James Hawley took part in Sport Lived’s fantastic Gap Year New Zealand playing cricket in Christchurch from September to March. He admits that it was certainly challenging at first, but has gained far more from the experience than he had ever envisaged.
Based at one of the largest clubs in Christchurch, James played in one of the nine men’s teams and was one of two hundred members at this brilliant club. Based at the Hagley Oval, the club’s ground is the base of club cricket in Christchurch and enjoys an impressive one hundred year history. With an extremely successful first grade team and as, arguably, one of the top ten teams in the area, coaching here is excellent and there are plenty of opportunities to play in some exciting and challenging matches.
James was able to benefit from participating in two day games at the club, improving his fitness levels and allowing him to hone his concentration whilst batting and bowling for much longer periods of time. He describes the coaching as ‘Immensely helpful’. The intensity of the two day games has given me fantastic experience for the future and really brought a new dimension to my game.’ Through Sport Lived James was even able to utilise the facilities at Canterbury Cricket’s head office. ‘The indoor facilities were amazing’ says James, ‘just as good if not better than anything we have in this country. The coaching was incredible and my game undoubtedly improved as a result.’
Training took place on both Tuesdays and Thursdays, with matches on the weekends so there was plenty of time for James to secure a job to keep him busy whilst giving the bank balance a much needed boost! ‘A lot of people worry they won’t find work when they embark on a gap year like this’ he observes, ‘but I would really stress to anyone considering it that myself and the other Sport Lived participants with me in Christchurch found it extremely easy to find work, it’s really not a problem. The Sport Lived mentors pointed us in the right direction and came up with plenty of ideas. I signed up to an agency easily and ended up working for a Logistics firm; they kept the hours extremely flexible and were so good to us.’ As well as providing participants with great sporting opportunities, James concedes that having a job as well offered invaluable work experience for the future.
During his stay in Christchurch, James lived in the suburb of Riccarton, very close to the city centre but also with a thriving community of its own. His accommodation was within five minutes walk of the Hagley Oval where James played and trained; ‘Riccarton was perfect, you literally couldn’t get any better. There were loads of cool bars and cafes and Riccarton mall had everything you could ever need! It was all within ten minutes walk from my flat, although the city centre itself was only twenty minutes walk away!’ James lived in Riccarton with three other people playing at the same club; ‘Our house was a diverse mix but living with people who were also playing for the same club meant we had a solid base of mates from the start to socialise with.’ The social scene was also important for James, ‘I made some great new friends, we had a lot of fun. It was brilliant every Saturday after we had played a match there would be six teams, including the women’s sides too, all going up to the club house and having drinks in the evening sunshine.’
As well as the wonderful social scene at the club, Christchurch itself has more than enough on offer; including the infamous ‘Strip’ on Oxford Terrace containing numerous trendy bars and restaurants spread along the Avon River, and the renowned ‘Holy Grail’ Sports Bar, the largest in New Zealand and an absolute must for any Sports fans! The atmosphere in Christchurch is excellent, ‘it is a wonderful city’ says James, ‘it is very clean and full of open spaces. It’s definitely a very beautiful, well-kept city with lots of parks and gardens. The people there are so helpful and kind and are extremely friendly.’
James also secured the chance to travel around Canterbury during a four week Christmas break from training; ‘The area is so beautiful, I can’t explain it. Someone from our Cricket Club took us to see a few of the sights and it was breathtaking’. James stresses that getting around both in and out of Christchurch was extremely easy, ‘The bus service here is seriously amazing. There were a million different buses going in every direction all the time!’
The experience the James had to play Cricket in such a fantastic city is not one James will forget in a hurry. ‘The best things about my gap year were, of course, the experience of living in another country, the experience of playing Cricket in a new environment, I also loved meeting so many new friends. I think having to be so independent initially came as quite a shock, but I soon got used to it and now I know going to University is not going to be nearly as difficult as it would have been if I hadn’t gone away! I’m very seriously thinking of going back to play Cricket in Christchurch again, I enjoyed it so much that by the end I never wanted to leave.’
