Eagle Project with Cricketing Flavor

I have always been a sports buff and hence when I started researching about my Eagle Scouts project ideas, I was looking at something that could cross leverage my interest in sports and yet produce something that will make a difference keeping with the eagle scout project requirements.

Cricket is the second most followed sport in the world, after Soccer. In North America, cricket is just starting to become popular and make some headwinds especially with the Indian diaspora in particular, and it only makes it interesting as the sport will be featured in the LA Olympics 2028. Dallas, TX, where I have spent my entire life, has been at the forefront of this journey and I have been privy to this journey that is leading to the success of sport. 

While researching for my project, I came across an idea of the bench which is what typically other scouts have been creating for their projects. My scout troop has about 90% scouts of Indian origin. Difference: other scouts have been creating benches for parks and schools or places of religious worship. One I envisioned for my project was made from old and used cricket bats. People from the subcontinent treat Cricket and Bollywood passionately as religions and are very obsessive about them so keeping up with my parent’s Indian roots, we decided to dig deeper into creating these benches. This was a pretty unique and niche idea and was easier said than done to make this a fruition.

These benches are primarily collectibles rather than deployed for sitting, instead the leagues can get players to autograph the bats and augment the value. These benches would help develop the sport in North America where a large number of immigrant population still follow the game diligently and number of teams and academies in North America have been on the continuous rise. Schools are starting to introduce cricket as a Physical Education activity and all this augurs well for the proliferation of sport. Our benches were also adorned with cricket balls on both ends of the bench. Who’s Who of the world cricket has been in Dallas recently and we have been fortunate to showcase our city to them. 

The bench I had come across was created in the UK and we were fortunate to get their support and get dimensions of their bench. We decided to create a total of three different benches for two of the leagues as these would be great additions to both these leagues and would have some drawing power. Building these benches was easier said than done. These benches required a lot of meticulous planning, and the first bench shown in picture 1 took us almost two days to create.

We used that as a template to create skeleton for other two benches and what also gave us a shot in the arm was how well the first bench was received at Major League Cricket and that feedback and kudos really gave us the energy shot we needed and once we had the skeleton ready, we finished the other two benches on day three. Eagle scout project has to be led by Eagle scout pursuant, and I did exactly that. I learnt the use of tools and also had to demonstrate to the other scouts. One of the major lessons I learnt was you have to motivate people and keep them on track by encouraging them to complete the tasks. Picture 3 displays the two benches.

I have been receiving kudos and great feedback on these benches. However, it was imperative that we stayed on course, keeping up with scout spirit and ensure we stayed thrifty while creating these benches and thanks to the efforts of my family, friends and other community members including Indian Grocery chain store India Bazaar, we managed to collect forty (yes that number) cricket bats as donations and each of our benches had eleven bats symbolizing the eleven member teams that cricket is famous for. We adorned the benches installing one red and one white ball on the two ends of the bench and this gave an excellent cherry look. I am enclosing pictures here but everyone who has seen the benches has touted the unique nature of the bench. 

I wanted to share this story and first of all thank the Indian Diaspora who has been very encouraging and effusive in their praise. I also wanted to thank everyone who has helped me in this journey and say how proud I am to embody the scout spirit while contributing towards my familial roots and our heritage intact and create something that resonates well with the Indian creativity and spirit. Lastly, thank you to Major League Cricket and National Cricket League for giving me the opportunity to create benches, Indiaspora for allowing me to share my project experience with the greater audience. If I am able to influence someone to blend heritage with collectibles and produce something that can be appreciated by people, I would have achieved something.

About the Author

Ayaan Shroff is an Indian American 15-year-old boy living in Plano, TX and has been a sports buff and high school student. For his Scouting America Eagle Project, he led creation of three benches made from cricket bats for the two US Cricket leagues. Ayaan has been involved in the community service for long time and is recipient of Presidents Volunteer Service Award and Congressional Award.