Salt Rock’s Gavin Reddy is trying to create the next generation of Proteas cricket stars.
The recently appointed 1st XI coach at Curro Salt Rock has also been selected to coach the Dolphins Rural men’s team.
Originally from Park Rynie on the South Coast, cricket has been a lifelong passion for Reddy, who was a handy player before shifting to coaching.
“I played for the Dolphins Academy after school and for a few years of semi-pro club cricket. I always had one eye on coaching and was keen to get my certificates as soon as I could,” he said.
Reddy first picked up the coach’s whistle in 2015 after completing his Level 1 qualification, working at both Westville Boys and Glenwood Boys high schools.
Level 2 was naturally the next stepping point and he qualified as soon as he could, allowing him to step up to provincial coaching level.
“I was the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) U16 Coastals head coach last year and also the selector for all U16 teams,” he said.
“We had our inter-provincial tournament in Oudtshoorn in December and our team went five for five to claim the trophy for KZN.”
He is now preparing for another tournament, this time with the Dolphins Rural men’s team, who will take on rural teams from across the country in Bethlehem this weekend.
Rural teams are selected from non-metro areas in every participating province.
Reddy said there were a few “wise men” from the iLembe Cricket Union who impressed at trials and were selected as part of the team to travel to Bethlehem.
Forget frankincense and myrrh, let’s hope they bring back gold!
The team plays their first game on Wednesday, with the finals held on Sunday.
Reddy has been in the post at Curro since the beginning of this year after moving from the head of sport position at Pennington Primary School on the South Coast.
His next step is to seek Level 3 qualification – the highest possible – but it is by invitation only and the programme takes limited numbers every year.
Another trophy for the cabinet this weekend certainly would not hurt his chances.
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