Vradenburg school hosted cricket festival

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A cricket league in Scarborough would be a hit for a Scarborough physical education teacher.

If Tim Stone had his way there would be cricket at every school in Scarborough and even across the GTA.

Stone helped organize the Vradenburg Cricket Festival that was held at Vradenburg Junior Public School at Warden and Finch avenues on Wednesday. Grade 4, 5 and 6 students from Cornell Public School at Markham Road and Lawrence Avenue and North York's Grenoble Public School at Don Mills Road and Eglinton Avenue were invited to compete.

"There were cricket information displays and the school soccer field was transformed into a full-fledged cricket stadium with a boundary that goes all the way around," he said. "There were also some tents to make a pavilion area."

Stone said he fell in love with the sport when he was studying for his teaching degree in Australia where the sport is popular.

"When I saw it being played in Australia I thought it was great," he said. "It's a great game. It's a hand-eye co-ordination sport like baseball, but a lot more strategy."

So, along with a baseball team practice, the school held regular cricket practices.

"It provided an opportunity for more of the school to get involved," he said. "Being a Toronto school there's no question that cricket is a sport for a lot of the students that is in their background. Maybe their parents played it."

England is the birthplace of cricket, he said, and the sport spread through South Asia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, including Jamaica and Barbados, and Australia.

Stone said he started working on the school's cricket festival back in March.

Through a partnership with the two other schools and help from Melvin John, president of M D Community Corp., who brought in and paid for cricket coaches as well as supplying equipment.

John said he got involved in the cricket festival to promote the sport.

"I played cricket since I was a child and I like being able to bring cricket into the schools," he said. "I went to the schools and offered my help in any way I could to promote cricket. They didn't have a coach so I found one that could go in and work with the kids."

John, who is an Anglo-Indian from Pakistan, has been in Canada for 20 years and lives in Scarborough. "A lot of kids have never played," he said. "They're very hyped about it."

He would like to see the sport played competitively at a junior level.

"If we had started this in the 1970s we would have had a great team in the World Cup," he said. "We need to groom our kids much earlier. It's not just a game for South Asians, English or Australians. It's a game for everybody."

Stone said he's all for pushing grass roots cricket in the schools.

"One day our national team will be made up of players who learned cricket in Canada," he said.

Stone said part of the problem with promoting the sport is most people are frightened of it. "It seems so strange and different," he said. "There's a lot of strategy, but the kids are attracted to that. The kids like that they have to do some thinking. It's perceived to be a complicated sport but it's not as much as people think."

It involves the skill of overhand bowling.

"You have to throw with a straight arm overhand bowl," he said. "It doesn't compare to any other sport. It's a very unique action."

That's where the coach has been essential to teach them how to do the overhand bowling properly.

"The students have made great progress not only in their skill but also in understanding the spirit of the game," he said. "All sports have sportsmanship but cricket puts a heavy emphasis on the spirit of the game. It's a gentleman's sport and the tradition of the game is very important."

Cricket will probably never become a major sport like baseball or hockey, John said.

"Cricket will find it's own place," John said. "There should be a variety of sports for everybody and cricket is now a part of that variety."