A refugee boy came looking for cricket in Spokane.
In 2022, a twelve-year-old boy arrived in Spokane as a refugee from Afghanistan. He heard there were men playing cricket at Underhill Park, and came down to see.
He fielded. He batted a little. He was desperate to show what he could do.
He had grown up with the game. Back home, cricket was everywhere: in the streets, in the yards, on any patch of open ground. Here it was almost nowhere. Underhill was the one place it existed, and what he found there was a social club of grown men: working professionals who paid their subscriptions to play on the weekend.
Nobody turned him away, but he didn't find a place to belong either. No group his own age. Nobody from his school out there playing alongside him.
Nobody saw him again.
He fielded. He batted a little. He was desperate to show what he could do.
He had grown up with the game. Back home, cricket was everywhere: in the streets, in the yards, on any patch of open ground. Here it was almost nowhere. Underhill was the one place it existed, and what he found there was a social club of grown men: working professionals who paid their subscriptions to play on the weekend.
Nobody turned him away, but he didn't find a place to belong either. No group his own age. Nobody from his school out there playing alongside him.
Nobody saw him again.
Later that year, a different boy spotted Manoj Thirupal, who played for the adult club, getting into his car at Underhill after practice. Ahmad ran across the parking lot and asked: would Manoj teach him and his friends? He could bowl fast, he said. Full volume, all excitement.
In fact, ever since the first boy's visit to the cricket ground, Manoj had been reaching out to organizations that might support a club for refugee youth. So he watched Ahmad and his friends play. Each of them took a turn bowling, batting, showing what they could do, wanting to be seen. Manoj coached them right there. Then he asked about them: where they had come from, how they had learned, who had taught them.
These kids' talent was obvious. Rough, self-taught in streets and backyards far from here, they had never had a coach. What they lacked wasn't ability. It was a place to belong and someone to teach them.
In fact, ever since the first boy's visit to the cricket ground, Manoj had been reaching out to organizations that might support a club for refugee youth. So he watched Ahmad and his friends play. Each of them took a turn bowling, batting, showing what they could do, wanting to be seen. Manoj coached them right there. Then he asked about them: where they had come from, how they had learned, who had taught them.
These kids' talent was obvious. Rough, self-taught in streets and backyards far from here, they had never had a coach. What they lacked wasn't ability. It was a place to belong and someone to teach them.
Cricket in the Inland Northwest runs on adult social clubs, and what was missing was a way in for anyone who couldn't pay. The game was here. It was just behind doors these kids had no key to.
“I had been that kid. Learning the game in the streets, in the slums, raw and excited and with nobody there to teach me, and no space made for me and my friends either. We had no resources, and our families had none to give us. And back in India, the places where cricket was properly played had their own rules about who belonged: your background, your caste, your religion.”
— Coach Manoj
— Coach Manoj
Finding organizational support
So Manoj started coaching. He bought the gear himself and carried it to the park each week, teaching any kid who wanted to learn. Word spread the way it does among kids. One told a friend, that friend told a brother.
Manoj wrote to Sam Smith, a family friend working in immigrant legal aid in Spokane. Sam introduced him to Irshad Rahimi, a cultural engagement navigator working with refugee students. That connection brought seed funding from Innovia Foundation through LaunchNW’s EngageIRL program, and the volunteer coaching Manoj had been doing since 2022 became a funded after-school pilot in 2025.
One kid's dream was about to become a program.
So Manoj started coaching. He bought the gear himself and carried it to the park each week, teaching any kid who wanted to learn. Word spread the way it does among kids. One told a friend, that friend told a brother.
Manoj wrote to Sam Smith, a family friend working in immigrant legal aid in Spokane. Sam introduced him to Irshad Rahimi, a cultural engagement navigator working with refugee students. That connection brought seed funding from Innovia Foundation through LaunchNW’s EngageIRL program, and the volunteer coaching Manoj had been doing since 2022 became a funded after-school pilot in 2025.
One kid's dream was about to become a program.
The first season, and what came after
In 2025, Ahmad and his friends played for the official first year of the after-school program. For the first time there was equipment for the kids: bats, pads, helmets, balls, paid for by the program rather than bought out of Manoj's pocket. The after-school program had a name, a schedule, and support behind it.
In 2025, Ahmad and his friends played for the official first year of the after-school program. For the first time there was equipment for the kids: bats, pads, helmets, balls, paid for by the program rather than bought out of Manoj's pocket. The after-school program had a name, a schedule, and support behind it.
Around twenty-five players came through that first year, drawn by the news that there was youth cricket in Spokane.Fifteen became regulars. Eighteen train with us now, and five have played adult league cricket this season.
When the pilot ended, the players chose to continue. Spokane Cricket Academy now stands on its own, fiscally sponsored by SIMBA.
Most who come now are brought by a player, a friend or a cousin. Others find us through cultural navigators like Irshad Ahmad Rahimi, who work directly with families, schools and the community. There are more who want to join than we can take. Another coach would let us open a second group, and we are working on it.
Our players range from middle school to young adults. Anyone is welcome, and no one needs experience to start.
When the pilot ended, the players chose to continue. Spokane Cricket Academy now stands on its own, fiscally sponsored by SIMBA.
Most who come now are brought by a player, a friend or a cousin. Others find us through cultural navigators like Irshad Ahmad Rahimi, who work directly with families, schools and the community. There are more who want to join than we can take. Another coach would let us open a second group, and we are working on it.
Our players range from middle school to young adults. Anyone is welcome, and no one needs experience to start.
What changes in a season
Manoj teaches leadership for a living, and it shows in how he runs a session. Players tend to arrive treating every opponent as an enemy, carrying hierarchies with them. But in the Spokane Cricket Academy, things start to shift. Players are coached to play for each other rather than for themselves. They stop remarking on each other's bodies, the comments about size and skin and strength that follow a kid everywhere else. A kid who is behind gets coached, not compared. Everyone is welcome here, not for what they can do, but for who they are.
The squad at Underhill Park, one player speaking, the rest listening
“One weekend this season, one of our young bowlers was hit for six, cricket's home run. Next ball he took the batsman's wicket, and he went over and told him he had taken his revenge. I did not know he had said anything. While the next batsman was walking out, he and another boy came to me on the field. 'Coach, I am so sorry, I said that to him.'
“What he said to that batsman is normal in a lot of sport. What has to be learned is what sportsmanship actually means. I have been coaching them that it is not revenge. The other man came to play as much as you did. Be grateful to him for that. Nobody had to tell this boy any of it. He came on his own. That took years.”
— Coach Manoj
“What he said to that batsman is normal in a lot of sport. What has to be learned is what sportsmanship actually means. I have been coaching them that it is not revenge. The other man came to play as much as you did. Be grateful to him for that. Nobody had to tell this boy any of it. He came on his own. That took years.”
— Coach Manoj
Eastside Thunder Hawks
The Eastside Thunder Hawks began in 2023 as the Eastside Chargers. Neither Spokane nor Pullman had the numbers for a full team in the T20 league, cricket's short format. Spokane wanted its own team, and so did Pullman, but Manoj proposed a collaboration: together we were stronger than either of us alone. Both clubs became one team, representing eastern Washington in the Seattle-based Northwest Cricket League, supported from the start by Dr. Amit Thakar.
The Eastside Thunder Hawks began in 2023 as the Eastside Chargers. Neither Spokane nor Pullman had the numbers for a full team in the T20 league, cricket's short format. Spokane wanted its own team, and so did Pullman, but Manoj proposed a collaboration: together we were stronger than either of us alone. Both clubs became one team, representing eastern Washington in the Seattle-based Northwest Cricket League, supported from the start by Dr. Amit Thakar.
It asked players to practice something none of them had done before: setting down the rivalry mindset, learning from each other rather than measuring themselves against each other. The players who took it on became better cricketers, and they are the ones who now bring others in.
They take the learning back to their own clubs for the longer format, the all-day version of the game, where contemporary cricket asks players to score faster and hit harder. Our young players learn in that environment from the start. They are hitting further than they knew they could.
"This collaboration represents a break from the past and a recognition that cricket is not just about winning matches but also about nurturing the spirit of the game. Inspired by this vision, Manoj Thirupal, an experienced Spartan, took the lead in establishing the Eastside Chargers." — Spokane Cricket Club, October 10, 2023
They take the learning back to their own clubs for the longer format, the all-day version of the game, where contemporary cricket asks players to score faster and hit harder. Our young players learn in that environment from the start. They are hitting further than they knew they could.
"This collaboration represents a break from the past and a recognition that cricket is not just about winning matches but also about nurturing the spirit of the game. Inspired by this vision, Manoj Thirupal, an experienced Spartan, took the lead in establishing the Eastside Chargers." — Spokane Cricket Club, October 10, 2023
Refugees, immigrants, students, teachers, engineers, on the same team.
The team waives fees for middle and high school players, so the adults pay more and families who cannot carry the cost pay nothing. They carpool, and they give the young ones real match experience rather than a place on the bench. They are not made to defer. They are invited to belong.
The Academy pays nothing toward the team. It is where our players get match experience, and where they watch grown men set their rivalries down before they are asked to do it themselves.
The Academy pays nothing toward the team. It is where our players get match experience, and where they watch grown men set their rivalries down before they are asked to do it themselves.
How our players get games
Local adult teams take a few of our players onto their rosters for games in Spokane and Seattle, in both the long and short formats. These are adult sides, so a teenager who makes one is playing against grown men from across the region, most of whom have played since childhood. Some waive fees for school-age players; where they do not, the program covers the cost. Middle and high school students, and young people working and studying, cannot pay their own way or buy their own equipment. Cricket is an expensive game. And a kid who learned in the street arrives without the things that count as credentials: the club, the coach, the record. In future we would rather our players were invited for what they bring to a team, their skill and their willingness to turn up.
We are putting agreements in place with the clubs our players join, covering how they invite our players, look after them and follow our child safety rules.
Local adult teams take a few of our players onto their rosters for games in Spokane and Seattle, in both the long and short formats. These are adult sides, so a teenager who makes one is playing against grown men from across the region, most of whom have played since childhood. Some waive fees for school-age players; where they do not, the program covers the cost. Middle and high school students, and young people working and studying, cannot pay their own way or buy their own equipment. Cricket is an expensive game. And a kid who learned in the street arrives without the things that count as credentials: the club, the coach, the record. In future we would rather our players were invited for what they bring to a team, their skill and their willingness to turn up.
We are putting agreements in place with the clubs our players join, covering how they invite our players, look after them and follow our child safety rules.
This season Ahmad, Ali and Abu play for the Eastside Thunder Hawks, an adult men's team in the Northwest Cricket League. Ahmad finished the season fifth out of two hundred and eighty-five bowlers in Division B for wickets taken, cricket’s version of a pitcher recording outs. Ali came up through the program and has played adult cricket for two seasons. Abu is back after missing part of the season, and at practice he hits it out of the park.
Two more have played this season for the Spokane Spartans, a Spokane club in the same league.
The rest are training to debut next year with the Otters, entering the league in 2027, the first youth cricket team from Spokane to do so.
Two more have played this season for the Spokane Spartans, a Spokane club in the same league.
The rest are training to debut next year with the Otters, entering the league in 2027, the first youth cricket team from Spokane to do so.
The Spokane Cricket Academy exists today to keep coaching the players who are here, welcome the ones who are waiting, open the same door to kids who have not found it yet, and keep providing that place of belonging. Along the way, we coach teamwork, leadership and sportsmanship, and help players set down rivalry and learn from each other instead.
Any young person from nine up is welcome, no experience needed, and every player plays free.
$284 buys a player their own kit. Today eighteen players share two gear bags.
Any young person from nine up is welcome, no experience needed, and every player plays free.
$284 buys a player their own kit. Today eighteen players share two gear bags.
