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Mark Lane first picked up a cricket bat when he was10 years old, and it wasn’t long before he was playing representative cricket for the Marlborough primary schools competition. “My Dad was the one who persuaded me to play cricket in the first place,” says Mark. “I’d been happily playing tennis at a local club, but Dad’s cricket teammates kept hassling him to get me out on the oval.” It seems that they had recognised they were onto a good thing.
Mark went on to play in all of the under-age teams for Central Districts as well as making his way into the Marlborough senior side at just 15 years of age. “I was the youngest in the team by a mile,” says Mark.
He continued to play cricket while studying mathematics and psychology at Christchurch University, representing the Wellington first-class team during that time. After he finished university Mark also went on and played for Central Districts and Canterbury at first-class levels over the next few years while holding down coaching positions at Marlborough Cricket and Canterbury Cricket.
During his time coaching, Mark had discovered that he really enjoyed teaching kids. “It was great seeing the difference I could make in terms of their learning, even through cricket,” says Mark. This led to Mark’s career in teaching, where he found himself at Christ’s College in Christchurch for about six years. Naturally, he also coached the school’s first eleven side and was Master in Charge of Cricket during his tenure.
These days, Mark holds the position of National Development Manager at New Zealand Cricket – where he has quickly risen through the ranks since he started there in 2001. “Basically, my role is to oversee game and coach development across all age groups,” he says.
“It’s all about participation,” says Mark. ‘It’s about getting people to play cricket and keeping them there, enjoying what they do. On the coaching side, I’m always looking at the coaching pathway and constantly reviewing and assessing our coaching courses to ensure they’re getting the level of education and support they need to do their best and support the players.”
“When CoachForce was launched by SPARC, we jumped at the opportunity to focus on the objectives SPARC is trying to achieve, so we put together a strategy on coach development at New Zealand Cricket based on that,” says Mark. “We appointed a coach advisory panel, who meet regularly during the year and discuss directions and the way forward for New Zealand cricket coaches and it’s working out great for us.”
It’s a busy job, but an important one, so a typical day at the office for Mark starts at 7am and usually finishes when it’s time for dinner. “We’re flat tack right now at the start of the season,” says Mark. “But I still make the time to catch up with friends and spend time with my two kids, Bella and Sam.”
