Sam Bates' begins to focus on life after cricket

Professional cricket can be a bit of a whirlwind at times, and for Sam Bates, having something to focus on off-field is important.

When she’s not spinning a web for Victoria in the WNCL or the Sydney Thunder in the WBBL, Bates is studying Paramedicine online through Central Queensland University, traveling to the campus up to eight times each semester. It is an opportunity she wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of if it wasn’t for the ACA’s GamePlan Education Grants.

Speaking to the ACA, Bates spoke highly of the women’s game and where it’s at, and claims that makes it all the more important to set yourself up for life after cricket.

After doing a placement which Sam described as a defining moment, she decided paramedicine would be her focus after cricket.

“It was awesome to kind of know that the outside world isn’t actually as scary as I thought it would be,” she says.

Bates says having something else to focus on towards the “back-end” of her career put her in a different frame of mind, alluding to the fact that it’s very much helped her on-field as she goes from contract to contract, knowing that “it’s okay if this is my last”, allowing her to focus more on her cricket while also balancing her studies.

Speaking on the importance of programs like the Education Grants, Sam touched on the evolution of cricket, reflecting on her journey through cricket as “non-professional, to semi-professional, to fully professional”.

“Cricket is changing and it’s getting more and more important to be able to have a life outside of cricket and to be able to work on life after cricket,” she says.

Having studied for four years, with two years and two placements to go, Sam seemed excited to be at the “back end”. When asked what she had enjoyed most about her study to this point, she was very quick to talk about her placement, and also credit the ability for her to transfer cricket into the paramedical world, and paramedics into cricket, saying that has really helped both facets of her life.

Sam underwent her placement in Queensland, in an area west of Ipswich.

“I had really good mentors, and it didn’t feel like a job at all, which was one of the best parts about it,” she says.

Sam recommends any ACA member considering accessing Education Grants, take up the opportunity.

“I think it’s just a no brainer really, cricket is so consuming and the more professional it becomes the more pressure that comes, and the more intense it gets, so to have something that is completely different from cricket is something that I couldn’t stress enough for the younger generation to have.

“I think people perceive it as they’ve got to do full-time university, I've got to finish this degree straight away, but it's not, with the help from the ACA you can do one subject here, two subjects here, it’s something that you can really chip away at now.”

ACA Members can reach out to their PDM or the ACA team for more information on the support available.