The launch of the Mayor’s School Cricket Tournament for the Canadian Tire Trophy was held on Thursday April 18th at the Central Tech Stadium in Toronto. The 2018 event marks the 8th anniversary for the Mayor’s School Cricket that has grown from 10 teams in 2011 to 150 teams in 2017. This year is also a special year for this very popular school tournament as Canadian Tire Corporationr, the main sponsor of the event has made an increased investment and introduced the Canadian Tire Trophy for School Cricket.
The Mayor was joined by Mahes Wickramasinghe, Chief Corporate Officer and Jeffrey Orridge Senior Vice President of Canadian Tire Corporation. Barbara Poplawski, the Chair and Troy McGuckin Director of Education represented the TCDSB and Sandy Spyropoulos. Mitzie Hunter the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development represented the Province of Ontario and joined a number of City Councillors and members of the Toronto Police Services Board at this event.
The day’s events started with Mayor Tory, Minister Hunter and Mahes Wickramasinghe joining over 100 school cricketers in a cricket demonstration. Speaking on behalf of CIMA, the Chair Helen Berhane thanked Police Services Board Ken Jeffers who helped form the partnership between the City of Toronto and CIMA. Helen also thanked the staff of City’s Parks and Recreation Department for the continued support to grow the sport of cricket in schools.
The Canadian Tire Corporation donated gift vouchers for 18 schools represented at this event. Over 100 school cricketers received medals of excellence in cricket and community volunteers were recognized by the Mayor with recognition scrolls from the City. Below are the schools that received awards.