News & Results
Q+A with Kane Williamson
Kane Williamson recently joined Sport Bay of Plenty for a Q+A session to discuss his playing career, leadership and how playing multiple sports and having fun as a younger player has helped shaped his career.
Kane Williamson has been captain of the Black Caps since 2016 and was ranked number 1 in the ICC ranking in 2015 with a staggering 90.15 batting average. He has played 80 Test matches and 151 ODIs and is currently ranked fourth in the ICC Men's Test batting rankings. Check out the full Q+A session below.
Many of Kane's insights during the Q+A session were well aligned to the Balance is Better philosophy. Highlights include:
- Playing multiple sports: His reflection on playing multiple sports growing up before settling into cricket. “Growing up I was always interested in a number of different sports.”
- The value of fun: How enjoyment underpins the ability to persevere in a sport (and coaches’ and parents’ roles in supporting and facilitating the joy in sport). “One thing I know for certain is that if you stop enjoying what you do, you stop doing it.”
- Having supportive parents: The importance of having healthy support from parents for his development and later success, and how it can help young people learn to be self-driven and take responsibility for their own growth. “I was fortunate to have a supportive family and parents to encourage me without putting too much pressure on me. The drive that I had for sport came from me.”
- Learning and growth feature more than winning: Notably, winning was mentioned very little, but learning and growth featured prominently, “Enjoyable parts of being a captain are seeing the growth of the group.” Winning is also viewed as a byproduct of process (and therefore all the more satisfying). “I am competitive and tenacious in my drive to improve.”
- Understanding the importance of failure: “Know there will be some failure, but don’t take it personally” and [36m54s to 38m04s] “Accepting failure is incredibly important.”
It was a great learning experience for all who attended the webinar and thanks go to Kane for his time and insights.
