Tag: Brad Player

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Kyle Simmonds Crowned Overall Division 1 SACA MVP

The 2025/26 domestic cricket season concludes with Western Province all-rounder Kyle Simmonds named Division 1 Overall SACA MVP. Simmonds earned…

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Liam Alder Named Overall SACA MVP for Domestic Division 2

Following the completion of all domestic fixtures, Liam Alder of the Garden Route Badgers finished at the top of the…

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TWELVE YEARS OF RESEARCH-BASED PLAYER SERVICE

Over the past 12 years, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) has cemented its dedication to evidence-based practice through a…

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‘EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON’

When Travis Muller’s season ended after one match, he didn’t immediately realise the benefits that could arise from enforced time off…

Western Province and Cape Cobras pace bowler Travis Muller was looking forward to a breakthrough season, his second as a contracted player. Now the 23-year-old is spending it doing rehab for a stress fracture in his lower back.
Muller’s injury has brought a halt to his steady rise (and packed schedule) since he captained Wynberg Boys’ High School during his Matric year in 2011. In January 2012 he played Cubs Week and was selected for South Africa U19 in series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan before being drafted straight into the Western Province team for the remainder of the season. As it happened, that 2012 winter proved to be his last proper off-season.
Muller was a regular for the provincial amateur side in 2012/13 before going into a stint at Tavistock CC in England. He then had his most prolific season in 2013/14, cracking the Cape Cobras squad in the midst of playing 16 First Class matches. He then headed overseas again, this time to Horsham CC. Last season was almost as busy, spending time in both the provincial and franchise teams before earning selection to the National Academy for 2015 – which culminated in an Emerging Players tour of Sri Lanka last August.
“It was there that I first felt my back, though it’s probably been building for a while. When we returned I played a match in the Africa T20 Cup and haven’t played since… it hasn’t been fun. At the start we weren’t sure what the problem was – some doctors were saying one thing and others were saying another. Finally, in October, we got clarity from a surgeon and thankfully I didn’t need an operation.”
While Muller recognises that he was required to squeeze a lot of cricket into the past four years, he feels his enthusiasm didn’t help either.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been a victim of my success; there are a number of things that could have played a part besides over-bowling. Apart from games and training I’ve always done lots of outside training too, so I haven’t always given myself enough time to rest.”
As he really loves being involved in the action, Muller initially found it ‘mentally and physically tough’ to be standing around at the nets with his to-do list reduced to rest and rehab. While he could take charge of the physical side of his rehab – which included swimming, cycling and light core work – the mental side needed external help.
“Brad Player [SACA Player Development Manager based in the Western Cape] has been great. He had a similar injury during his playing days so it’s been good to get his insight. He also sent me to Clinton Gahwiler, a psychologist at the Sports Science Institute, for further support. Brad told me to use this time for myself by concentrating on my future and my health, and then cricket will come after. He also suggested that I consider studying while I’m injured. We did aptitude tests which showed I’m strongly interested in a career in sport, so initially we considered Sports Management.”
As it turned out, they settled on another option that suits Muller even better… in surroundings he’s familiar with.
“I’ve always been interested in studying. I wanted to straight after school, but then I broke into SA U19s and it’s just been cricket since. My other passion is fitness, and we found a two-year diploma in sports conditioning at the Exercise Teachers Academy (ETA) College that will also help me manage my workload when I get back on the field.”
Conveniently, ETA College Cape Town is based at the Western Province Cricket Club – where you will find Muller’s name on the Honours board – and they’ve been flexible about fitting his rehab into his daily schedule there.
“ETA is a nice place to study. The hours aren’t long and it’s been easy to relate to the content. There’s usually an hour when the other members of the class perform physical tasks that I’m not allowed to do yet and that’s when I do my rehab. It’s very convenient.”
Another positive to Muller’s current situation is the quality time he’s been able to spend with his friends and parents.
“It’s actually been good to have weekends and be able to go out and see my friends. A couple of my mates are studying, so it’s been nice to chat to them about what their experiences are like. That said, I’ve been missing cricket and would rather be in bed early on a weekend night looking forward to a match the next day.”
At the time of writing Muller was awaiting the programme for his next phase of rehab, but with the cricket season ending shortly he realises his next match will only come next season.
“I was speaking to [Western Province] coach Faiek Davids recently and he was saying that when pre-season starts I must come in and do my rehab there, with my teammates. He told me not to rush back. It’s great that they’re being so understanding and accommodating.”
While Muller has chalked this season down to one where ‘everything happens for a reason’, with breakthroughs coming in other facets of his life, his on-field goals remain undiminished.
“My long-term goals are to have the longest cricket career I can possibly have, so for now I’ll focus on getting fit and healed. Then I want to get back in the Western Province amateur team, then the Cobras, and finally, if I can, the Proteas.”

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SERVICE WITH A SMILE

Every good relationship has to be built on trust, which is exactly how Brad Player describes dealing with players as a SACA Personal Development Manager (PDM).

If there’s anyone who has seen how cricket has changed – particularly in the demands on players – it’s the appropriately named Brad Player. For the past three years Player has been the SACA PDM for the Cape Cobras, Western Province and more recently their Academy players, but his involvement in the professional side of the game dates back to 1984. His playing career spanned an impressive three decades, with Player featuring as an all-rounder for Free State, Western Province and Boland before retiring in 2001.
Ruan Schlebusch, SACA’s National Personal Development Manager, jokes that Player has actually retired lots of times (during his subsequent club career) before giving insight into how the 49-year-old became a PDM.
“We were looking for a solid person who would be trusted by players, and Brad’s name kept coming up. While there’s no set formula for recruiting a PDM we look for someone with experience in personal development and proven facilitation skills. There isn’t a high turnover in the position, and word of mouth is useful when shortlisting for a vacancy. We need people who do it for the right reasons, and share the same philosophy as us,” Schlebusch explains.
Player made a seamless transition into the PDM role.
“When I stopped playing professionally I remained in sports,” says Player. “I’ve worked with sports agencies servicing the sports retail market with wholesale equipment, and I also coach at Claremont CC. Those two jobs allow me to have a ‘mobile’ office, so adding the PDM role to my schedule was possible – a role which I enjoy very much.”
Unsurprisingly, he often thinks back to what life was like when he first came into the game compared to the service he and his colleagues now provide.
“I often joke with Ruan about how the programme could have changed my life,” he says. “Of course circumstances are different for each individual – in my case I didn’t really have family support and people to go to for advice and direction in life. When I first started playing I was 17. It was our so-called entry into the professional era, but at that stage I don’t think we quite knew how to do it – it wasn’t as professional as today. For instance, the thought process back then was to resign if you had been working and got a cricket contract. I initially did my national service after school and straight after that got a job at a corporate company, but it boiled down to making a decision about whether I would focus on my cricket.”
Nowadays such decisions aren’t as black and white any more, which is why Player and his fellow PDMs are trained to help them deal with the ‘grey’ areas. Considering the overall PDM group also has a variety of skills – some are psychologists and others are in education – they keep open dialogue among each other to deal with the changing landscape.
“Our PDMs get standardised training through our partnership with the Sports Science Institute, but we also do individualised fine-tuning work with PDMs on certain spheres,” Schlebusch explains. “For example, with Brad we did modules on facilitation but he has an advantage in other areas because he’s a former player. Thanks to the calibre of PDMs we have, communication is very open. Support and training is provided where needed so that everyone can be confident and competent in their jobs. They constantly phone each other, we have a WhatsApp group and we all meet at least once a year.”
While their discussions often focus on the changing landscape for cricketers, the PDMs stick to fundamentals when they deal with the players.
“We cover three areas,” says Player. “We have to understand the players’ needs, provide dual career support by matching it to the individual person, and we also do life skills facilitation.”
With three teams under their watch, which could amount to 30 players, regular contact could be tricky but Player is in a fortunate position at his old stomping ground.
“I used to play with the coaches who are currently involved there [Paul Adams and Faiek Davids] and they allow me to interact with the players at training. This helps me build a good relationship with the players because I see them often. We are required to interact twice a month with each of the players but I generally see them more often.”
Player expands on the realities the players are faced with: “Initially the drive is to succeed in cricket, but our role in working with the individual as a whole means we have to help them look a little further than cricket. Only a small percentage of players make enough money to be able to invest, for instance… and that’s where the PDMs come in. We have to guide the players in the journey they’ll take through cricket, knowing careers can be quite short-lived, so we have to prepare them for that next step. The nice thing about the programme is that it’s a dual highway – you can do both at the same time.”
Ultimately, it’s mutual understanding that determines the success of a PDM-player relationship.
“You have to build a relationship of trust with the players, it’s not just about ticking a box,” says Player. “With some players it takes a long time before they open up to you, and it’s when they do or they get their driver’s licence or finish their degree that you get the satisfaction. The reward for us lies in their success.”

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FINDING THE RIGHT FIT

Glen Addicott has always had a passion for what he does. Rather than investing all that passion into his work as a cricketer in an often unpredictable landscape, he found another area into which he could channel his energy.

Four years ago a new challenge in his cricket career seemed logical for Pietermaritzburg-born Glen Addicott. After seven seasons as a regular for KwaZulu-Natal Inland, the top-order batsman had only played a handful of matches for the Dolphins in 2010-11 and 2011-12, so he felt the timing was right for a move to South Western Districts to explore further playing opportunities.

“My former club coach from Maritzburg Varsity, Gary Hampson, had moved down to the area to coach SWD and offered me the chance to join them, which I did,” the 31-year-old says.

As it turned out, ’real life’ caught up quickly for Addicott in the Southern Cape.

“I came down to George in 2012, then in February 2013 married to Jesse Ann and then she fell pregnant. All that meant I became quite keen to settle down. While I was still in Maritzburg I had spent a year studying towards a Bachelor of Business Administration, my degree wasn’t complete. I had also done Level I and Level II coaching courses but that’s not what I wanted to do.”

Fortunately, Addicott had already been introduced to a long-term career option in which he was interested.

“In 2011 I was playing club cricket in England [for Vauxhall Mallards, based close to the east coast of England] and one of my mates was also a personal trainer. He was training a guy with polio and invited me to join them at a CrossFit box – that’s what their ‘gyms’ are called. Being fully fit I thought it would be easy, but the session broke me and from that day I knew I wanted to do CrossFit. Basically, CrossFit is all about functional movement, which comes from a split between gymnastics, weight lifting and cardio work, which could be riding, running or swimming. Also, every day is different and varied and it’s performed at high intensity. It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the world and has its own CrossFit Games.”

To turn that interest into a career, Addicott tapped into the resources available to him, starting with SACA Personal Development Managers, Ruan Schlebusch and Brad Player.

“Ruan helped me draw up contracts, come up with a business plan and enrol in various classes to own a CrossFit box. Brad was also great, and even these days he often pops in for coffee and a chat.”

Addicott also found a willing business partner in his SWD captain, Ross McMillan, with whom he has come a long way.

“Ross and I have known each other for many years,” he says. “We grew up playing cricket against each other [McMillan for Hilton College and Addicott for St Charles College], and then together in numerous teams, such as KwaZulu-Natal Inland and then SWD. Ross has always been business-minded and had a desire to run a business. I, on the other hand, am not naturally that way inclined and so my skills lay in the programming and coaching of classes. We made a great team.

“That said, in June 2015 a great opportunity arose for Ross and he left us, and retired from cricket, to pursue a career in the financial sector [as a Financial Planner with Momentum] – a fantastic move for him and a certain loss for us. Although we miss him, I have learnt some wonderful business skills and thus am very happy with how things are going at CrossFit George.”

Having now gone it alone, how does Addicott look back on the decision to put his kit bag in storage?

“It was a tough decision. Cricket was my life and I didn’t have any other job. However, it was also a pretty easy decision in the sense that I’m still involved in sport and people. The major difference is that when you own your own business it’s 24-7 while with cricket you get lots of down time. So the business side has been a bit of a change.”

However, he confirms that he’s in it for the long run.

“My parents and my wife’s parents have moved down here [no doubt to be closer to their granddaughters, born in 2013 and 2015]. Personally, it was tough in the beginning with early mornings and late evenings for classes but here in George the life is great, there’s very little to complain about. I do miss cricket but I’ve fallen into another passion.”

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DEVELOPING ALL-ROUNDERS

Cricketers’ on-field careers can last only so long, which is why SACA takes its role in developing well-rounded people seriously.

After the establishment of the Player Plus programme in 2008, it was imperative for SACA to find the right partner to help the programme achieve its goals – offering comprehensive personal development, education and support for their members.

Fortunately, a suitable life skills partner was not hard to come by. While the Sports Science Institute of South Africa (SSISA) has been at the forefront of fine-tuning the physical and mental requirements of elite athletes, they had not neglected the fact that performance is influenced by off the field factors too – be it personal, lifestyle or environmental.

As Gill Taylor, the Education, Training and Development Manager of SSISA, says, “Our extensive research shows that the most successful athletes or players globally are those who have a balanced approach, and who take ownership of what they’re doing in all aspects of their life. It’s not about the cricketer, but the person beyond that.”

Through SSISA’s Macsteel Maestros initiative, primarily a CSI programme which focusses on disadvantaged athletes, Taylor and her team of mentors around the country have built up a well of relevant content.

“We deal with three pillars in the life skills landscape. The first pillar is personal growth skills, things like communication, ethics, values, diversity… I sometimes call them the ‘touchy-feely’ aspects. Second is self-management and those are the practical issues in a player’s life like do they have a will and a tax number, or do they understand time-management. We also have a module that deals with taking responsibility, drinking responsibly and substance abuse – those types of things. Then finally, we look at professional skills which includes dealing with media, social networking and nowadays linked to that is a dual career programme.”

Often the main question when trying to engage professional sportsman, especially on topics not directly related to their sport, is ‘how?’.

“When SACA approached us saying they were looking at working more closely with the cricketers, one of the things emphasised was that it had to be a relationship-based programme. It’s no good just saying to a player that if they need a psychologist they should go and see one, they need somebody they can confide in, build a relationship with and with whom they are able to discuss any aspect of their life.”

This is why it was decided that each franchise would have a Personal Development Manager (PDM), who would not only deliver workshops to a team but also engage in one-on-one sessions. In group sessions, topics would also be to-the-point rather than broad.

“Topics range from self-confidence and respecting differences, to conflict-management and teamwork. Many of the team workshops lead from or are followed up by individual sessions. You need to know what the team’s goals are and then create a synergy, like if we’re doing a session on communication it has to be done in a team dynamic.”

Taylor says that their research and feedback has also delivered some interesting insight on the effectiveness of the life skills sessions they’ve conducted over the years.

“The research we did showed that when doing life skills sessions, there’s an increase in critical thinking, which is what creates behavioural changes. Encouragingly, coaches have given feedback that they feel their teams have played better after life skills sessions.”

Taylor explains why a healthy player-PDM relationship is important.

“Initially the players were wary of the PDMs, wondering whether they were there to feed back to their coaches or selectors. Nowadays it’s completely understood that they’re there to meet the players’ needs. There is now a healthy trust relationship between players and PDMs. Players are particularly receptive when they’re injured, have had a change in family situation or nearing retirement but a big focus area for us will also be the other transition period, when players first leave school and are met by things like contracts, free time and female attention.”

The identification of suitable, qualified PDMs is crucial to the success of the programme.

“We were fortunate that when SACA partnered with SSISA we already had a group of experienced PDMs at our disposal. By that time they had already been with us for about eight years so they understood what sportspeople go through. They do this secondary to their other jobs. We usually look at people who’ve been in the field and who are able to view things objectively.”

As they do with players, PDMs are also continuously given opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge.

“They get training annually. All of them went through an accredited course on career assessment and advice; then every year we give them new modules to work from for life skills training and there is constant liaison between them and myself, and Ruan Schlebusch, the National SACA PDM Manager, with regards to the life skills programmes. What helps is that they bring to us the topical issues which players talk to them about and then we change things accordingly.”

Having worked with other sports bodies, Taylor is greatly encouraged by the benefits cricketers are receiving off the playing field.

“Many sports tend to only do one-off programmes whereas the Player Plus programme engages with players through the PDM-player relationship on an ongoing basis. There is regular evaluation of player needs and appropriate action to cater for it. It’s harder to get through to the players in cases where you engage once-off, so we’re really happy with the partnership we have with SACA. Hopefully other sports will follow their example…”

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LAYING A PLATFORM

Anybody that has tried to balance their job with studies knows the difficulties involved. No surprise then that it was a long layoff from his work that helped Cape Cobras all-rounder Shaheen Khan make a considerable dent in his studies.

From a cricket perspective, Shaheen Khan had a tough 2015. The 28-year-old started it as an all-rounder in the Cape Cobras lineup, but ended it as a batsman only in the Western Province provincial side. A long-term injury saw to that…

“I injured my back in January and was out for almost 10 months. It was frustrating, but in the end it allowed me to bite off a lot of the studies. Focusing on my studies helped to take my mind off cricket and set a foundation for my future.”

After matriculating from Cravenby Secondary in 2005, Khan was actually a student while playing Cape club cricket before his ‘breakthrough’ season when he moved to play for Gauteng in 2012.

“I started studying before I was a semi-professional or had a contract with the Cobras. I always knew I needed something to fall back on so I could make a life for myself if cricket didn’t work out. So many players think of playing until they’re 35 but you have to ask yourself what you’ve done to make your 36th year successful…”

In order to do so, he started a Business Management degree through Unisa in 2009, but admits that it’s been challenge – not least as his cricket fortunes improved.

“I started it, then stopped in 2012 [a year when he also played club cricket in England for Cleator CC]. Since then it’s been difficult while I’ve been at the Cobras.”

Structure and logistics have often been the challenges.

“I realised that you have to do the bulk of year’s work in the first half of the year, because once the season starts it’s difficult to fit it in when there’s so much training, travelling and playing. There have been away trips where I’ve begged the captain to give me his single room so I can study, or tried to convince the management of a hotel to open the Wifi. However, the coaches at the Cobras have been very lenient and I’ve had other perks like avoiding bus trips and getting to fly instead when I’ve written an exam on the day that the guys travel.”

One of the benefits of SACA Player Plus Khan has made use of since signing for the Cape Cobras is applying for and receiving a bursary for his studies. Another is SACA sourcing and paying for a resource – in his case a tutor for Financial Accounting – to assist players with legitimate problematic modules. By and large, though, he’s more comfortable tackling his studying on his own.

“During my injury last year, I spent a lot of time at home in my room. Before my mid-year exams I spent nine days holed up in there studying and I got eight distinctions. It’s proof what I could achieve when I had that much time.”

That being said, when he wanted to play his part in his family business by adding a further string to his bow during his 2015 injury rehabilitation, SACA was his first point of contact.

“The story behind it is that I needed to up my computer literacy. I’d started up a construction business [named FIRZ Projects] with my father and brother but I only had the basic skills. While they are more hands-on my cricket meant I wasn’t; so I thought it would help I could I do some of the admin things that doesn’t require my active involvement. I approached my SACA Personal Development Manager [Brad Player] for guidance and we decided that I should apply for another Player Plus bursary for online courses from MasterGrade IT.”

As a result, Khan is registered for four Microsoft courses, namely Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel.

“You’re allowed to register for a year before you have to complete the courses, which entail watching videos and then writing tests. I started in late August-early September and have completed Outlook and Excel. I’m starting my third year Unisa subjects this year so before it gets going I want to complete the other two too.”

While his studies are on the right track, a return to full capacity is also in the offing for the rest of Khan’s season.

“I started bowling in the nets during December and didn’t have any reaction so I hope to be bowling in matches by the end of January. If I can contribute as a batsman and a bowler, it will hopefully help me get back into the Cobras team again.”

Perhaps it’s true when they say ‘healthy mind, healthy body’…

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