Jake Carder Uses ACA Education Grants To Set His Career Up

Jake Carder always had an eye on what his post-cricket career might look like.

Gaining a head start in the study-space, Jake studied for 12 months prior to receiving his first professional contract with Western Australia.

With the help of the ACA’s Education Grants, Jake has been able to complete several qualifications, including a Sport Science Degree, a Business Diploma and a level two coaching accreditation, as well as a Master of Secondary Teaching.

Jake said “I was pretty keen to keep knocking off qualifications while I was contracted.

“I suppose I was always thinking about life beyond cricket and what I was going to do, so I was using the education grants as a way to give me a pretty good spread of qualifications in fields that I was particularly interested in.

“I had a goal to move into a school space, to coordinate or run a cricket program within a school, so that's what I was tailoring all my study to.”

The support from the ACA had a positive impact on Jake and his pursuit of further study.

“The ACA was massive for me in terms of encouraging me to continue studying, and once I’d finished a degree or a qualification, to look into what might be next - exploring any areas of interest, and making sure that while you're on contract you utilise as much of the education grants as you can.

“You don't really know when your time will be up as a professional cricketer, but the education grants are a great resource to have at your disposal to set you up for life after cricket.

“For me, it's been massive being able to tick off, whatever qualifications or study I wanted to do, it's been a game changer for me.”

Education grants are not the only resource Jake has tapped in to from an ACA perspective, having also been involved in our Game Development Program, and after coming off contract, went into an internship as part of our Cricket Internship program.

On the latter, Jake said:

“When I did come off contract, I moved into an ACA internship within SACA in Talent ID. That was awesome to bridge the gap between losing my contract and then finding another job. It gave me some great experience in coaching and gave me a great chance to sit on the other side of the fence as a coach rather than a player and see how things operate behind the scenes.

Jake’s passion for coaching fuelled his involvement in the ACA’s Game Development Program, and he has a strong desire to use his experience as a professional cricketer to upskill junior players.

“I'm really passionate about coaching and it's something that I want to pursue in the future, and pass on what I learned as a professional cricketer onto the next generation.

“It's been a great way for me to get exposure into coaching without having to take on a full-time coaching role at a club or an association, so it lets me keep tabs on being involved in cricket and coaching, and also gives me a wide spread of talent and skill levels, to give me a well-rounded coaching apprenticeship, for when I do want to move more permanently into that space.”

ACA Members’ involvement in the Game Development Program can have a significant impact on young cricketers. Jake agrees and on this, says that juniors are often like “little sponges”, who “hang on to everything you say”.

“I think you can have a massive impact on their development as a cricketer just by showing your face down at a cricket club, to give an hour or two of your time to help them out with their batting or bowling or fielding or whatever it may be.”

A message to ACA members thinking about getting involved in the Game Development Program, from Jake:

“Jump in with both feet. If it's not for you, it's not for you, but I encourage everyone to give it a crack. 
It's really rewarding, you see results pretty quickly and you can see the impact you have on young kids in in just one session of an hour or two. "

Recently, Jake was appointed Director of Cricket at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, a role that very much aligns with his studies and career goals.

“It came around more quickly than I expected, my first job out of being contracted, having geared all my studies towards a role like this.”

“I would have loved to have played professional cricket for a bit longer, but in terms of coming off contract and into something that I wanted to do post-cricket, it's worked out really well.

Jake’s story of balancing life alongside cricket is a great example of how you can set yourself up for success post-cricket, with the guidance from the ACA and our programs.