Former England cricketer Sarah Taylor has taken up life skills coaching job at Bede’s. The English woman who has retired from international cricket has joined Eastbourne and Upper Dicker schools as a life skills coach.
Can’t wait to start my next chapter with @bedesnews can’t thank them enough. I have a lot of amazing memories there as a child and can’t wait to get back and be a part of the staff! Exciting times ahead 😊 🏏 #teambedes pic.twitter.com/b9McUWTh1s
— Sarah Taylor (@Sarah_Taylor30) December 5, 2019
Sarah Taylor has been appointed as a life skills coach at Bede’s. After she retired from playing cricket, Taylor will be donning the coach’s hat for school children. She has joined the school’s sports department as the Sports Development and Life Skills Coach. Taylor will work across both the Senior school at Upper Dicker and Prep School at Eastbourne. Her role will involve increasing participation and performance in sport across all year groups as well as to support them with elite-level coaching across the core and competitive sports. Her responsibility also lies in promoting positive emotional and physical wellbeing in pupils at all athletic levels.
Sarah Taylor was known for her adept wicket-keeping skills as well as responsible batting. She was also a part of the England team which won the World Cup at home in 2017. Her other feats include being the youngest female cricketer to score 1000 runs in ODI cricket. Taylor was also awarded the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award four times- thrice in T20I and once in ODI.
As reported by David Byrne, Director of Sports Bede’s, Taylor is excited about her new role. Taylor, who herself attended Bede’s Prep from 1999 to 2002, feels that it is a perfect role in the perfect place for her. “This really is the perfect role in the perfect place for me. The opportunity to work with the coaches already at Bede’s and learn from them, as well as inspire the next generation of children coming through the School is incredibly exciting,” she said.
Sarah who has advocated for mental health and well-being throughout her career has a Diploma in Life Coaching. She highlighted the stress and difficulties young players go through while playing sports at the top level. She also threw light on the importance of work/life balance.
“…Competing at that high level came with a huge amount of pressure (mainly from myself), which made me understand the importance of instilling a work/life balance – because if you don’t then something will crash eventually,” she said. “Being a young person these days is very difficult – alongside the academic and sporting pressures, there is a lot of social pressure to be who everyone else wants you to be. I really want to encourage all of our pupils to trust and believe in themselves,” she added.
Sarah Taylor will start her role with Bede’s next year from January.
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