After spending almost 15 tireless years dedicated to his sport and reaching one of the top levels in England, Rose senior John Kumar was

     At the age of 14, Kumar made the move from Bath, England, to North Carolina. Kumar would spend his first few years in the States at schools in Farmville.

     “The transition was definitely difficult,” Kumar said. “Cricket was actually the main reason why I didn’t want to move.”

     Not only was Kumar leaving behind the life and culture he was most familiar with, but also the sport he had dedicated his life to. From a young age, Kumar spent hours every week playing cricket.

     “I was born and raised on cricket,” Kumar said. “It was all I did all day, every day for the first 14 years of my life.”

     As Kumar grew, he continued to push himself to be better. He was the captain of his local club and middle school teams, solidifying himself as one of the strongest players in the area. At 13, Kumar was selected among thousands of athletes who tried out to play for the Somerset County academy team at one of the highest levels in the country.

     After spending nearly his whole life pursuing cricket, Kumar knew he wanted to make his hobby a career and play at the professional level.

     “I saw myself with a future with it,” Kumar said. “For the first 14 years of my life, I was going to be a professional cricket player, that's what I was going to do with my life.”

     However, these dreams would be cut off after Kumar made the move to the United States in 2020. While sports such as football, basketball and baseball control the lives of many American athletes, the opportunities to play cricket in the U.S. are very limited. The closest way for him to continue playing at a competitive level is nearly an hour and a half away.

     “[I] went to Raleigh to look at teams, and they took it really seriously,” Kumar said. “They skip so much school to play, and it just wasn’t something that seemed viable.” 

     Even though Kumar’s time playing cricket at a competitive level ended, he still tries to stay connected to the sport that he spent so much of his life dedicated to.

     “Whenever the IPL (Indian Premier League) comes around, I try to watch as many games as I can,” Kumar said. “There’s also a group of people in Greenville that play cricket, it's just a bit of fun.”

     While it seems Kumar’s dreams of playing cricket professionally have passed him, he has already set himself up for success in the future. He is part of a research group at the Brody School of Medicine and plans to attend a four-year university after his final year of high school.