Meet cricket’s gentle Lion
For Nkwe, coaching is an opportunity to make a difference to peoples’ lives
● There are many things that can change a person’s life. For Enoch Thabiso Nkwe, it was a bunch of broken bottles he fell onto at a carwash in Polokwane after attending a family funeral in 2009.
“It’s a bit weird to say this but when I look back, the injury happened at the right time. In terms of my cricketing career, I wasn’t sure of where I was, where I was going or what was happening.
“What I do remember is that the injury happened after the three-day final where I scored a hundred for Gauteng Strikers against Eastern Province and we won the final. Some time after the game, I went to a family funeral and when I was sitting with my brothers and cousins at the carwash, there was a bit of a commotion and I wanted to get away from everything,” Nkwe said.
“Unfortunately, I fell onto a couple of broken bottles and my wrist was badly cut. I was rushed to hospital. I had an emergency operation but here I am today as a coach.
“I feel what happened that day did so for a reason. I realised I needed a change of direction. Maybe it was there all the time but it was hidden.
“This maybe explains why I’m such a big believer of hidden talent and finding the hidden talent in cricketers.”
The 35-year-old son of Dobsonville soil replaced another favoured Soweto cricketing champion, Geoffrey Toyana, as Highveld Lions coach.
The married father of one played 42 firstclass matches for the Gauteng Strikers, who changed their name to the Central Gauteng Lions and then Highveld Lions.
It is a homecoming of sorts for the St Stithians College product (Kagiso Rabada’s alma mater) who has done the junior and senior coaching domestic rounds.
Having won all the trophies at affiliate level with the Central Gauteng Lions and also being the 2013 semi-professional coach of the year, Nkwe was a logical choice for the Lions to continue on their transformation path.
Nkwe is the youngest franchise coach on the circuit and the only black African coach in the same ranks.
The transformation mandate is something
Nkwe fully understands, but coaching for the former allrounder is more than just facilitating training sessions or, in Shane Warne’s words, being the vehicle that ferries players to the hotel and back.
The lessons he acquired from his junior coach Marcus Mogari in terms of tapping into the human capital of a cricketer informs his scholarly human resources approach to coaching.
Mogari introduced Nkwe to cricket as an 11-year-old and went beyond the call of duty by keeping him away from football.
“Sometimes coaching should be seen as an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and I feel I need to do that in line with what I’ve been exposed to in the past couple of years.
“I’ve fallen in love with the impact the game can have on a human being. There’s good in seeing people achieve greater things. Just to see people grow and achieve things is for me the most rewarding thing.
“Silverware counts but seeing another human being step up to another level is something else,” Nkwe said.
“My job is to firstly understand the human side so I can reach and connect with the players.
“Once you do that, people will notice that you care and I think you can help them reach new levels.
Grateful for guidance
“Another thing is to ensure when players reach that sort of happiness and contentment, they are happy to pass it off to others.” While Nkwe acknowledges the hard work he has put in, his selfless nature doesn’t allow for him to take all the credit.
Having worked with the likes of Dave Nosworthy, Grant Morgan, Lawrence Mahatlane, Ray Jennings and Toyana throughout his coaching career, Nkwe said he was grateful for their guidance.
But one Grant Elliot played a crucial role in Nkwe’s all-round development.
Elliot was the South African-born and schooled all-rounder who broke South Africa’s hearts in a pulsating 2015 Cricket World Cup semifinal in Auckland.
“Grant was my mentor at school and he went through all the levels that I wanted to go through when I was at school. “When I worked with him it was easy to relate to him and learn a lot about life and cricketing experiences.
“It was just a pity my cricket affected my studies because there was a lot I wanted to do but cricket came first,” Nkwe said.