{"id":116,"date":"2010-05-29T05:45:34","date_gmt":"2010-05-29T09:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/?p=116"},"modified":"2010-05-29T05:45:34","modified_gmt":"2010-05-29T09:15:34","slug":"women%e2%80%99s-cricket-team-%e2%80%98a-dream-come-true%e2%80%99-waterloo-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/?p=116","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s cricket team \u2018a dream come true\u2019 (Waterloo Record)"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY LIZ MONTEIRO, RECORD STAFF<\/a>
\nWATERLOO REGION \u2014 Growing up in Guyana, Sandra Singh watched her brothers play cricket and often played with them. When she was 16, she tried to start a girl\u2019s cricket team but many laughed at the idea.
\nNow the 48-year-old Waterloo woman is the captain of the region\u2019s first women\u2019s cricket team.
\nPlaying cricket reminds me of home. I played it in my childhood,\u2019\u2019 said Singh, who later lived in England before moving to Canada in 2006.
\nSingh, and 32 women who have joined the female team, hope they can shine a spotlight on cricket, and not only the male players.
\n
\n\u201cIn England they have a superb women\u2019s team,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping in Canada, with it being so new, we can push the boundaries and be as good as the guys.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

In England, Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa, cricket is a popular sport that attracts record crowds, second only to soccer.<\/p>\n

But in Canada, the sport is virtually unknown. However, in Waterloo, some people are trying to give cricket some profile.<\/p>\n

The Waterloo Sunrise Cricket Club started about 10 years ago and from May to September it\u2019s common to see players practising in Waterloo Park on weeknights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true for me,\u2019\u2019 said Parveen Sharma, founder and owner of the cricket club who pushed for a female cricket team.<\/p>\n

The club has about 150 players and ranging in age from six to mid-40s, he said. The club plays others teams in southern Ontario throughout the summer. The new women\u2019s team will play against male teams, as well as some female teams from the Toronto area.<\/p>\n

Sharma said the local club is the biggest cricket club in the country. He added that he owes the success of the club to his former boss Art Brown who died of brain cancer seven years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave us the vision on how to grow,\u2019\u2019 said Sharma, who work\u2019s at Brown\u2019s company, Custom Leather Canada Limited.<\/p>\n

The club also received financial help from the late Milo Shantz.<\/p>\n

Sharma said Brown encouraged the club to covet its youth and encourage them to play the sport popular in their native country.<\/p>\n

Sharma, 45, came to Waterloo from Jaipur, India in 1990 with his parents and siblings. He returned to India in 1991 to marry and now has two teenage children.<\/p>\n

Sharma started playing cricket when he was seven and by 19 he was participating in national competitions in India.<\/p>\n

He said it\u2019s important to encourage the South Asian youth to play cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt teaches them respect, discipline and to be great citizens of this wonderful country.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

And respect is what Sharma gets on the field. When the young boys approach the cricket guru, they bend down at his feet, touching them and asking Sharma for a blessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no tolerance for bad words and they cannot come in front of me smoking or drinking. They have to show respect to their seniors.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

lmonteiro@therecord.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY LIZ MONTEIRO, RECORD STAFF WATERLOO REGION \u2014 Growing up in Guyana, Sandra Singh watched her brothers play cricket and often played with them. When she was 16, she tried to start a girl\u2019s cricket team but many laughed at the idea. Now the 48-year-old Waterloo woman is the captain of the region\u2019s first women\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadacricket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}