Jessy Carroll always wanted to coach East Sunbury Cricket Club but wasn’t sure the timing was right.
He knew he could do the job but wasn’t sure whether the club wanted him to take the role as he couldn’t guarantee he could be a playing coach.
One conversation with club officials quickly put all Carroll’s doubts behind him.
“I said I wasn’t 100 per cent sure I could play and they said, ‘That’s fine, we’d rather have you around as coach and around the club than not at all’,” Carroll said last week.
“It was good to hear I had the backing of everyone and I was a bit more confident when they asked me that.”
Carroll, 25, was always seen as next coach of the Thunder. He was assistant coach to Mark Hourigan in 2014-15 and was meant to help coach last season when he returned from an overseas holiday.
But everything changed when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s B-cell lymphoma while in London.
His family, the East Sunbury Sporting group and the whole Sunbury community got together to raise money to help bring Carroll home.
Carroll says his battle has been “up and down” but adds that the support he’s received has been mind-blowing.
And he says his diagnosis isn’t going to stop him doing the things he wants to do.
“There’s no point putting your life on hold; we all die one day,” he says.
“Do as much as you can while you can. I wasn’t going to put my hand up as I couldn’t commit to playing and coaching.
“I’m 100 per cent on the coaching side of things but still not sure if I’ll play
“I’m waiting on a few tests and, hopefully, I can get over it and get out and play.
“Leading off the field is half the job. You want to lead on the field as well. That’s when all the pressure comes and you can really stand up and help the younger guys.”
As much as the club wants Carroll to be with it, he wants to be there, too.
“They don’t treat you any differently down here. Some people talk to you differently when you’re sick, but at the club everyone still has a laugh and jokes around with you. Banter always lifts your spirits.”
Carroll takes on the job after a disappointing season for the Thunder, which finished on the bottom of the Gisborne and District Cricket Association B-grade ladder.
Carroll says the timing is right now to take over and give East Sunbury a fresh start.
“I learnt a bit in the first year with Mark and we made the grand final and only just lost,” he said.
“Hopefully that was just one bad year. I watched a bit last year and there were things I thought I could change.
“I want to build a tight squad that will hang around with each other and have a close bond off the ground. Hopefully, success comes with that.”
Carroll says he hopes being a youthful coach will also be helpful with a young squad.
“I’m not that much older than them and I’m someone they can come and talk to,” he said.
“Most of their problems – like if they want to go to another club to further test their skills – I can handle that as I’m just past that part of my life. Hopefully I can influence younger players.”
Carroll says that as well as applying his own spin on coaching, he will use skills he has learned from his last two coaches, Hourigan and Steve Grey.
Grey, who coached Carroll at Sunbury United and East Sunbury, is coaching United this season. It’s a match-up Carroll keenly anticipates.
“I watched Steve coach and brought in things he did,” he said.
“I trained with United when I first started cricket under Steve and the mentality was ‘no pain no gain’. I’ve followed that my whole life in cricket.
“I saw how he did it and took a bit from him and saw how Mark did it and took a bit from him, so just the aspect of growing the youth is what I want to do.”
Carroll says the club has started talking to potential recruits but is focused on building from within.
“Hopefully, we can get a bit of confidence into them early.
“I’m looking at a couple of new players but I don’t want to push the envelope too far.
“I want to build a side that will be together for three or four years, moving up together as a group.
“I’ll be around 28 or 29 then and so will a lot of the other boys and we’ll have a lot of cricket under our belts.”
