Lutho Sipamla has got his head screwed on right.
The 22-year-old Proteas fast bowler from the Eastern Cape knows that he can’t play professional sport forever and that he has to plan for the day he hangs up his boots.
Luckily for the now-Lions star, who made his T20I debut last year while playing in his first ODI earlier this year, his family prepared him for a life outside the boundary.
Therefore, Sipamla now juggles playing for the national team and studying for a B.Com Marketing and Business Management degree.
He explains: “It’s very important to have education as a back-up - you don’t have a long career as a
cricketer.
“After cricket you’ve got to have something to fall back on. It’s only the first half of your life.”
Sipamla adds of his decision to go after this particular degree: “My family is very business-orientated. My dad’s a businessman, my mom’s a businesswoman, so I just watched them and took a liking to business. I enjoy marketing as well, having to advertise certain products and build a brand name.
“Most people who are in the field of sport, go into sports science. [But] hopefully after cricket I can become a businessman as well.”
While his parents were a big influence off the field, Sipamla had many cricketing heroes growing up.
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He explains: “The players I looked up to were Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Morne Morkel and then the West Indian bowlers in the 80s and 90s had a large influence as well.
“Those are the people I idolised and tried to built my game around.”
Sipamla would have returned to action this weekend in the Solidarity Cup, but with it being postponed, he has a little more time to prepare for the day he finally suits up.