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The Super Kings have established a cricket academy in
their home region of the Dallas Metropolitan area in an effort to promote
grassroots cricket following their Major League Cricket (MLC) acquisition of
the Texas franchise. The Super Kings will open its ninth state-of-the-art
training facility in Lewisville, a Dallas suburb, following the success of
their successful outposts in London and Tamil Nadu.
“We’re super-excited about bringing Super Kings
Academy to the USA and see a tremendous potential for the growth of the sport,
our ability to contribute to the grassroots cricket to take it more mainstream
and taking existing talent to the next level. Dallas being the home-base for
Texas Super Kings, we’re even more thrilled to launch our first academy there,
as it creates strong synergies with our long-term plans in the market”
said Louis Mariano, Director of Cricket at the Super Kings Academy.
Even while it would seem sense for a Major League team
to invest locally and create cricket ecosystems, it’s possible that the Super
Kings are also involved in the extremely successful cricket coaching sector.
There are eight cricket academies in the Dallas Metro region, and over 600
children are enrolled in them overall at different times of the year. It has
been discovered that the Dallas cricket coaching sector brings in more than USD
1.75 million annually in gross receipts. The Super Kings intend to utilise
their devoted fan base as leverage to increase enrollment at their academies,
which is expected to produce a significant upheaval in the cricket coaching
scene in Dallas and across the United States.
An increased area for fielding and conditioning, six
full-length cricket lanes outfitted with video analysis tools, and access to an
outside pitch for frequent match practice will be the academy’s initial
facilities. In their medium and long term ambitions, the Super Kings also hope
to develop another turf wicket field near their indoor facility.
With their vast resources and physical presence, the
Super Kings are in a good position to introduce cricket into Dallas Metro
schools. Full houses at the Super Kings’ home games at Grand Prairie Stadium
could inspire them to bring in a new age of cricket to the already thriving
Dallas youth cricket scene.