My dad was a slave to his job - Paddy Upton (famed cricket coach)

Make Money Mondays

My dad was a slave to his job - Paddy Upton (famed cricket coach)

23 July 2019 6:56 PM

AB de Villiers and Paddy Upton holding a copy of "The Barefoot Coach".

…I thought to myself [watching his father] I’m never going to put on a suit and sit in traffic…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

We didn’t talk about money… But somewhere I got the sense that my dad was a slave to his job… But I didn’t get money education…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

My best money decision… it’s to never place money first… and [buying] a nice house.
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

Each week The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews a famous person about her or his attitude to money (hopes and fears, successes and failures, etc.) as part of his weekly “Make Money Mondays, Personal Edition” feature.

This week Arabile Gumede (in for Whitfield) interviewed famed cricket coach Paddy Upton, author of “The Barefoot Coach”.

Upton has a master’s degree in Sport Science from the University of Cape Town and a second master’s degree in Coaching from Middlesex University.

He was the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the South African national cricket team (1994-1998) and the Western Province rugby team (1999).

In 2008 he served as Mental Conditioning and Strategic Leadership Coach for the Indian national cricket team.

Under him and head coach Gary Kirsten that team was ranked first in Test Cricket and won the ICC World Cup.

Following his success in India, the Proteas appointed him as the Performance Director (2011 – 2014) during which time they became the first team in the world to hold the number one ranking in all three formats of the international game.

Between 2012-2018 Upton has been Head Coach in 12 professional T20 cricket seasons, for five different teams across three tournaments (Indian Premier League, Australian Big Bash League and the Pakistan Super League).

What does Upton believe about money?
Does it keep him up at night?
Does he spend like crazy or save compulsively?
How did his childhood experiences shape his views about money?

Listen to the interview in the audio below (and scroll down for more quotes from it).

When I was 11 or 12 years old, I delivered milk and newspapers to people’s front doors… I wanted a bicycle… Once I’d saved up half, my folks put up the rest…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

At 15 years old I worked as a waiter… I worked for R6 an hour… It gave me an appreciation of money at a very young age…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

Mom was in charge of managing the money…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

I’ve never really gone into debt…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

I didn’t know what to do when I left school…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

I was the world’s first cricket fitness trainer at the age of 24…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

…My million bucks were worth nought… It was never mine in the first place…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach

I’ve got nine or 10 surfboards… You can’t have enough surfboards… I don’t know; maybe that’s just me trying to hold on to my youth…
— Paddy Upton, author - The Barefoot Coach