The Star: April 11, 2019

The Star Thursday April 11 2019
18
OUR PEOPLE – Gary Stead
From growing up on an apple
Black Caps head coach
and former Canterbury
batsman Gary Stead is
about to face his biggest
challenge in the role yet –
the ICC Cricket World Cup
in May. Sophie Cornish
talks to him about life
outside of cricket and the
effect his new role has on
the people closest to him
How did you celebrate when
you found out you’d got the role
as head coach?
I got a phone call from the
chief executive offering me the
job. It had been a reasonably
lengthy process. I rung the wife
and told her I’d been offered it. It
was a pretty low key celebration,
I think we might have had a glass
of wine or something – I can’t
really remember to be honest. But
it was a real thrill, a dream come
true really. It’s always nice to
represent your country, but then
you get a chance to contribute
in a different way – from a
coaching perspective and helping
them learn to get the best out of
themselves is again different to
playing.
It’s still a real thrill and
honour to be asked. We’ve got a
pretty settled team, so keeping
developing good, competitive
competition right throughout
IN CHARGE: Black Caps coach
Gary Stead grew up playing cricket
in the backyard and wanting to
follow in his father’s footsteps as
a Canterbury cricketer.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
the country is going to be really
critical to make sure we stay
at the top of the game. Any
job you come into, it’s just
about developing good, strong
relationships and trust and then,
hopefully, if you do that, your
ability to keep challenging people
and pushing them towards
getting the very best out of them
gets easier and easier.
Are your wife and kids as
cricket-mad as you?
Both of my kids play a little bit,
both of them are at secondary
school now. Libby is 15-yearsold
and she plays at the north
west cricket club and goes to
Christchurch Girls’ High School.
She’s done well with her cricket,
she’s into netball too. My boy
Alex, he’s 13 and in his first year
at secondary school and he’s
into cricket and hockey mainly.
Rachel my wife is definitely
not into cricket, so she’s on the
sideline reading books. She’s
into her netball coaching – she
coaches the Lincoln University
premier team. She’s also a
primary school teacher. It’s very
busy. I try when I can to get
them down to the nets and help
them out when I can. I think the
main thing when they are young,
whoever is coaching them, is to
make sure they have some fun
and are learning something. It
doesn’t have to be me; any coach
can help them, as long as they do
those things.
Tell me about your
upbringing in Christchurch
– were you into sports from a
young age?
I grew up on an apple orchard
down Marshland Rd with my
mum, dad, brother Wayne and
sister Andrea. I was brought
up there right through until
secondary school. That was great,
it was outdoors sort of living and
we were all expected to chip in at
different times. I think it was a
great upbringing to be perfectly
honest.
I went to a small country
school called Ouruhia Model
School. It was very small, only
about 30 kids when I started,
and about 70 when I finished.
Then I went to Shirley Boys’
High School. I played a lot of
sport, I was into everything
really. Cricket and rugby were
my two main ones. Then as I
got into high school, I got into
squash quite a bit. I had a go at
everything really.
stag weekend
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