Westwinds Cricket Practice Nets Project

The Calgary & District Cricket League (C&DCL) (estd. 1908) is initiating a fund-raising campaign to build a state-of-the-art Cricket Practice Nets facility that would help promote the growth of Cricket as a sport amongst the youth and women in the city of Calgary. The organization has been awarded a matching grant by the Government of Alberta to build this facility at an existing City of Calgary playing field. This fund-raising campaign is intended to raise a portion of the matching funds required to make this project a reality for the thousands of youth and adult cricketers in our city.

The C&DCL has been at the forefront when it comes to the growth of cricket in Calgary for over a hundred years and we have used our platform to channel and showcase the talents of our youth on a national and global scale. Through our engagement with these young cricketers, the sport has become one of the fastest-growing sport in Calgary over the last decade and our significant increase in numbers also reflects the growing popularity of cricket around the world.

At the C&DCL we believe in identifying and training talented players who then go on to represent their city, province, and country. We aim to create this new training facility to help foster skill development and long-term engagement of youth. Cricket fields in Calgary are arguably the busiest outdoor sports fields managed by the City of Calgary during the summer months. C&DCL has grown to become one of the largest cricket organizations in Canada with over 1000 playing members participating in youth and adult, men, and women competitions throughout the city. For such a large cohort, currently, there are only 2 practice facilities in the city, and both of those are located in the North West quadrant of Calgary. The demand for cricket facilities in the city is significant with many looking to pick up Cricket as a new sport.

This new facility will be located within one of Calgary’s marquee cricket fields, Westwinds Cricket Ground located in the heart of North East Calgary, which also happens to the center of a community that loves and cherishes cricket. The new facility will provide much-needed access to training for the large number of cricket players in the area. A dedicated outdoor practice facility will also help C&DCL expand its youth and women's cricket development programs and encourage more youth from underprivileged communities and immigrant backgrounds to pick up the sport and maintain a healthy lifestyle. This facility will also provide a place for any Calgarians to come and enjoy the sport as a community. In addition to providing an accessible and quality training facility, this facility will serve as an important center for integration of diverse Calgarians interested in the sport of cricket. The total estimated cost of the project is approximately $65,000. The C&DCL is working on raising $30,000 as part of this campaign. We hope that Canadians and cricket fans from across the world will come forward and contribute to this initiative.

COVERAGE OF THIS PROJECT ON TELEVISION AND OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA:

The C&DCL publically announced this project recently through various media outlets where it received overwhelming support from the public with many reaching out to get more details.

Below are links to some of the coverage we received:

Coverage by Global News Calgary on its Morning Show, February 19th, 2021:

https://globalnews.ca/video/7650369/new-cricket-facility-planned-for-northeast-calgary 

Coverage of the project on CBC News Calgary, February 16th, 2021:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/northeast-calgary-cricket-1.5914540?fbclid=IwAR1yM09gCSOZH2-1UNA7IuXnnFUqtzgOpIMNGTGkDewqW4IOWRsih_Z6TTU 

For more information please visit our website www.cricketcalgary.ca ; call 403-667-9820; or email us at [email redacted]