New Stars

Interview of a cricket athlete
Lam Ka Yu of Cricket Hong Kong Sportsroad Dragons team of Hong Kong Cricket

Cricket, also known as the “gentleman’s sport”, originated from the U.K. and is popular in Australia, India, Nepal and other places. Not many people know about this sport in Hong Kong, but what makes it attractive to youths? Lam Ka Yu will share his cricket story with us.

From golf to cricket

Ka Yu is still a university student. He may be young, but he has always been an avid player of golf. About two years ago, Ka Yu suddenly felt like trying a different ball game and ultimately chose cricket, which was less popular. He joined a Chinese cricket team and loved this sport from that point onwards. He believes that: “Golf is very independent and all about one person, but cricket emphasises team spirit and cooperation between team mates. Cricket helped me make a lot of new friends and I think this is the most appealing thing to me about cricket.”

Advancing both cricket and his studies

Although it hasn’t been long since Ka Yu started playing cricket, he is extremely committed to the sport. He currently trains two to three days on the field each week and focuses on training his pitching skills. He also does all sorts of fitness and physical training to strengthen his muscles, improve his cardiopulmonary function and enhance his explosive power. Even though he actively participates in competitions and training, he has never forgotten the importance of his studies. Ka Yu has the support and understanding of his coaches and team mates; as long as his studies aren’t affected, he does his best to participate in team training and competitions, so as to develop both cricket and his studies at the same time.

Actively tackling challenges

In Hong Kong, the cricket season is from September to May each year. During this time, Ka Yu has to play a match almost every weekend, and the matches usually last for several hours or several days, so it isn’t hard to imagine the difficulties and pressure he faces. In his spare time, Ka Yu plays video games, has gatherings with his friends, or plays golf to alleviate the pressure from his matches. In the past season, Ka Yu took down 5 wickets to directly strike-out five players from the opposing team. Even if they ultimately lose a match, Ka Yu is still able to look at this positively and learn from the experience; through this process he would strengthen his communication with his coach and team mates to improve his own pitching skills.

Improving personal qualities

After focusing on cricket, Ka Yu has become even more disciplined; he has even improved his interpersonal skills and communication skills and become more cheerful and talkative. From giving cricket a try to becoming fully involved in cricket, Ka Yu’s demands for cricket and himself have also changed. At present, Ka Yu is seeking excellence and wants to improve his cricket skills. He hopes to help his team achieve better results and is keen to have the opportunity to exchange ideas and compete with teams from overseas for further improvement.

Government-led development

Ka Yu is very grateful to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) for providing suitable match and training venues for cricket, and for sponsoring various training classes to help promote cricket. At present, Hong Kong only has three Chinese cricket teams. Ka Yu wishes to make cricket flourish so that more Chinese people will know of and play this sport.

If you want to learn more about cricket, please visit the website of Cricket Hong Kong at http://www.hkcricket.org