Paddy Upton
Patrick Anthony Howard 'Paddy' Upton (born 5 November 1968) is a South African born cricket coach specialising as head coach in professional
He worked as the
Changing careers following a second master's degree in business coaching from
Between 2012 and 2018, Upton has been head coach in 12 professional T20 cricket seasons, for five different teams across three tournaments, including the Indian Premier League, Australian Big Bash League and the Pakistan Super League. His accomplishments as head coach include leading the Rajasthan Royals team from four years near the bottom of the IPL log to IPL semi-finalists and Champions League finalists in his first season (2013), including a record 13 straight home wins. He joined the Sydney Thunder team after they had lost 21 out of 22 matches in the first three seasons of the Big Bash League, leading them to Big Bash League Champions[7] two seasons later, in BBL05.
Upton has
Biography
Upton was born on 5 November 1968 in
Upton played rugby for
In 1994 and at age 25 he retired from competitive cricket and rugby to take up the position of full-time Strength and Conditioning coach of the South African national cricket team.
Following his work as Strength and Conditioning coach (of South African cricket and Western Province rugby) in 1999 Upton was a co-founder and managing director of Street Universe,[10] a Section-21[11] (non-profit) organisation founded to rehabilitate the 400-odd hardened street children and youth living on the streets in the Cape Town CBD and surrounds. Thanks to the backing of Ex-springbok rugby captain and later manager Morne du Plessis, the organisation received funding from amongst other, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.[12] Following Upton's resignation in 2002, Street Universe merged with another organisation under new leadership.
Strength and Conditioning coach
After completing a master's degree in Sport Science and at age 25, Upton cut his playing-career short to take up the full-time position of Strength and conditioning Coach for the South African cricket team, from 1994 to 1998.[13] He was also involved as a key strategist with the team coach Bob Woolmer and then-captain Hansie Cronje.[14] In 1999 he changed codes to rugby, spend a year working as Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Western Province Vodacom Cup rugby team.
Mental coach
With a
Upton worked for one season (2014) as Mental Coach and Performance Consultant to the
Indian Cricket Team
Having been appointed the head coach of
Upton was brought back to the Indian team as a mental conditioning expert in July 2022, during the India tour of West Indies.[16]
South African Cricket Team
Following success with the Indian Cricket team, Upton was appointed Performance Director of the South Africa Cricket Team (Proteas) from 2011 to 2014. During this period they became the first team to simultaneously hold the Official ICC[5] World number 1 ranking in all three formats of the game. The Proteas retained the Number one ranking from August 2012 to December 2015.
Head coach
Between 2013 and 2018 Upton worked as head coach in 12 professional T20 cricket seasons, for five different teams across three tournaments, in Australia, India and UAE. He was appointed head coach of a 6th team, the Durban Qalandars in South Africa's T20 Global League, before the tournament was postponed.
Indian Premier League
Upton was head coach of
Australian Big Bash League
Upton was head coach of the Sydney Thunder cricket team in the Australian Big Bash League for four seasons, from 2014 to 2018. His appointment came after the team had lost 21 out of 22 matches in the first three seasons of the Big Bash League (BBL01 to BBL03). Along with Captain Mike Hussey, Upton guided the team from wooden-spooners to Big Bash League Champions[7] two seasons later, in BBL05. In a 2015 interview, Australian cricketer Shane Watson referred to Upton as 'one of the best coaches in the world'.[18]
Pakistan Super League
Upton was head coach of Lahore Qalandars in the inaugural two seasons of the Pakistan Super League, hosted in Dubai (2016–2017). The team finished in 5th in both seasons.
Upton has degrees from four different universities, including two master's degrees. In 2017 he was appoint as Professor of Practice at Deakin University school of Business and Law (Melbourne, Australia). His degrees include;
- BSc (Human Movement Sciences), Stellenbosch University
- B.A Hons (Biokinetics), University of Port Elizabeth. (Including distinction for Sport Psychology major)
- MSc (Medical – Sport Science), University of Cape Town. (Thesis: Prevention of Schoolboy Rugby Injuries)
- M.A. (Professional Development – Coaching), Middlesex University (with distinction). (Thesis: Assessing professional cricket coaching (with distinction))
- Appointed Professor of Practice. Deakin University, Faculty of Business and Law (Melbourne, Australia)
Upton's has published academic papers in the South African Medical Journal[19] (Vol 86, No 5. 1996) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine,[20] (Vol 6. 1996) and has co-authored "The Beer Drinkers Guide to Losing Weight"[21] (Penguin Books, 1997) and "Sharing the Passion. Conversations with Coaches"[22] (Advanced human Technologies, 2006).
- Author of The Barefoot Coach: Life-changing insights from working with the world's best cricketers.[23] Published May 2019 in India by Westland (Amazon), on Amazon Kindle (eBook) and self-published in South Africa. Ranked in Amazon.in top 50 sellers, and chosen by Exclusive Books (South Africa) as a 2019 Homebru Book of Choice.[24]
References
- ^ Hoar, Sharleen; Consultant, Performance Psychology (18 August 2011). "What is Mental Coaching and How Can You Benefit?".
- ^ "What is Executive Coaching? - DesignIntelligence". Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Paddy Upton". Speakers of Note. Archived from the original on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Dhoni presented with ICC Test championship mace". The Hindu. 28 December 2009 – via thehindu.com.
- ^ a b "ICC Test Match Team Rankings International Cricket Council". icc-cricket.com.
- ^ "Books | Awesome South Africa".
- ^ a b "Big Bash League 2016: Sydney Thunder defeat Melbourne Stars in BBL05 Final at the MCG". Archived from the original on 5 May 2016.
- ^ "2015 Alumni Awards - Alumni Relations".
- ^ "Paddy Upton profile and biography, stats, records, averages, photos and videos". ESPNcricinfo.
- ^ "Street children take heroes on at their game". iol.co.za.
- ^ "Companies and intellectual property registration office". 27 June 2013. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013.
- ^ "Sport Has The Power To Change The World". Laureus.
- ^ a b "Cricket Score, Schedule, Latest News, Stats & Videos". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "The more of a superstar one becomes, the lonelier one actually gets". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "World Surf League - The global home of surfing". World Surf League.
- ^ "India bring back Paddy Upton as mental conditioning expert". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ Faizan Lakhani. "Moin Khan, Mickey Arthur among head coaches for PSL teams". Geo TV. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "Why Sydney Thunder's Paddy Upton is 'one of the best coaches in the world'". Fox Sports. 24 January 2016.
- PMID 8711549– via ajol.info.
- PMID 8665121– via bjsm.bmj.com.
- ISBN 0140272259.
- ISBN 0620362685.
- ^ "The Barefoot Coach | Paddy Upton". 13 May 2020.
- ^ "Homebru 2019 - Proudly local. Proudly Homebru. - Exclusive Books". exclusivebooks.co.za.