From this fall semester, the University of Szeged is broadening its sports classes portfolio with a new sport: cricket is now available as an elective university course. While cricket is among the lesser-known ball sports in Hungary, it enjoys immense popularity in English-speaking countries – and at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, it will return to the Games after a 128-year hiatus.
“I believe it is a significant opportunity to bring cricket into university-level physical education. Offering it as an elective, alternative sports course not only enriches the curriculum but also enables future PE teachers to bring cricket into their own classes. It requires virtually no specialized equipment – it is easy to play anywhere, at any time, and with almost anything,” explains Annamária Bán-des Fontaine, adjunct instructor at SZTE’s Institute of Physical Education.
Annamária Bán-des Fontaine lived in South Africa for 18 years.
In addition to teaching at both university and elementary school levels, Annamária Bán-des Fontaine also serves as the youth development manager of the Hungarian Cricket Association. It was she who proposed the introduction of cricket training at SZTE to Associate Professor Zita Petrovszki, Head of the Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences at the Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education, who welcomed the initiative and was open to implementing it.
“This is an excellent opportunity for students – especially those preparing to become physical education teachers – to expand their exposure to a wide range of movement forms and versatile physical activity skills,” Bán-des Fontaine adds.
Cricket training sessions typically begin with a general warm-up, followed by targeted skill-building exercises and technical instruction for fielders, along with practice in both batting and bowling. Students learn the essential rules of the game and the standard umpire signals, and each class usually concludes with a short cricket match. The coach emphasizes that cricket is a ball sport that accommodates diverse abilities with ease, as its combination of fielding, batting, and bowling roles allows every participant to find a position that suits them.
Cricket training sessions are characterized by strong variety: students practice both batting and bowling.
“I lived in South Africa for 18 years, where cricket is a national passion, and during that time I worked as a physical education teacher and swimming coach. When I arrived there after completing my university studies, I was immediately expected to teach cricket, rugby, netball, and field hockey – sports we had never covered at university in Hungary. So, it was in South Africa that I truly learned the game. And when I eventually returned home, I felt there was enormous potential in bringing it to Hungary,” shares Annamária Bán-des Fontaine.
Dávid Barnabás Csupor, a third-year history and physical education teacher trainee at the University of Szeged, previously played handball and now attends the cricket classes with real enthusiasm.
“The head of the institute informed us that cricket would be offered as a class for the first time at both the institute and the faculty. And at last year’s Campus Sports Day, our current instructor demonstrated cricket to participants, and that likely inspired the idea of introducing it as a university course this year. Before that, however, I knew relatively little about the sport,” the teacher trainee explains.
Dávid Barnabás Csupor discovered cricket at SZTE’s Campus Sports Day – a long-standing student-organized event at the Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education’s Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences – with a history spanning more than three decades.
At first, Dávid found it somewhat unusual that – unlike handball – cricket requires a fully extended throwing arm and a strong focus on the ball while batting. He initially assumed the game would resemble rounders or baseball, but he quickly realized that the batting and bowling techniques differ significantly across these sports. Although he does not plan to compete in cricket, he says he genuinely enjoys the classes and would gladly enroll in the course in future semesters.
Annamária Bán-des Fontaine hopes to launch an inter-university cricket championship in the near future.
“The atmosphere in the classes is fantastic, and I think the students truly enjoy learning something completely different from what they are used to – they can push their skills and physical abilities in new ways while playing together,” says Annamária Bán-des Fontaine.
Looking ahead, the University of Szeged plans to establish an inter-university cricket championship – similar to other ball-sport competitions – to further support the sport’s development in Szeged.
Original Hungarian text by Sára Bisztriczki
Photos by Ferenc Ocskó
