Former UTT Patriots Volleyball student-athlete and team captain, Asia 'Azi' Joseph, has been selected as the Strength and Conditioning (S&C) Coach for the USA Men's National Cricket team, as they prepare for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

Considered the ultimate prize in T20 cricket, this prestigious tournament is set to run from 1 - 29 June, 2024 and will feature twenty teams, competing across fifty-five games throughout the Caribbean and the United States.

Matches will be played in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and New York, Florida and Dallas in the US. The participating teams include the USA, Canada, West Indies, Papua New Guinea, Namibia, Oman, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Uganda, England, Scotland, Netherlands, Nepal, India, Ireland, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Joseph began her roles and responsibilities with the team as an S&C Coach in early April. Part of the team's preparation was participating in two T20 International (T20I) Series at the Prairie View Cricket Complex, in Houston.

The first series was a five-match bilateral series against USA's neighbour and arch-rivals, Canada, where USA secured a commanding 4-0 victory, with one match being abandoned, due to bad weather.

In its second arrangement, USA played Bangladesh in a three-match series marking an inaugural encounter between the two teams in T20I cricket. Despite Bangladesh's successful 4-1 series run over Zimbabwe in the first half of May, the USA squad recorded a historic 2-1 series victory over the number nine-ranked team.

Joseph holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Strength and Conditioning Studies from Arkansas Tech University and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist under the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). She is also recognised by the USA Weightlifting sports governing body as a Level I Weightlifting Coach and is seeking to advance her qualifications in the field of S&C in the near future.

USA is set to bowl off versus Canada in the first ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 match on 1 June, 2024 at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas.

UTT wishes Asia Joseph all the best.