Decades of commitment bring success
Few people have done as much for the women’s game at grassroots level as St Hilda’s Collegiate First XI coach Neil Rosenberg. Cricket writer Adrian Seconi finds out what has kept him involved for more than 20 years.
GOOD intentions get you so far. Hard work and tenacity will bring rewards.
But it takes unrelenting passion to build a successful cricket programme at a school with a patch of grass the size of a ‘‘pocket handkerchief’’.
Neil Rosenberg certainly has passion.
The St Hilda’s Collegiate teacher thinks fast, talks fast and sees opportunities where others would see obstacles.
He is also rarely spotted in long pants and is often barefoot.
It is always summer in Rosenberg’s world. He has coached the school’s First XI for more than 20 years. Twentyone to be precise.
That takes a lot of commitment and there were times when the school was not making a lot of progress.
‘‘It took 10 years to get to a national tournament and when we got there we just got smashed,’’ Rosenberg said.
‘‘But I thought this is too good of a place not to come back to.’’
That perseverance paid off in 2016 when the school won the national girls secondary school title for the first time in its history. It collected a second title in three years when it beat Christchurch Girls’ High School in a tense final earlier this month.
To put that achievement into perspective, St Hilda’s has a roll of about 400 and there is nowhere to properly train at the school.
The ‘‘pocket handkerchief’’ grassed courtyard is slightly larger than Rosenberg’s colourful description but not by much.
It is not long enough to fit a cricket pitch on. That makes training a challenge.
‘‘It is a significant issue,’’ the 60somethingyearold said.
‘‘We use the high performance centre for Otago Cricket and get a wee bill after that because they have a facility to pay off.
‘‘We often have open practice down at the Oval, which builds the adversity quota because of the harshness of that northeaster or the southerly.
‘‘We train in the gym at the school but we are a very sporty school so it is a matter of getting the booking in early.
‘‘Basically we’ll train anywhere we can.’’
It is not ideal, but the team makes do.
‘‘Just the two warmup games to take out a national title — it was pretty cool.’’
Rosenberg was brought up in Hawke’s Bay and played some age group representative cricket. He stopped playing in his early 20s and moved to Dunedin in 1991.
He and his wife Vanetta have three adult children — Sam, Chloe and Matthew.
In recent years the St Hilda’s team has been a production line for the Otago Sparks.
There were eight past or present St Hilda’s pupils playing in the backtoback onedayers against Wellington at the Basin Reserve in November.
And it was a great thrill for him when former pupil Kate Heffernan was called up for two twenty20 internationals against the West Indies in March.
‘‘To get the call from Kate to say ‘Rosie, I’ve been named in the White Ferns’ was a lovely day.’’
It is moments like that which have kept him involved year after year.
‘‘I just do it for the love of it, eh. I do it for the kids.
‘‘All this stuff here,’’ he said, gesturing towards the trophy, ‘‘is just a nice little addon.’’
Rosenberg was anxious to acknowledge the help he had had from Adam Gain since 2015.
The pair had ‘‘worked really well together’’ and had been able to take the team to ‘‘another level’’.
But on a daytoday basis, it has been Rosenberg and his infection energy which have been selling the game to the next generation.
Cricket is not an easy sell. It does not fit easily in a modern lifestyle and it is seen by some as long and boring.
‘‘I guess I’ve tried to make the game fun and just get the girls to enjoy it.
‘‘One of the first things a girl will ask is ‘who am I playing with?’
‘‘That is very important to them and what they want to get out of sport.
‘‘If you get buyin from someone else in their friendship group, then nek minute you’ve got some real goforward.
‘‘Girls are really keen to learn and will mop everything up.
‘‘And I think they enjoy just to have a bit of a goon and I don’t take life too seriously, so we have a laugh.’’
There is a real push from New Zealand Cricket down to develop the female game and Rosenberg has been impressed with the work the Otago Cricket Association was doing in that area.
The Girls Smash was a positive initiative and hopefully some of the girls would pursue the game further.
He would like to see more females involved in the women’s game, including coaching.
He would also like to see a club competition once the player numbers are there to sustain it.
That remains a challenge, but he has noticed a vast improvement in the skill level in the past decade which bodes well.
‘‘The skill set of the girls is far superior to what it was a decade ago.
‘‘That is no disrespect to the girls who played a decade ago but it is just that the wheels are going a bit faster.’’
And Rosenberg has been there with the oil to keep those wheels moving.
❛ It took 10 years to get to a national tournament and when we got there we just got smashed. But I thought this is too good of a place not to come back to