Thoughts on preparing for life after cricket
Advisor: David Preistley
I’d like to take you on a short journey if you can spare 5 minutes. Over recent weeks I have been interviewing professional players whom I have been fortunate enough to get to know and support with their ‘performance lifestyle’, but at the same time they have helped me. It has been an education to listen to players as they describe their current performance lifestyle/career and their thoughts on their future.
What follows are some brief insights, which I am sure players, and everyone else within cricket, can probably identify with. These are the thoughts of players you play against, play with, or interact with every day. If you’re a player reading this, and you have not met with an adviser in your region, I hope that what follows will encourage you to make that move.
“I keep hearing that suicide is a big thing in cricket. I think it was a blessing that I got a contract at quite a late age, because it meant that I got to work in the big wide world before I became a cricketer, so I had a taste of what I would be going back to.
It must be difficult for cricketers who get contracts at a young age, when they finish playing after, for example 20 years, at the age of 37 and they have to go out into the big wide world. They are basically lost souls; they’ve always been around the club, always had people around them, and suddenly they are on their own when it all finishes.
I don’t see myself like that. I’ve had the experience of working long hours - and I’ll tell you it was bloody hard work - so I’m not going to be like them when it comes to my turn. I’m not going to get a benefit either, so I need to know I can survive in the world without cricket.” - Mohammed Sheik
So ‘the big wide world’ is out there. Well what about the things that players learn from the game, and learn from the environment they work in when playing cricket? Are any of the skills they learn transferable to other industries, and do players appreciate the skills they possess?
“As far as setting myself up for life beyond cricket, I look back over my career and think about what I’ve learnt, not just how to bowl and stuff, but without knowing it we all pick up many of the key skills that commercial organisations need, for example communication and being able to work as part of a team.
Companies want all these skills - and we do it for a living without even knowing it! I mean, take communication - we all talk to the coach and listen to the coach - these are basic skills that we are using every single day that we play. And that’s something I have just got better at recognising as I have gone on in my career.” - Gary Keedy
In addition to the skills players have, do they have (or more importantly know how to find) the contacts in order to use those skills?
“It’s an important thing that a lot of guys don’t do. Spend some time getting to meet and really get to know the people around you, because ultimately, they’re the people that you need down the line. I think once you play for England, a lot of things just fall into place for you. It’s the guys that don’t play for England that I think are the ones who have a much tougher life.
Everyone should try to take a bit of time out at the end of the day to talk to sponsors and other people who are around the game, rather than just being cocooned within the dressing room. It’s important to make the effort to meet people, find out who’s involved with the club, who and what makes the club tick - because it’s people with business interests that are involved in the club, and they might prove very useful in the future.” - Darren Bicknell
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