(GALLERY) Meadow Ridge students put their cricket skills to the test

The next generation of cricket stars could hail from Okotoks.

That is the hope and goal of the Future Stars Cricket Academy which brought their bats and wickets to students at Meadow Ridge School recently.

Students from grades 4-6 spent some time last Friday in the field learning some of the sport's basics from those in the academy.

That includes Okotoks resident Jonny Gordon.

“It's just trying to get the support that’s out there to the kids, just to get them to experience something else and give them another opportunity just to enjoy such a great sport.”

The Academy provides cricket lessons to schools across Calgary in the hopes of growing the interest in cricket within the city and beyond.

They also offer programs and leagues in the summer, fall, and winter of each year. Right now, they’re offering free league games for kids on weekends.

However, for players like Gordon, one of the biggest obstacles is not having a proper cricket facility nearby.

“It's all up in the northeast (Calgary) and driving from Okotoks up north, it's a lot of way to go.”

Calgary boasts a variety of cricket clubs and grounds in and around the city and while some small cricket grounds exist in the southwest and southeast, the biggest facilities are in the northern part of the city.

That includes the Future Cricket Stars Academy’s home base in Cityscape in the northeast.

Farhan Malik with the academy is hopeful that can change, and more facilities could be built to accommodate cricket enthusiasts in Okotoks.

He added that just going to the schools to teach them about cricket has made an impact.

“We've been doing this for the past year, all the schools have been coming up to us and asking us to do cricket for, for them, for at least two weeks in a row,” he said. “Every single school we go to, they say that cricket is something that the people would love to try and they have a lot of fun.”

After the practice sessions and a few fun games, the Meadow Ridge students were given hats from the academy and some cricket equipment to use in the future.

Right now, Canada is one of 20 nations taking part in the T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup happening in the United States and the West Indies. While Canada did not qualify for the next round, they put up an impressive win over Ireland and narrowly lost to the United States and Pakistan in the group stage.