Tag: career transition

Text Info Strip

Back

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE

Arno Jacobs discovered that being mentally prepared to leave the game doesn’t mean you’ll avoid the practical difficulties of doing so, but support remains at hand.

After 17 years on the senior circuit Arno Jacobs knew his playing career was drawing to a close, which is why the erstwhile Warriors batsman and wicketkeeper was not caught off guard when it ended after the 2012/13 season.


Jacobs had played through the change of eras from provincial to franchise cricket, plied his trade overseas and even had a taste of international cricket – playing for Scotland, interestingly. During his career he played in more than 300 matches in the three formats of the game, amassing 13 000 runs. So when he packed away his tog bag for the last time, he was happy to give himself a bit of distance from the game.


“I wanted to get away from the game for a while, but I was perhaps a bit naive. I wanted to become successful in business but lacked experience in the industry I ended up in,” he says.


After taking over ownership of the Port Elizabeth agency of a telecommunications company in June 2013, he had to make the tough decision 18 months later to relinquish the reins – not an easy call with a wife and daughter at home.


“It was a financial disaster, but I kind of had to go through it. Overall it’s not a failure, just an experience. When my business venture didn’t turn out to be a success I looked at different avenues back in cricket. The obvious options were coaching, umpiring or commentary. I explored the commentary angle but the doors didn’t open and I was fine with that.”


In the interim, using the CSA Level II Coaching Certificate he acquired during his cricket career, Jacobs turned to offering private coaching to school kids in the Port Elizabeth area – and this March Arno Jacobs Cricket turned a year old.


“I really enjoy the one-on-one scenario. It’s difficult to give enough attention to individuals in a group set-up, but that also has its merits because players can measure themselves against others.”


The 39-year-old laughs when asked how he related to coaches as a player, admitting he ‘wasn’t the easiest guy to deal with’. He adds, “I was opinionated, which doesn’t always come across as nice but I can now deal with that type of personality as a coach.”


Dealing with different personalities is also an important aspect of another side of the game Jacobs has immersed himself in – umpiring.


“It’s been nice to fit back into a team environment,” he says. “Getting into it is similar to coaching – there are two basic levels which you can complete anywhere in the country. The last level, which allows you to umpire First Class matches, requires a Cricket South Africa invitation so you don’t know when and where you may do it. I’m taking the long-term view. My goal is to umpire internationally, but I know things won’t happen overnight. I’ve been getting good appointments, though. I was invited to the Cubs Week in January [pictured] and am officiating at the academies week this month. I’ve also previously umpired at schools weeks.”


Being on the ‘authority’ side of the game has given Jacobs a new appreciation for umpires and the pressure that’s on them.


“The biggest eye opener is the thorough knowledge of the laws you have to have. The other important aspect of umpiring is managing players on the field – you have to make sure the game doesn’t drift and not allow players to dictate to you while still making sure you’re not overbearing.”


Jacobs believes being an ex-player gives him a unique understanding of the ‘feel’ of a match, which is why he thinks more ex-players turning to umpiring will have a good effect on the game.


“Having played myself, my level of understanding about where players are coming from and my ability to relate to them is a positive. That said, umpiring is not an easy job and it can be lonely, but I would definitely say it’s worthwhile for ex-First Class players. I don’t know why we shy away from it here in South Africa.”


Emerging from the harder parts of transitioning out of the game has been made easier through the support Jacobs has received.


“Melonie Gobel [SACA Personal Development Manager based in the Eastern Cape] has been amazing and I still chat to her now and again. It can be daunting trying to find your way again after cricket and I have huge appreciation for the advice and rational voice she provided in helping my decision-making.”
For her part, Gobel says she is delighted how Jacobs has taken his opportunities and run with them.

“For me, one of the greatest elements of the SACA Player Plus Programme is the ability to network and create opportunities for players – it’s not always about physical assistance. After two years away from the game he came to me and we chatted about umpiring – he knew he wasn’t alone and that we were there to walk beside him. Ultimately, all we gave him was the opportunity of the umpiring course and he has run with it successfully. Over the years he’s been a delight to work with and very mature about looking after his beautiful wife and lovely little daughter.”


In the end, Jacobs even got that break from the game he wanted. Some of his former colleagues have also enabled him to tentatively get back into business, by utilising the BCom Honours degree in Accounting that he obtained at North West University in Potchefstroom in the early stages of his career between 1996 and 2001.


“I’m using it now to a certain degree. I facilitate the odd course, which means I use the theoretical background. I wouldn’t be able to build a career as a chartered accountant because I don’t have the relevant experience, and at my age plus with a family I can’t spare two years to do my articles. However, some of my old cricket friends have been very supportive and thrown some business my way. My knowledge of current systems is building, so something is developing…”

Share:

Text Info Strip

Back

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.”

Share:

Text Info Strip

Back

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.”

Share:

Text Info Strip

Back

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

Success. Failure. Disappointment. Perseverance. Dreams. These words begin to describe the journey Kevin Bennett has been on to achieve his objectives.

Kevin Bennett has played for Border since making his debut in the 2005-06 season, but has spent a significant portion of that time as a non-contract player. As a result the 34-year-old batsman has doggedly pursued opportunities outside of cricket.

“In 2001 I started studying at Rhodes University and then moved to NMMU [Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University], but it didn’t work out at either. At Rhodes, I was involved in a confrontation and was excluded during my second year. The following year I moved to NMMU where I played hockey and cricket, but in my second year in Port Elizabeth I couldn’t afford to continue my studies. I was living in an expensive flat in Summerstrand and I was paying for my studies, so I ended up going home where I continued my BCom Economics degree through Unisa while working.”

Back home – and with his ‘wild and loose’ persona behind him thanks to his newfound Christian faith – Bennett made his provincial breakthrough and managed to complete his degree, the first in his family to do so. Those efforts did not go unnoticed and culminated in an invitation to another learning institute in 2007.

“My brother Bevan was studying at and playing for the University of the Western Cape and I was invited by Advocate Nick Kock to come and play there too. Nick, who ran a life skills programme called Sport Skills 4 Life Skills, which encourages guys from disadvantaged backgrounds to play cricket and get an education, wanted me to do a post graduate course there and inspire other students to take their studies seriously.”

His time in the Cape ended up being quite busy as he was balancing the demands of doing a post graduate certificate in education whilst lending a hand at two other learning institutions.

“I worked at MSC Business College in Bellville [as he had done in East London] and concurrently lectured at Damelin College in Somerset West.”

Things were about to change.

“My fiancée was still in East London. We wanted to relocate but she struggled to find a job in Cape Town and in the end I decided to move back home. I applied to some schools and got a job at AW Barnes Primary in Parkside. That was in 2010, and I’ve been teaching there ever since. The school is surrounded by Second Creek informal settlement, and because I’m passionate about community development I’ve tried my best to help the kids, and the community, see that there are opportunities out there for them.”

Bennett understands the value of being given an opportunity to succeed. He and his twin brother Bevan do not come from an affluent family, and it was thanks to sports scholarships that they attended Selborne College where Bevan now teaches and coaches cricket. It was with this in mind that Bennett approached SACA to broaden his horizons even more.

“I remember players going to SACA meetings, but my first real involvement was when I approached Melonie Gobel [SACA’s East London-based PDM] to ask if I could do an MBA. She asked me to get the documentation from Mancosa and said that we would take it from there. I had to pay my registration fee and then, if I passed, SACA would cover my tuition fees.”

It is well known that doing a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) course is extremely demanding, so what was Bennett’s experience?

“Everyone said it would be so difficult, and that it would be almost impossible as a husband, father, teacher and a cricketer, but I’ve got through it and all of those things are still intact, and I am still intact. The highlight for me is that I tested my limits and I now know that I have a work ethic I never had before.”

So, no stressful times?

“The last two to three years were very difficult because I haven’t slept much, I’d wake up at three in the morning, study, then go to work, then find ways to train whether it’s a run or hitting some balls before studying some more and going to bed late. My wife Haylee was brilliant because she handled everything to do with our son Micah, who was two when I started studying. There were one or two arguments when I couldn’t fulfil certain responsibilities, like changing nappies, but in a sense the lows turned into highs because making up after an argument actually brought us closer together.”

Bennett is grateful for what cricket has afforded him.

“In cricket you have to manage success and failure. You have to find a happy balance. Personally, it took me some time to get that right. I was speaking to a guy recently who asked me why I chose cricket over hockey. His point was that success is never guaranteed in cricket but I told him the beauty of cricket is that it’s like no other game because it teaches you things that you need in life. It teaches you patience, how to deal with difficult people both within and outside of your team; it teaches you about dealing with people from different backgrounds, especially in the case of a team like Border. It’s such an amazing team because you play with guys who are from rural areas. Some don’t even live in a house but they’re playing cricket. It’s been such an enriching experience watching guys in situations like that still have the fight in them to win no matter where they come from.”

There is no doubt that Bennett himself has put up a similar fight.

Share:

Text Info Strip

Back

CHOOSING HIS TIME

When a cricketer leaves the game at 25, history suggests that they don’t do so on their own terms… not so for Dale Deeb.

By the time Dale Deeb had turned 25, his cricket CV was quite impressive. During high school at Trinityhouse in Randburg, he made SA Schools teams two years in a row, the highlight being captaining the 2008 side that included Temba Bavuma and Titans players Graeme van Buuren and Mangaliso Mosehle. After school, the spinning all-rounder represented SA Under-19 against England in 2009 before earning his breakthrough at the Highveld Lions via provincial cricket for Gauteng and North West. As has become popular with local cricketers, he’d also done a stint playing club cricket in the United Kingdom in 2012. However, by the end of the 2014-15 season Deeb chose to focus more on his work CV.

“It was a huge decision,” he admits. “Firstly, I was 25 but couldn’t really support myself on the contract I was being offered. Also I got to a point where I’d done everything I could for two seasons and was playing some of my best cricket, but wasn’t really getting any chances with the Lions. Ultimately, I also had something to fall back on.”

Deeb had already experienced a challenging period of studying. 

“I started off studying at the University of Johannesburg, but once I was contracted it just became too hectic. I was all over the country and it was too busy for me to even attend lectures. Then I went overseas, and when I got back I decided I needed to continue studying to get a degree. At UJ I studied B.Com Finance, but switched to B.Com Economics when I moved over to Unisa in 2011.”

As it turned out, studying part-time tested all of Deeb’s resolve.

“It required a lot more discipline, because if you don’t put in the time you’re not going to pass. One of the things I discovered that helped me was to do more subjects in winter when you have more time. In summer, during the season, I’d do three or four subjects, and then in winter I’d do six. I would still get my assignments and cram them in, but for three weeks during winter I’d put in eight or nine hours every day to work towards my exams.”

Finding Deeb with his books while padded up, or in stadium function rooms, or alongside regular roommate Nicky van den Bergh (himself studying towards his LLB at the time) became a common occurrence.

“I really put my head down in the last couple of years of studying and managed to finish my degree in 2015,” he says.

In the interim, Deeb also explored some business interests, initially getting involved with a business that erected, rented and sold scaffolding.

“We were bought out, so I’m currently involved in a company called Solid Ceiling Products with two partners. We import ceilings and partitioning for offices in commercial spaces and houses, and employ about 14 people in Johannesburg and Durban.”

Essentially it was Deeb’s need to get more hands-on that sealed his decision to move into the business full time.

“It wasn’t a case of when I get my degree, I’m going to stop playing cricket. It was more a case of weighing up the degree I had against the business I was in and what would be more meaningful for me in the long run – what would present me with a better future. It’s obviously been an adjustment working in an office rather than being on the field, but it’s all part of growing up – even if I do sometimes miss cricket.”

While financial considerations played a role in him transitioning out of cricket, Deeb highlights the challenges cricketers face.

“Yes, it had a lot to do with financial considerations, but I also felt it was the right time because I could commit to a long-term plan. There is no certainty in cricket. I needed more security or communication to stay patient, because I wanted a long-term future.”

And while Deeb is not even turning out for his old club, Wanderers, it’s not because he’s fallen out of love with the game.

“I’m loving working and doing what I do, but also having my weekends free. Maybe in time I’ll play a bit again, but when I look back I had seven years that I loved playing. I had an absolute blast in the last three years and ended with my best season [He was awarded the 2014-15 Provincial Three-Day Player of the Season]. Also, I felt I’d done everything I’d set out to do. I wanted to take 200 first-class wickets, and I did that. I also wanted to become an all-rounder, and in the last few seasons I averaged 30s and 40s with the bat.

“Overall, I’m happy about starting something new and being positive about it. The timing was right.”

Share:

Text Info Strip

Back

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…”

Share: