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planning for retirement<br />
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1<br />
My first steps<br />
Napier set<br />
to bow out<br />
It is often said that a sportsman’s career<br />
rarely has a fairytale ending. For most<br />
this is true. Injury or a loss of contract<br />
can often be the harsh reality for those<br />
hoping for the thrill of lifting a cup at<br />
Lord's or scorching a century in their final<br />
match. A player’s exit into the real world<br />
of jobs and a mortgage can be equally as<br />
traumatic. Finishing their cricketing journey<br />
at the peak of their playing and earning<br />
power, is usually replaced by a stark dose<br />
of reality as their life journey begins at a<br />
much lower level in the corporate world or<br />
searching for an income.<br />
Graham Napier has had all of these<br />
thoughts. The Essex all-rounder who made<br />
his first-class debut in 1997, and has been<br />
part of the county scene for close to 20<br />
years, has decided to move on from the<br />
game at the end of the 2016 season, to<br />
focus on a career in cricket coaching at the<br />
Royal Hospital School in Ipswich<br />
The decision wasn’t easy: “I had been<br />
thinking about this for a while, but had<br />
been waiting for the right opportunity<br />
to arise. With the commitment required<br />
to play at your best these days and the<br />
standards demanded through fitness and<br />
training, I realised the time was right and<br />
that made the decision easier”, Napier<br />
said “I consulted with a few people who<br />
had retired and moved on and got their<br />
thoughts. That part was crucial in terms of<br />
helping me make the decision”.<br />
In a career that has spanned over 400<br />
First Class wickets and 5000 runs, Napier<br />
made a conscious decision five years<br />
ago to start taking control of his future:<br />
“At that stage I started approaching<br />
companies and sponsors I had met, with<br />
a view towards getting some experience<br />
with them and finding out a bit about<br />
the real world! The thing about leaving<br />
the game is working out what you have<br />
a passion for. The hardest bit is finding<br />
out what you don’t want to do. You have<br />
probably got to have a go at ten different<br />
things that you don’t like to find the thing<br />
that’s right for you.”<br />
Initially Napier thought that he wanted<br />
to move away from cricket and shunned<br />
the idea of coaching. It was only when he<br />
took part in the ECB Level 3 Course that<br />
he suddenly realised that his outlook had<br />
changed: “In many ways I wish that I had<br />
done the Level 3 sooner. It really changed<br />
my outlook on the game and I think that<br />
what I learned would have helped me as a<br />
player. I was so focussed on cricket in my<br />
peak years that I didn’t think of anything<br />
else. It’s important that you are focussed,<br />
but a distraction away from the game<br />
would definitely help.”<br />
Napier started to do a little bit of<br />
coaching at school level and found it<br />
rewarding. The fun in seeing the smiles on<br />
the kids’ faces made him think that this<br />
could be the career for him after all. The<br />
Royal Hospital School also saw something<br />
that they liked and approached him about<br />
taking on the Director of Cricket role at<br />
the school. It was an easy decision: “Don<br />
Topley (former Essex player and father<br />
of Reece), has done a brilliant job at the<br />
school over the past 23 years and has laid<br />
some great groundwork which I will look<br />
to build on. It has been tough over the last<br />
three to four years worrying about what<br />
the future holds, but now I’m settled and<br />
looking forward to moving on to the next<br />
phase of my life.”<br />
And any advice for cricketers starting<br />
out in the game? “The PCA have always<br />
been there in the background reminding<br />
you that cricket doesn’t last forever and<br />
have been a great support, but at the<br />
end of the day you have to help yourself.<br />
Personal Development Managers can<br />
offer you support and help create<br />
contacts but you must do it for yourself.<br />
That is the key.”<br />
As he enters his final year on the circuit,<br />
Graham Napier has a chance to say<br />
goodbye to the game that has been so<br />
good to him for nearly two decades. He<br />
will be a man with his mind at peace.<br />
I think that what<br />
I learned would<br />
have helped me as<br />
a player. I was so<br />
focussed on cricket<br />
in my peak years<br />
that I didn’t think of<br />
anything else. It’s<br />
important that you<br />
are focussed, but<br />
a distraction away<br />
from the game would<br />
definitely help”<br />
thepca.co.uk / BtB issue 18 37
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