Kitchener’s Cowan Recreation Centre is set to become a new hub for cricket training, with a mortgage brokerage stepping in to fund the indoor nets. Grow with Nav Inc. will sponsor the Grow Nation Cricket Nets for ten years, committing $100000 to the initiative.
The facility, due to open later this year at RBJ Schlegel Park, will offer both short and long lanes for cricket training. An 18-metre section will focus on precision with a bowling machine, while a full-length 38-metre lane will allow bowlers and batters to practice at full pitch length.
Navjot Bindra, founder of Grow with Nav Inc., said the project was personal. 'Cricket is part of who I am,' he said. 'I grew up with the sport, and now I get to watch my son pick up a bat in the same city where we’re building our life.'
The cricket nets will be open from 6am to midnight every day and can be booked online. The recreation centre itself will include other amenities like a FIFA-sized field house, two pools, a gymnasium, an indoor walking track, and flexible community spaces. An outdoor cricket pitch already exists at the park.