Sara McGlashan

Sara McGlashan

• Coach Profile

Sara McGlashan was one of the first Kiwi women’s cricketers to receive a professional contract, and now the players she coaches can see a career in cricket for themselves, and even the chance to be world champions.

In 2013, four White Ferns, including McGlashan, were awarded with one-year contracts to be able to focus on cricket full-time – a huge initiative at the time. And this year, 15 White Ferns each received an extra $257,000 for winning the T20 World Cup.

Making her national debut in 2002, McGlashan can see just how far the women’s game has come, and not just in terms of pay.

“The profile of the game’s helped as well, the image of the game is easier to access these days, like TVNZ, social media,” she says.

“You want to create a profile where you really are wanting to sell a dream for the younger players – realistically there’s a career in cricket within New Zealand now for females.”

But at the end of the day, her goal is simply for the people she coaches to love the game.

“You just want to provide opportunities where they can experience cricket and enjoy it, whether that’s beach cricket, school cricket, backyard cricket, it doesn’t really matter,” she says.

“You just want to make sure their interaction with cricket is an enjoyable one. And those players who have the drive and the skills to go higher, they’re provided that opportunity as well if that’s where they want to get to.”

McGlashan is currently the female pathways coach at New Zealand Cricket, which involves working with the programme underneath the White Ferns – the A programme, Under 19 level and players of interest.

She coached the U19 team at their World Cup last year, with three members of that team going on to win a senior World Cup this year – Izzy Gaze, Fran Jonas and Georgia Plimmer all starring in the White Ferns’ remarkable win.

Despite coaching the next generation of White Ferns and world champions, McGlashan still finds some of the little things the most rewarding.

“For me personally, it’s just when you see players grow but as a person – like when you see someone gain more confidence with little things like speaking in front of groups, or they transfer a skill from training out into the middle,” McGlashan says.

“It’s just seeing players have that sense of achievement, but in any setting, not just on the cricket field. I think that’s the most pleasing thing, the cricket’s just the vehicle right, it’s the vehicle to grow in different life skills. A lot of highlights still end up not happening on the field.”

McGlashan has had a lot of coaches in her playing days who she’s been able to learn from and emulate their coaching style, or learn what doesn’t work.

“I’m certainly not one to be barking orders, I probably didn’t respond well to that style, sort of that dictatorship, loud style of coaching,” she explains.

Ensuring players receive a holistic experience while being coached is important for McGlashan, and making sure players are looked after.

“That’s always at the forefront of all the decisions you make and the way you communicate and interact with people,” she says.

McGlashan’s parents were both teachers, and she considered going down that route before realising she wasn’t suited to the indoor classroom life.

“I always had an interest in coaching and would sort of help out as much as I could informally,” McGlashan says of her time playing cricket growing up.

Her dad Peter was a big influence for Sara, who was also a top level footballer.

“He coached me through my football and was a really well respected football coach within his school and Hawke’s Bay community,” Sara says.

“He played a big part in probably my initial interest in coaching.”

McGlashan was also inspired by Mike Shrimpton, who coached the White Ferns and the Central Hinds and was an influential figure in Hawke’s Bay cricket.

“As a player, I really respected him, and he probably had a big influence on the way I wanted to coach as well.”

After her playing career finished, McGlashan spent two years working at Cricket Tasmania as the female pathway coach.

“That was an amazing experience for so many reasons, but I guess there’s always that deep down desire to try and have an impact in cricket within New Zealand,” she says.

“The opportunities that I was given as a player, and the people I was exposed to and the impact they’ve had on me, deep down I always wanted to try do that for players in New Zealand.”

The number of different coaches and cricket professionals McGlashan has encountered in her playing and coaching career have all had an impact on her. She encourages others to learn from all the different people around them, and not try to fit a mould.

“I think that’s the great thing when you’re a player, you get exposed to so many different styles of coaching and so many different styles of people, the last thing you want is for everyone to be moulded into a particular type of coach,” she says.

“No different from wanting players to be themselves, you want coaches to be themselves too.”