Academic options for Cricketers

[Savak]

This is a topic that i believe needs debating over. For youngsters in Pakistan ideally the PCB should be looking to sign Partnerships, MOU's with the top O, A Levels, Inter, Govt Schools, Universities in the country where the top performing players can be registered, signed on a database and then the PCB can hook them up with a regional side giving them an opportunity to show case their talent, put in performances so that these players can be considered for the domestic and national U16, U19, A teams, PSL teams and the international sides. By also signing these MOU's and Partnerships, the PCB should reach an agreement with these schools and universities that they will facilitate the student in terms of making it possible for them to focus on their studies, exams and cricket side by side via online lectures and giving exams at their own time and pace. Whatever field that youngster chooses to pursue is up to them.

I actually suspect that one of the major reasons why Pakistani International and Domestic players decide against completing their educations is because of the mindset that if they have played for a department or the national side upto their early to mid 30's, it will perhaps be too late for them to then complete and education and start from scratch again in the job market. Obviously the top players would by now have made plenty of money with which they can make smart business, passive investments to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

This is why i feel the present national side players and even domestic players need proper guidance from the PCB or a professional players association if one existed on the best possible educational options they can choose to pursue which will build on their cricketing skills, cricketing experience which they can then utilize to further maximize their skills and abilities going forward. I believe the following options are perfectly suitable for our players

1) MBA degree specializing in Management/Human Resources or a Masters in Sports Management Degree

- I believe with this degree, a present Pakistani player can put himself in an excellent position to take on a cricketing leadership role in either the PCB the ICC, a PSL Franchise, a regional association or a Department. The PCB can sign partnerships with the top universities in Pakistan and even some internationally renowned universities outside Pakistan where these universities facilitate the players in terms of providing access to online classes, lectures, materials and holding examinations according to the schedules of the players. The PCB can even provide scholarships or loans to players for this purpose

- An MBA degree can also help a player even in the event if he decides not to be involved in the game after his playing days are over and instead decides to pursue business activities like running their own business.

2) ICC, ECB, Cricket Australia, Pakistan Cricket Board Coaching Certificates

- I believe a lot of current Pakistani generational cricketers are now opting for this route and i welcome the open mindedness with which players are now realizing the value in pursuing coaching certificates and they are no longer blindly relying on the philosophy i.e. just because we are legendary cricket players, we played cricket for Pakistan for an extremely long time, it is beneath us to take coaching courses. It is also important to note that every country has a different coaching manual and cricketing philosophy and mindset and therefore if a player desires to get into coaching down the line, then why not give these players the opportunity to take the coaching courses from the top most places and allow these players to give back to the game of cricket via head coaching role, batting, bowling, fielding coaching roles in the NCA, regional sides, U16, U19 teams, PSL sides and even international cricket. Heck this will also enable the players to open their own academies

- I believe the costs of these programs should not be excessively prohibitive and can be met by some of the top players themselves or if a player communicates with the PCB about their desire to pursue coaching down the line and offering their services to the PCB then the PCB can offer the players loans.

3) English Speaking programs i.e. Rosseta stone classes, IELTS, TOEFL classes

- This will help the present and future generation of Pakistani players understand how to conduct themselves in interviews, press conferences, ceremonies, events, build relationships with players of other countries ad communicate better. This will also help the players improve their chances of landing broad casting and cricketing expert roles down the line

4) A degree in Journalism

- I believe this is something a present player can definitely look into. The quality of journalism in the Pakistani Sports Broadcasting industry is seriously outdated and painduish to be very honest. We need more people with the professionalism, easy for the eyes, ears individuals like Ramiz Raja, Bazid Khan, Aamir Sohail to enter into the broad cast media. We need more sports channels. At the moment our advertising industry does not find it attractive enough to pump their ads in our sports channels and instead they pump 97% of their ads into the news and entertainment channels instead whereas in India 20% of advertising income is generated via sports channels and in the US 35-40% of advertising income is generated from sports channels. The Pakistani channels of Geo Super, PTV Sports, ARY came up with an embarrassingly low broadcast bid for the PSL tv rights due to which the PCB had no choice but to go to an Indian channel to obtain the amount it wanted especially since PEMRA refused to allow the PCB permission to allow the Pakistani News Channels and Pakistani Entertainment channels to bid for the PSL as well.

- I believe exposure to a journalism degree can encourage Pakistani Cricketers to get involved in journalism, write articles, join the sports broad cast field and even encourage them to take the plunge and open their own sports tv channels, youtube channels, heck why not open their own sports tv channels.

4) Entreprenuership Courses, Resources, Access to the Small Business Association (SMEDA)

- This is to provide guidance, counselling to the present cricketers who desire to run any business of their choosing once their careers are over. This can be anything i.e. a sports academy, a gym, cricket academy, a sports manufacturing company, a tv channel

5) Financial guidance, investment counseling

- This is vital for the players especially in the form of giving them an opportunity to plan for life outside cricket. It gives them an opportunity to understand how money works so that they don't run into financial problems once their playing days are over

I think these are the most realistic options for Pakistani players to look into once their playing days are over. Feel free to add your input, suggestions over here

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Fantastic post! You touched on involving the top O and A Level schools and I fully agree. One underlooked aspect of this is grooming which is very much inclucated at these schools and would be very helpful to cricketers. We see this in everyone ranging from Imran Khan and Ramiz Raja to Wahab Riaz, where a good schooling puts a good head on your shoulders and also allows you to communicate well. The schools, in turn, from Aitchison to Karachi and Lahore Grammar, to Beaconhouse, are mostly all very flexible especially in such cases and would be very willing to accommodate aspiring cricketers via a PCB partnership. The only thing missing is the initiative from the PCB to formulate these partnerships for U13, U16, and U19 cricketers. The expenses aren’t much — PCB can leave funding to the cricketers, and provide scholarship or loan grants for those who need it most.

Arguably, this can also help strengthen the cricket infrastructure at a school level which is very good in other cricket countries and facilitates cricketers. In addition to playing for their regional and U16 teams, cricketers would also play for their school teams against other schools filled with PCB cricketers. These can also be good opportunities for these players to learn to captain.

This will then lay the foundation for their university experience which can be very fruitful for the PCB. Everything you mentioned, plus one suggestion I would like to add is partnering with universities in the UK to facilitate the careers of Pakistan A and even national team members. There are great benefits to providing young cricketers with increased exposure on to pitches in England, as well as their coaches and facilities available at the university level. This goes all the way back to Abdul Hafeez Kardar who played for Oxford. Sadly, after Imran Khan’s generation, we don’t see many cricketers take their educations so seriously.

Once again, fantastic post and POTW material. Some great suggestions for the PCB, if only they took the initiative.

 

[Savak]

This is part of my vision of making Cricket in Pakistan an elite, upper middle class, middle class, educated class field again. Enough of Sarfaraz type painduish characters in the team who embarrass themselves with how they conduct themselves in interviews and yawn with a double chin in an international game. Who can forget the abbey kalley episode.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

This is part of my vision of making Cricket in Pakistan an elite, upper middle class, middle class, educated class field again. Enough of Sarfaraz type painduish characters in the team who embarrass themselves with how they conduct themselves in interviews and yawn with a double chin in an international game. Who can forget the abbey kalley episode.

I don’t think it needs to be a binary. A hybrid approach where cricketers from lower class backgrounds are educated is enough. There is no difference between a “paindu” and educated character on basis of income levels or family backgrounds. The only difference is in education. Take Sarfaraz or Umar Akmal as a child and put him into one of these Cambridge school system institutions while he was in his U13, U16, and U19 days, and you will have seen a very different set of cricketers.

 

[Last Monetarist]

This is part of my vision of making Cricket in Pakistan an elite, upper middle class, middle class, educated class field again. Enough of Sarfaraz type painduish characters in the team who embarrass themselves with how they conduct themselves in interviews and yawn with a double chin in an international game. Who can forget the abbey kalley episode.

Congratulations on promoting a vision that will cripple wider interest in the game in the country and make it a minority sport for the elite. Give me a thousand Babar Azams and Javed Miandads over someone like Shan Masood and Ramiz Raja. That schooling did nothing to prevent Salman Butt from embarrassing the country in ways that Sarfraz hasn't come close to achieving.

However, that is not to say that I disagree with your suggestion that talented cricketers that have been identified at a young age (sort of similar to the age when Babar was brought into the system) need to undergo a rigorous programme of self-improvement and education while they simultaneously commit themselves to a career in cricket.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Fantastic post! You touched on involving the top O and A Level schools and I fully agree. One underlooked aspect of this is grooming which is very much inclucated at these schools and would be very helpful to cricketers. We see this in everyone ranging from Imran Khan and Ramiz Raja to Wahab Riaz, where a good schooling puts a good head on your shoulders and also allows you to communicate well. The schools, in turn, from Aitchison to Karachi and Lahore Grammar, to Beaconhouse, are mostly all very flexible especially in such cases and would be very willing to accommodate aspiring cricketers via a PCB partnership. The only thing missing is the initiative from the PCB to formulate these partnerships for U13, U16, and U19 cricketers. The expenses aren’t much — PCB can leave funding to the cricketers, and provide scholarship or loan grants for those who need it most.

Arguably, this can also help strengthen the cricket infrastructure at a school level which is very good in other cricket countries and facilitates cricketers. In addition to playing for their regional and U16 teams, cricketers would also play for their school teams against other schools filled with PCB cricketers. These can also be good opportunities for these players to learn to captain.

This will then lay the foundation for their university experience which can be very fruitful for the PCB. Everything you mentioned, plus one suggestion I would like to add is partnering with universities in the UK to facilitate the careers of Pakistan A and even national team members. There are great benefits to providing young cricketers with increased exposure on to pitches in England, as well as their coaches and facilities available at the university level. This goes all the way back to Abdul Hafeez Kardar who played for Oxford. Sadly, after Imran Khan’s generation, we don’t see many cricketers take their educations so seriously.

Once again, fantastic post and POTW material. Some great suggestions for the PCB, if only they took the initiative.

This bit is rubbish, most young cricketers from working class or even middle class backgrounds can never hope to afford the exorbitant fees that some of these private schools are charging. Furthermore, it is beyond the PCB's remit to pay for full-time education in the way that you are advocating, they are not in the business of social advancement for the underprivileged. These are all pipe dreams that are utterly vulnerable to corruption from the unscrupulous people running the PCB.

What is beyond doubt is that the PCB should invest in providing professional training programmes and courses for cricketers at the academy and those that are part of the international setup, to prepare them for a career beyond cricket once they retire.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

This bit is rubbish, most young cricketers from working class or even middle class backgrounds can never hope to afford the exorbitant fees that some of these private schools are charging. Furthermore, it is beyond the PCB's remit to pay for full-time education in the way that you are advocating, they are not in the business of social advancement for the underprivileged. These are all pipe dreams that are utterly vulnerable to corruption from the unscrupulous people running the PCB.

What is beyond doubt is that the PCB should invest in providing professional training programmes and courses for cricketers at the academy and those that are part of the international setup, to prepare them for a career beyond cricket once they retire.

You’re telling me the PCB can’t afford a couple dozen lacs a year to fund U13 and U16 cricketers? They pay 10 times as much for the PSL anthem

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Secondly, it’s not a social advancement charity but a training pipeline that will vastly augment their work at the age group levels, when the infrastructure has been found wanting for improvement for several years. It is a matter of priorities for the PCB, not a matter of money. You cannot have your cake and eat it too — for decades, this has been the mindset where we expect results without investing in the set up. This is the first step.