Within the coronary heart of North Carolina, a younger cricket prodigy is making waves within the American cricketing scene. Geetika Kodali, a proficient all-rounder with a ardour for the sport, has rapidly established herself as a pressure to be reckoned with. Born and raised within the United States, Geetika’s journey into cricket started at a young age, pushed by her love for the game and the camaraderie it fostered amongst her family and friends.
From her nascent days of casual play to her formal tutelage on the esteemed Cricket Zeal Academy, Geetika has meticulously honed her abilities, creating a popularity for her audacious batting and dexterous bowling. Together with her unwavering dedication and innate expertise, she has represented a number of preeminent cricket associations inside america, showcasing her unparalleled means to contribute considerably to the staff in various capacities.
On this unique interview, we delve into the intricate tapestry of Geetika’s life and profession, exploring her transformative journey, her sources of inspiration, and her formidable aspirations. Uncover the driving forces behind her pursuit of excellence within the sport, her experiences representing america, and her visionary outlook on the way forward for American cricket.
Listed here are some excerpts from the interview:
Q. Would you wish to share what impressed your cricketing journey?
Geetika: In order a child, I used to be all the time enjoying outdoor and I used to be all the time attempting new sports activities. I believe I began off with soccer, then tennis and swimming after which I began enjoying basketball. So, each season I’d change to a brand new sport and my dad and mom all the time inspired me to attempt issues. So, in the future I used to be visiting my childhood residence and my buddy was going to cricket apply and till then I didn’t actually comprehend it was being performed professionally in America. I went together with him and I attempted out the game and I simply liked it. So, I made a decision to begin it and see the way it was for a season. And I’ve simply caught with it since.
Q. How did your loved ones contributed to your success in cricket and also you taking over this sport? As a result of at an early age of 11, it’s actually laborious for a child to determine what sport to select up.
Geetika: Yeah, I believe one in every of my foremost motivations for choosing up cricket was how a lot it linked me to my dad and mom. Like I felt extra linked to my roots, clearly, they got here from India and I used to be born right here, however they all the time have loved being across the cricket environment and so their assist has been so nice. I wouldn’t be wherever near the place I’m at the moment with out their assist, I imply by taking me to apply and convey me again was an extended activity. And truly, we moved to the opposite aspect of the nation. So, I’d have extra entry to cricket services and I’d be capable to stability my training together with cricket after I was round 15 years previous.
Q. How do you handle your research and your skilled sport as effectively on the identical time?
Geetika: Yeah, so at the moment I’m in faculty on the College of North Carolina Chapel Hill. It’s about half-hour away from my home, however I’ve my very own house, and room on campus. So, I’ve lessons 4 days per week and I journey again residence for round two periods per week with my coach Rohan Gosala. And aside from that, I simply must sustain with like conditioning and power work within the health club. However balancing, it has positively been a problem. Like each time I transfer up a grade or each time, I’ve a tour, it’s all the time a brand new scenario relying on what professors I’ve, what lessons I’m taking. And I believe an important half is having an excellent assist system. I’ve discovered some actually nice associates that I’m very grateful for. They all the time assist me emotionally or by catching me up in class or simply by taking a while to assist me unwind. So, yeah, it’s been nice to date, I believe all through highschool and faculty it’s very completely different experiences with cricket and everybody in America is gonna must undergo that.
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Q. Which participant the truth is impressed you to take up the game as knowledgeable sport?
Geetika: The participant that impressed me to take up the game was Ellyse Perry. After I was first attempting out for the nationwide staff, I’d come again from college and I’d watch the WBBL and the Sydney Sixers are my favorite staff and she or he was captain and throughout her, a really massive a part of that staff together with Alyssa Healy. So, I’ve been watching her ever since and I truly had a possibility to play below Julia Worth Australian cricketer. And he or she informed me that Ellyse Perry was very laborious working and she or he has among the finest work ethics that she’s ever seen. And in order that positively impressed me to be like, I wanna be like that in the future. I wanna be capable to have folks say that I stability each cricket and training effectively, and I used to be actually like a well-rounded particular person
Q. What challenges did you face in, in your path whereas representing USA cricket?
Geetika: My involvement with USA cricket is simply as a participant representing the nationwide staff after I get known as up and hopefully being like a mentor to different youthful ladies within the pathway. So there have been challenges, I believe one of the crucial impactful challenges was perhaps on the U 19 World Cup in 2023 I used to be the captain and we didn’t win as many video games as I’d have preferred to. However I felt like in our preparation, we have been exhibiting very constructive indicators like we had a few sequence wins earlier than going into the World Cup and even within the apply matches, we have been profitable some video games. However when it got here to the group stage video games, we have been, we weren’t in a position to make it to the subsequent degree and there have been some actually shut video games.
So, it was positively like, heartbreaking, however it was only a testomony to seeing the distinction between the challenges that we undergo enjoying cricket within the USA not coaching subsequent to one another. We’re all like perhaps seven-hour, three-hour flights away from one another. So, we have to discover native academies, native folks and coaches to coach with. After which we come collectively as a staff for a camp and head out to a tour. So, we’re enjoying towards different nations which have a possibility to coach collectively each day. They’re mainly like residing collectively and know one another in and out. And I believe that we do our greatest to do the identical factor. However on the finish of the day, all of us have completely different lives and completely different challenges that we’re going by way of.
Q. What’s your favorite cricketing reminiscence?
Geetika: My favorite cricketing reminiscence is after we have been enjoying in UAE, it was a USA versus UAE below 19 bilateral sequence earlier than the U 19 World Cup and the sequence was tied 2 to 2 and we performed our closing sport at ICC Academy and we have been, the sport was very tense prefer it was all the way down to us needing perhaps one or two extra wickets to have the ability to come away with a snug win. And the staff was tense, the opposite staff was tense and on the finish of the day, the sensation of a nail biter and coming away with a win might be among the finest emotions on this planet. So yeah, that was one of many video games that I believe I’ll always remember and I’ll take with me.
Q. How do you take care of setbacks, for instance, a low rating with the stick or a nasty day on the sector?
Geetika: I believe it’s vital to form of put into perspective that you got the chance to actually have a setback. I’m so grateful that my issues for the day may very well be having a nasty over on the sector or having a nasty day on the sector with respect to as a substitute of it being like not having the ability to have meals on my plate on the finish of the day or something like that.
I’m being given the chance to fail and to be taught from my errors. So, constructing that assist system round me that may assist me in these instances, like we’re all human, it’s going to really feel unhealthy whenever you do fail or when you don’t attain your purpose for a particular day, however having the ability to break it down and mirror in your errors. For instance, I take a while to unwind. I guarantee that I form of distract myself. I hang around with my teammates or I do another work in class or one thing like that after which I can actually dive into it as soon as all of the feelings are form of dying down and I can take a look at what occurred. Have been there any like particular causes for the result that occurred? And the way can I repair these subsequent time in order that I’ve a greater likelihood of succeeding?
Right here’s the total video:
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This text was first printed at WomenCricket.com, a Cricket Occasions firm.
