Leaders Series #2 - Lydia Greenway
“Never think you have reached your full potential or that you are the best you can be.”
For the next in our Leaders Series, former England cricketer and now broadcaster, coach and business owner, Lydia Greenway has been kind enough to answer our questions.
Lydia represented England in 14 test matches, 126 ODI matches and 85 T20 internationals scoring over 4000 international runs throughout a 13 year career.
Through careful planning whilst she was playing, she has transitioned into a successful career off the pitch since she retired.
Read our interview with Lydia below…
What do you do? What roles or jobs do you currently have?
- Freelance broadcaster
- Coach
- Run Cricket for Girls and The Female Cricket Store
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and path or journey to where you are now?
Former England cricketer 2003-2016
Playing for England took up most of my time in this period but I also coached and studied alongside my playing career. This allowed me to have a degree in sports science and management as well as the Level 3 coaching badge. I feel completing both of these whilst playing put me in a much better position when it came to my retirement from cricket.
Since retiring I have enjoyed the process of continually learning new skills and roles, especially in broadcasting and coaching. I have recently come back from Australia having been assistant coach for Sydney Sixers in the WBBL - being in a new and different environment was both challenging but also full of learning.
Tell me about your typical day/ week?
It depends on the time of year but a general week would include:
- General day to day managing and developing of Cricket for Girls and The Female Cricket Store
- Delivering and planning for teacher training courses in different locations around the country
- Preparing for commentating on games during the summer - lots of research and chatting to people within the game to try and provide as much insight as possible when commentating
- General travel up and down the country!
What have been your biggest challenges? What have been your highlights?
Whilst playing the biggest challenge has always been the mental side of the game, it can be a very tough game - especially during a bad run of form. Being able to find confidence and belief in my ability was always so important. Injury also played it’s part, the frustration of knowing you are being held back was something that you have to manage as a player and you have to get to know your body - when it can be pushed but also when you need to take the foot of the gas - the latter was often the hardest one to manage for me!
Highlights - obviously success on the pitch will always stand out, winning two world cups and ashes series were amazing experiences - achieving goals that I set myself from such a young age was extremely satisfying. Off the pitch it is the memories you have with your team mates, travelling the world, celebrating in the changing rooms - the small things that people don’t always see or know about are often the memories I find myself recalling the most.
What piece of advice would you give to our students?/ What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Never think you have reached your full potential or that you are the best you can be. The best players in the world are always striving to be better - they are hungry for success and they aren’t afraid to make mistakes.
What/ who inspires you? Maybe a person, phrase, or picture?
On the pitch: Underdogs inspire me. The people or teams who others don’t think can or will be successful - the joy of seeing them go on to prove people wrong is always great to see.
Off the pitch: Kindness. People who take the time to think about others over themselves I think is always inspiring.
A huge thank you to lydia for her time and for sharing her thoughts with us.
You can follow lydia on twitter @lydiagreenway