On May 17, Wichita State University (WSU) Campus Recreation held a ceremony to commemorate the new cricket field that’s now open to students.
John Lee, the director of WSU Campus Recreation, said the previous cricket field was a 20-minute drive from the school and many international students who play don’t own vehicles. The new field is located at Dr. Glen Dey Park which is within a mile from WSU.
“Having a field close to campus was a priority,” said Lee. “In addition, our intramural playfields are not suited to play cricket because of the sport’s unique dimensions. The field can be utilized now by both our club team and our general student population for open recreation because of the short distance from campus.”
Process and Installation
Lee said development of the field first started by communicating with Sai Karthik Garnepudi, the WSU Cricket Club student president, who detailed all the issues of having a cricket field so far from campus.
“Sai asked about the possibility of creating a field at Dr. Glen Dey Park,” said Lee. “After the meeting with Sai, I called Troy Houtman, the director of Wichita Park and Recreation, and I asked if we could utilize the open space at the park. After a couple of weeks, we were given permission to use this area as our new cricket pitch.”
To create the field, Campus Recreation paid to install a cement slab and cover it with cricket carpet. The cost for the cement slab was $8,000 and $1,200 for the carpet. Other than that, all that’s needed to play cricket is an open space conducive to the sport.
Lee said at the groundbreaking in April, Lily Wu, the mayor of Wichita, Kansas, and many WSU vice-presidents and faculty were in attendance — a first for a Campus Recreation event.
“In my over 30 years in Campus Recreation, this has been the most pleasant surprise regarding the positive reaction I received from students and WSU’s leadership over one of our projects,” said Lee. “We are always looking for ways to enhance the student experience.”
What Lies Ahead
In the aftermath of the field’s opening, the WSU International Office plans to email all current international students and 108,000 non-U.S. prospects information highlighting the new development.
While cricket may not be as prevalent as basketball or football in the U.S., it’s the world’s most-watched sport after soccer. Cricket is also popular in South Asia locations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. and WSU has many students from these countries.
“Will the new cricket pitch, alone, be something that would cause an international student to attend WSU? No, probably not,” said Lee. “However, it’s one more item in the plus column that makes WSU even more attractive. Many international students are heavily focused on their studies and cricket is a way for them to decompress, have a little fun and interact with other students.”
Lee added it’s important to think outside the box and to work with the community and local government when appropriate to enhance the student experience. Specifically, WSU Campus Recreation has worked with the local visitor’s bureau for a decade, and they paid the facility fees for national recreational tournaments like NIRSA National Basketball to come to Wichita.
“Furthermore, the City of Wichita built WSU a boathouse downtown on the Arkansas River where the school only pays $1 a year in rent,” said Lee. “Having fostered great relationships made asking the City permission to use a local park near campus for a cricket field an easy request. Campus Recreation is extremely grateful the City of Wichita granted us permission to build the field.”
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