CLUB

SOUTHERN STRIKERS CLUB

Southern Strikers is a part of the American Women Cricket Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and developing girls' cricket at the community level across the USA. Our main goal is to foster engagement among organizers, participants, and parents. We want to extend a special thank you to the coaches, parents, families, and players themselves for their dedication and involvement. It brings us joy to see so many girls participating and enjoying cricket, and the smiles on their faces each week are priceless.

The creation of our club was driven by the need to focus on the growth and development of girls in cricket. Our aim is to support young girls in becoming strong individuals. By nurturing girls' cricket today, we lay the foundation for a sustainable and competitive landscape in the future, potentially shaping the trajectory of women's sports globally.

As we tracked many players journey, our experience led us to the discovery that before teenage years, a child's gender has no impact on their ability to excel in any sport. Their success is determined by their natural skills and talents, as well as the amount of practice they put in. Hence, the basic introduction of cricket at a younger age gives immense satisfaction to all.However, once girls hit young adulthood phase, they and their parents may face challenges related to gender inequalities in sports, which can affect their continued participation. Often, in combined teams, girls miss out on promised opportunities. Being a minority in these camps makes it difficult for girls to freely express themselves. If there are no girls only tournaments possibility, it is critical to demand and ensure the girls play in their designated primary roles.

There is also the challenge once they get into college and career planning phases, they suddenly feel finding time to play the sport and having a planned group to play with becomes too overwhelming. The primarily reason in many student-athletes quitting is because they are no longer passionate about their sport. For a lot of kids, it comes down to the fact that sports become less fun and more about the concept of what success is from more of an adult's eyes than a child's eyes. We aspire to provide that platform where they can enjoy the sport, network better and look for each other’s success.

Southern Strikers primary goal is to enable girls to participate in cricket on an equal basis, developing well-rounded individuals. It is also worth noting that there is a general trend of kids dropping out of sports during middle school years, but this effect is more pronounced among girls. Therefore, it is crucial to create an atmosphere of female empowerment that will produce confident budding female cricketers. According to a 2023 Deloitte survey, 75% of women who play competitive sports agree that girls who play sports are more likely to be successful in their careers and become successful leaders as well.

As we embarked on our journey to organize girls' tournaments, we next realized that access to cricket grounds, especially turf pitches, was limited for girls due to a priority for recreational cricket sports over youth cricket in all communities. The importance of facilitating girls' cricket was often overlooked. Additionally, there were inefficiencies in organizing facilities and resources specifically for girls. This led us to the decision to build our own turf wicket with full priority reservation for girls' programs, along with all the necessary facilities and organizational capabilities.

Our short-term goals include hosting tournaments for girls to play cricket and creating a cricket frenzy among girls in the USA. We want to provide aspiring players with opportunities, avenues for success, and the strength to overcome challenges. We sincerely thank all the parents and players who have believed in us and helped us reach this point. We hope that the future of girls' cricket and our club is even brighter, filled with opportunities for all aspiring female athletes.