New Calgary indoor cricket academy opens doors to year-round training facility

A new space means cricket enthusiasts will be able to improve their skills a year long

Calgary’s cricket community celebrated Saturday when a new facility offering year-round indoor training opened.

The Future Cricket Stars Academy, located on 38th Avenue N.E., offers a developmental venue for emerging players.

“Until now, there have been limited opportunities for kids, youth, and young adults to receive quality training,” said founder Hamza Tariq’s message on the website.

“Our aim is to offer early exposure to the sport, fostering discipline, sportsmanship, and a solid mindset from the very beginning.”

Gayas Noman was one of the young cricketers enjoying opening day in the middle of January, when the windchill outside was a crisp -27.

“This means a lot, having a facility like this, because most people don’t have it, so the opportunity they’re giving us is really nice,” Noman said.

For Farhan Malik, who is one of the coaches at the Future Cricket Stars Academy, opening day brought back memories of when he was the same age as some of the children who were training there on Saturday.

“When I first moved here, I was very young -- 10 years old, 11 years old -- we didn’t have a facility like this with a full run up. This facility has it all,” he said.

Malik said that having a year-round place to train would be invaluable for young athletes.

“Training athletes need that,” he said. “There’s a time in the winter where you can take it off and have a (bit of) time to yourself -- but also (this gives you the opportunity to be) training all year long, to the things that you want to work towards, to your goals and your dreams.

“I think this facility does that because that’s what you can do throughout the whole year.”

For more information about Future Cricket Stars Academy, go here.