By Suzanne McFadden for LockerRoom
Amy Satterthwaite has just arrived home in Christchurch from another Big Bash season with the Adelaide Strikers, and her 1-year-old son Louie is squealing with delight as he rediscovers his old toys.
The White Ferns great is settling into her new life as a professional cricket coach and the female pathway lead for Canterbury Cricket. “I love it,” says the 256-cap international – one of New Zealand’s finest batters, women or men – who retired in 2022.
And then there’s parenting “somewhere in between”, laughs Satterthwaite, who’s raising two children with her wife, White Ferns fast bowler Lea Tahuhu. The family spent five weeks in Australia together while she was assistant coach of the Strikers during the WBBL.
“It’s challenging when you finish playing, finding your new self. I’m slowly finding my feet,” Satterthwaite says.
What’s eased that search is realising how much she enjoys passing on what she’s learned – by helping usher future White Ferns down the right path.
Satterthwaite is one of four former New Zealand cricketers tasked with identifying, developing and sustaining the next generation of female talent.
She’s been joined by Anna Peterson at Auckland Cricket and Sarah Tsukigawa at Otago Cricket, who will lead the female pathway programmes in their respective major associations. Co-ordinating them is Sara McGlashan, New Zealand Cricket’s female pathways manager – another former White Fern.
“It’s really nice to reconnect with them in something we’re all very passionate about,” former White Fern captain Satterthwaite says. “We just want to keep giving back and helping the game. And that’s really cool to see.”
Peterson, who played 65 times for the White Ferns, has returned to cricket after leading Auckland Rugby’s women and girls strategy. Tuskigawa (61 caps) was a New Zealand selector and assistant coach of her former team, Otago Sparks, while teaching in Dunedin.
With more than 200 appearances for New Zealand, McGlashan was a trailblazer for professional women cricketers – one of the first four women awarded a NZ Cricket contract back in 2013. She spent two years at Cricket Tasmania as their female pathway coach before returning to make an impact here.
Part of her overarching role is to ensure the pathway leads connect and learn from each other.
“It’s awesome we now have roles just overseeing the women’s game, and even more exciting past New Zealand players are in those roles,” she says.
“They know the journey the players are on. Some have daughters themselves. And all three of these women are hands-on with coaching too.
“Knowing Anna, Sara and Amy will have such an impact on those young girls is so good. They’re knowledgeable, they’ve got experience and expertise, but they’re just so passionate about it, which is crucial for young girls to see.”
Satterthwaite is aware of not always harking back to her playing days when working with young women.
“But there’s an element of reflecting, when you’ve lived it and looked at the opportunities you had in cricket,” she says. “Now it’s about increasing the opportunities available and improving the programmes, support and resources for female players and see where they can get to.”
McGlashan sees the major change to the pathways girl cricketers follow today has been the growth in the profile of the women’s game.
“As a kid I’d try to get off school to head down to McLean Park and watch the White Ferns play in the Rose Bowl against Australia, and that was about all I saw,” says McGlashan, based in Hawke’s Bay.
“Young boys would watch men’s cricket on TV and learn a lot, but it wasn’t the same for girls. Now the women’s game is growing so fast around the world – you can turn on TV and see the WBBL most nights.
“It’s a massive win, but it means we’ve had to put these people in crucial roles to make sure the young players are being exposed to skill development along their pathway.”
The female pathways programme has had a boost in funding from a joint initiative between NZ Cricket and the major associations, following Project Push On, a working group set up last year that saw a gap in the pathway system.
McGlashan admits it’s difficult to compete with the women’s budgets of Australia, England and India, so it’s about doing things smartly. “While we’re not like the big three, there’s a cool uniqueness about what we can do and the access to players and the genuine care for the players in the game,” she says.
Both Satterthwaite and McGlashan are excited by the young talent they’re seeing, especially girls in their early teens.
The rise of 12-to-14-year-old girls fits with the timing of the game growing in the public eye, says McGlashan, who’s also the New Zealand under-19 girls’ coach.
There was a 52% increase in young female programme registrations last summer, on the back of the White Ferns’ stunning T20 World Cup victory in October 2024.
For the first time, NZ Cricket is running a girls’ U17 national tournament this summer, where players will have their first exposure to the quality wickets at NZ Cricket’s high performance centre at Lincoln University.
Canterbury has around 160 females registered between 13-16 years, and a lot of talent among them, Satterthwaite says. “It makes me even more driven to make sure we have the pathway to support them as they come through. It’s exciting to think what we could have in three to five years’ time.”
There’s now a New Zealand A women’s squad, that toured England in June – an opportunity for domestic players knocking on the door of the White Ferns to experience touring at the top level. “A lot of our domestic players still work full time so it’s a drastic leap for them to be on the road for three weeks straight,” McGlashan says.
Satterthwaite has been in her role for two seasons, and has seen the benefits and taken some personal reward. “You get feedback sometimes from parents thankful for the opportunities that players get. Or sometimes it’s from watching players develop – those light bulb moments when they master something new or pick up a new skill,” she says.
Growing up in the North Canterbury farming community of Culverden, she has treasured memories of her pathway through Canterbury Country age-group teams. “That’s something I hold special in my heart,” she says.
Canterbury have now created another pathway with their Town v Districts T20 competition for U16, U19 and senior women. “It provides camaraderie, leadership, a different level from club cricket, and something for players to aspire to,” Satterthwaite says.
“We have academies providing more specialist skill support. The hard part is you can’t provide that for everyone. But hopefully the programme will just keep growing.”
Satterthwaite, who will coach the North team in next week’s North v South T20 series, is constantly thinking of how to help young women bridge the gap into domestic cricket.
“In the past, we’ve had players come to play for Canterbury and they’ve never been in a gym, had nutritional support, or mental skill support. It can be a bit overwhelming – so how do we provide that at a younger age?” she says.
“I’m focused on the style of cricket the Magicians and the White Ferns are trying to play and filtering that down through our pathway – making those progressions more seamless when players get those opportunities.”
The drop-out rate of teenage girls from cricket continues to be a concern, and Satterthwaite is conscious of ensuring players playing multiple sports see “a really attractive pathway” in cricket and then support them to balance their sporting opportunities.
Satterthwaite’s daughter Grace, almost 6, has been getting into the swing of things through Smash Play, which introduces cricket skills to kids aged 5-12. “Right now, she’s more interested in ‘flying an army plane’ when she’s older. And that’s fine!” her mum says.
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.