michigan TranspOrtation Research Institute Cncket: liT Madras. Bowl Leg Spin, Middle Order batsman. Senior player for Motown CC in MichCA. Rules committee chaw - MichCA, Founder and Director - Michigan Cricket Academy.

Vasanch is deeply Interested 10 the processes of learning and personal develop­ment.. He has over 10 years of expenence In teaching at The OhiO State UniverSity and the Unlversiry of Michigan. Further, Cricket has been a part ofVasanth's life since he was very young. Because of its format and duration. Cricket requires a challenging blend of phySICal, menul and social skHls.Yasanth i5 excited to be able to pursue my twin IIlterests of teaching and cricket through coaching, Since 2004.

Vasanth has been spearheading youth cricket movement in Michigan. leading coaching efforts in Michigan Cricket Academy, of which is a co­founder, and organizing Under 13 and Under 15 tournaments in Michigan. Vasanth is also a co-founder of the Widely popular adult indoor cricket league being run every winter in Michigan.

Shyam Mayasandra Education . B. E.. Bangalore University. M. S., Villanova Urriversiry, M.BA.. Michigan State UniverSity Profession: Management Consultant Cricket: DIVision I Cricket (FUCC, Mount Joy CC) in Bangalore, Engineering College Team. Top ordel' batsman. Medium Pacer. Has won many awards for best all rounder. best batsman and best bowler. Founder and President ­Michigan Cricket Academy.

Shyam has played with most of the Karnauka test stalwarts during the 19805 in the I dIVision league cricket in Bangalore. Since movlllg to US tn 1990. he has continued his Interest In Cricket by forming a team in Villanova University and playing in the MichCA league. He IS very interested in propagating cricket among the youth in Michigan and has co-founded the Michigan Cricket Academy. Besides coaching youngsters on a year round basis, Shyam IS also involved in organiZing youth Cricket tournaments in Michig1ln, manag­Ing the MCA team participating in tourna­ments In Chicago. California and Florida, Shyam is also a co-founder of the widely popular adult Indoor crrcket league being run every winter in Michigan

MichCa Chairman SHAHID AHMED was in Pakistan recently. He met with former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohd. at the National Staduim in Karachi.

MichCa marches forward as it looks forward to a busy 2 Shahid Ahmed and Aazher Medhora, along with

great support from several key members of the MichCa committee, has caken MichCa to the next level in pro­moting the game in the entire state. During a recent conversation with Mr. Medhora, he I-eve::lled that the pl'esent governing body of MichCa consists of dedicat­ed people, who have contributed tremendous amount of time and energy for the devlopement of cricket, from org;'lnizing events to youth camps and arranging playing facilities. He further went on to state that the success story of MichCa over the past 2 years has been to due to the solemn pledge of the governing body which is" less talk. more aetion".The work ethics has been excel­lent, avoiding internal politics and keeping everything so tl<lnsparent..And of course the passion for the game. He concluded by saying that he was so excited to have a pIadorm like Asian Sport Digest to express his view­points for all cricket lovers in Michigan to read and appreciate the dedication of the committee log onco www.michca.org.

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