USYCA Announces Groundbreaking Youth Pitch Construction Fund

Historically, a great need for youths wishing to learn cricket in America has been a lack of pitches, often forcing them onto baseball fields, basketball courts, and even parking lots.

In some cases, youth programs have found themselves excluded from local pitches by scheduling, and even sometimes barred by rule. If we are to keep the youth players of the present, and find new players in the future, this situation must be immediately addressed.

"With the USYCA Schools Program firmly established, and new junior teams and leagues springing up across the country, USYCA now turns its attention to the problem of American infrastructure," said President Jamie Harrison. "There's not a moment to lose."

USYCA today announces the Build-A-Pitch Program, funded with a grant from The Apple Pickers Foundation and through gifts from a number of individual donors. Through the Build-A-Pitch Program, USYCA hopes to assist local organizations in the construction of twelve youth pitches in 2013 alone.

The only qualification criteria for program applications are:

- Organization must be a USYCA member organization in good standing
- Organization must have had an existing youth program in place the previous year, and have evidence of regular sessions conducted during that time
- Organization must agree that its youth program, and that program's reasonably related activities, will have full use of the pitch at all times

Priority will be given to existing youth programs that currently operate without access to any pitches. USYCA reserves the sole right to determine an organization's eligibility, and reserves the right to approve or deny applications for grants, at its sole discretion.

Here's how the application process will work:

A member organization contacts USYCA at info@usyca.org and expresses an interest in making application for a grant. The organization applies to USYCA, and, upon receiving preliminary approval from USYCA, then takes it upon itself to get the pitch laid. Afterwards, the organization submits the final construction invoice to USYCA, which we, upon verification of pitch completion, reimburse at a 50% rate, up to a maximum of $3,000 per pitch.

The pitch will always be under the total control of the local organization, and not USYCA, which is firmly committed to the principle of decentralization. To that end, USYCA bears no responsibility for local pitch management and liability.

Donations toward the fund can be made online via Paypal or a credit card at:
http://usyca.org/support_youth_cricket.cfm

Checks are also accepted at:
USYCA
1405 Madison Park Drive
Glen Burnie, MD 21061

When donating, please note that your gift is for the Build-A-Pitch Program.