Acceptance, happiness, and encouragement: three words mentioned when captain Bashar Ashfaq was asked what sets the Laurier Cricket team apart from the rest.
During homecoming weekend the Golden Hawks made their anticipated return to the 2018 American College Cricket Midwest tournament in Detroit, Michigan.
The team positioned themselves toward an outstanding team performance at the Midwest Championship, and triumphantly brought back their first ever championship title to Waterloo.
“[The players] push you to work even harder, and they are very happy for their [teammates’] success.” And success it was.
Along with the title comes a spot to compete at the American College Cricket Nationals in March 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where 32 university teams will attend.
Of the 32 teams only two are from Canadian universities, with the Ryerson Rams attending alongside Laurier.
This win has been four years in the making, but not without the support of the Waterloo region cricket community in the early beginning to help establish the Laurier Cricket program.
The Laurier Cricket team has without a doubt proven that they deserve to be recognized for not only their sportsmanship, but now for this significant moment in Laurier club history.
Laurier Cricket began in 2014 with the extensive efforts of former club president, Abdul Rehman Naeem.
In fact, the Laurier Cricket team recognizes Naeem as the “Father of Laurier Cricket” because he is someone who single handedly worked remarkably hard to get the word out to students and to the community that Laurier has started a cricket team.
The efforts of Naeem extend beyond the cricket field, as now students are being drawn to attend Wilfrid Laurier University due to the increasing popularity of the cricket program.
Ashfaq stated that one of the reasons he came to Laurier was due to the growing cricket program.
“Winning a championship opens doors for other people to come [to Laurier] and play the sport as well,” Ashfaq said.
The championship title will hopefully draw more students toward attending Laurier and being a part of the growing cricket program.
The Laurier Cricket team has without a doubt proven that they deserve to be recognized for not only their sportsmanship, but now for this significant moment in Laurier club history.
The club has seen a tremendous amount of growth and development since its inception and 2014, and this championship shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
It will be interesting to see where the Laurier cricket team goes from here. With the incredible amount of talent on the team, the sky is the limit for Laurier cricket.