Finding Your Family Through Sports with Naomi Dattani
Feb 26, 2024
Northern Power Women
Naomi Dattani, the cricket star breaking boundaries and stereotypes in sports, joins us in celebration of International Women's Day.
From playing backyard cricket to being a professional cricket player for England, Naomi opens up about the strength she found in her community.
Naomi shares how she pays it forward through coaching, with events of over 2000 South Asian Women.
Whether you're a cricket enthusiast or simply someone who believes in the power of sports to shape lives, this episode will uplift and inspire.
Listen to Learn: - The barriers Naomi has faced in sports - How to thrive when the odds are stacked against you - The importance of cricket in South Asian communities - How to take risks
You can now nominate for the 2025 Northern Power Women Awards to be in with a chance of celebrating with changemakers, trailblazers and advocates on 6th March 2025! Nominate now at wearepower.net
Sign up to our Power Platform to check out our events calendar here.
Naomi Dattani, the cricket star breaking boundaries and stereotypes in sports, joins us in celebration of International Women's Day.
From playing backyard cricket to being a professional cricket player for England, Naomi opens up about the strength she found in her community.
Naomi shares how she pays it forward through coaching, with events of over 2000 South Asian Women.
Whether you're a cricket enthusiast or simply someone who believes in the power of sports to shape lives, this episode will uplift and inspire.
Listen to Learn: - The barriers Naomi has faced in sports - How to thrive when the odds are stacked against you - The importance of cricket in South Asian communities - How to take risks
You can now nominate for the 2025 Northern Power Women Awards to be in with a chance of celebrating with changemakers, trailblazers and advocates on 6th March 2025! Nominate now at wearepower.net
Sign up to our Power Platform to check out our events calendar here.
The Northern Power Women podcast. For your career and your life, no matter what business you're in. Welcome to the Northern Power Women podcast, and this is the podcast that is all about highlighting role models and sharing their great, amazing stories, their personal, professional stories, with you and hoping that you'll be able to take some of those top tips, advice, guidance to help you navigate your career, your life, no matter what level you're at, no matter where you're at right now and where you are in the world. For this year's International Women's Day we have always been adamant that International Women's Day is never for one day and we always seem to run around crazy doing all these things and getting all these people into one place. But we've created a whole series this year. We've created a whole series called Beyond the Game, where we're really focusing on women in sport and the careers and the occupations that sit around it. So this year I'm delighted to be joined by some of the most brilliant, inspiring and insightful guests, and this week I'm joined by the wonderful Naomi Dutani, who is an English professional cricketer who plays for Lancashire Thunder.
Speaker 1:
Naomi, welcome to the pod. Thank you very much for having me. I'm really excited to be here Now. I've been looking at a video that the wonderful Archie Calliani made of you, which is all of my own, the kind of a not quite a day in the life, but it's a real sort of following you, I think, and all of your story. I think I watched on there that it was your brother that gave you a bat and said come on, let's have a go in this in the back garden. Is this where your love of first start to a cricket?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, exactly that. Yeah, that video that Archie made to highlighted it so perfectly Me and my brother playing in the back garden where we were little, and actually in that video he managed to hit a pot or something which cracked and my mom would go crazy when we were younger, so it was quite funny that it happened in that video as adults as well. So that's exactly how we started and he really encouraged me to take the sport further.
Speaker 1:
And that was funny because I heard that window crap, but I thought that was like added in, sounded in real life, that was real oh yeah, we couldn't, we all quite.
Speaker 2:
Oh, this is quite a nostalgic. We're actually still breaking pots to this day.
Speaker 1:
Well, there you go. Start is your mean to go on, I suppose, and what is it that you love so much about this sport?
Speaker 2:
I think cricket has given me a lot of like life lessons and it's at first it was meeting new people and kind of like escaping what everyone else was doing, like the normality of going to school and studying and all that. It was just something different that I was doing and I loved kind of being a bit individual. And then, as time's gone on, it's allowed me to like travel and again meet new people and just like be really competitive and again have that kind of element of escapism when I'm on the pitch.
Speaker 1:
And you started, I think, playing for a boys team of a member, and I think along this whole series there have been chatting to amazing women from the field of sport. That tends to be the path is joining the boys team because there wasn't that opportunity. Did you feel that was a barrier or you just like? No, I love this, so this is what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, at the time when you're young, you, just, like my brother, found me a boys cricket club and I just joined in and because I enjoyed it so much, I didn't really notice that that it was a barrier, like I didn't even know that girls played cricket, to be honest, but I just enjoyed it so much that I wanted to go every week and my mum and dad could see the enjoyment I had. So at the time I didn't see it as a barrier. But I guess it started to become a barrier when I got older and other teams would make fun of my teams, that we had a girl in the team and things like that. So it's then it developed over time. But, to be honest, my club that I play for, paraville Phoenicians they were amazing, the coach was great we still keep in contact now, which was amazing and yeah, so that they were a really welcoming club for me, and when I speak to my my young, 12 year old twin nephews, they are passionate about cricket.
Speaker 1:
You know they have a love of it. That is that community, that camaraderie, that sort of sense of a I don't know so many bits to it. I talked to them about tennis. Is this what you want to do when you grow up there? No, what we might do, but actually we just love it. Now there's just something in that. What, what sort of changed your sort of angle on it when you know what? I think this is something I can do and this is this is going to be my, my career.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think it started when I was about 13, 14 years old. I got, I went to Middlesex girls pathway and then I joined the emerging players program with the boys and that was again the first time I kind of got a taste of competitive cricket and I had coaches telling me I had potential and and then I played in some like junior England under 15s competitions and things like that which really spurred me on. I was like I really enjoy this, I really love being competitive and I just want to get better and better, and then that kind of just developed the passion and I think it started my journey of being a bit of a perfectionist as well. So so, yeah, that's kind of when it started and I still had education on the side. To be honest, I never really gave it a hundred percent until going to Loughborough University, which was the real like kick of professionalism, the strength, the conditioning, nutrition, physio, everything all wrapped in one and I was like I could see myself doing this in the future.
Speaker 1:
Tell us just how important cricket is in South Asian communities.
Speaker 2:
Oh, it's massive. Like you speak to any South Asian community and they'll be talking about India or Pakistan or Bangladesh or whatever it be, and they're so passionate about it. They know, you know, cricket is like a religion over there, and so it's actually obviously brings itself to British Indian culture as well. And yeah, so so many of my extended family love cricket, but maybe just never thought it would be on their doorstep with me coming to play as a female playing the game, and yet women haven't been seen as players traditionally.
Speaker 1:
Why is that, and what do you think we can do to remove some of those barriers?
Speaker 2:
I think there's obviously some stereotypes around South Asian women and girls. You know the path that they need to lead in terms of being a wife and being, you know, the mother of the household and getting married and kind of going down that route, and I think sport never always was seen as a more masculine sport, I guess. But I think it's times are definitely changing and more open conversations are being had and, like, just for me, when I go to clubs and schools and things like that, I see young Asian girls and boys all playing cricket and sport and actually telling me that they want to play professionally, which is a massive change. And I think now it's become more open and more people are accepting that there's a career and a safe career relatively safe career for it as well. Obviously, it's quite risky having a sport, a career in sport, but I think there's more people doing it now. So, yeah, and what does?
Speaker 1:
it mean to you? Do you embrace your responsibility as a role model for those future generations? Because you are?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think in the last couple of years I have really taken to that role and feel like I have a responsibility. And obviously that comes with a lot of pressure because sometimes I still look around and feel like I'm in the minority, but then the reason why I still turn up to play and go to training is because I don't want that to be the case for younger Asian girls coming through the sport. So, yeah, I would say it's a huge honour and it does really make me happy when I see younger girls play and get really excited about the game and it not be a barrier anymore in the future.
Speaker 1:
And who are the role models that you looked up to then and equally look up to now? I?
Speaker 2:
think I get really stuck on this question because I don't think I've massively had many role models growing up in terms of in the sport. I didn't look at anyone, thought I wanted to be like them. If anything, I would probably see Serena Williams, venus Williams, jessica Ennishill those kinds of people as my role model, someone who from a different background, who made it in this sport and had a lot of barriers, that kind of vibe. So I guess that's spurred me on to then be the role model that I didn't have in the future. And I guess today people like Isha Gowar are speaking up about their career and her journey into the media and everything that really excites me and I like listening to her stories and kind of now that she's a friend and a good role model for me as well done a webinar for International Women's Day as well as part of our Beyond the Game series is almost looking at the different roles that sit.
Speaker 1:
So, as you've got obviously the athletes like yourself, but then it's all you know sort of the broadcasters, the physios. It takes a village, doesn't it, I think, to build a, you know, a winning team and winning athletes. It's really important and I think the more that we can showcase and shine a light and spotlight the, the, the careers that sit around it as well, because it might not be you as the player. What encouragement would you give to women out there from any backgrounds about the impact of getting involved in a sport, whether it's playing or whether it's supporting?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think being in sport is a really special thing. It's like almost your second family, the types of people that you meet and just the journey that you go on together. So anyone that's you know thinking about getting into sport whether it's playing or being a physio or into the media you go on a journey with that team and it's really exciting, especially when you win together, you lose together everyone's, everyone's in it and I think that roller coaster of a journey is really exciting and I'm pretty sure that people they took up that career there look back at it and with and create so many memories.
Speaker 1:
And you've got people like Shruti Sajani have been working with the cricket board, both England and Wales, as part of the the Dream Big Desi Women project to take up cricket. It's amazing when you've got again role models like this, that kind of leaning to go. You know what we need to. We need to use our power for good, don't we to kind of really use that encouragement Is that? Is that what leads your passion on to go into schools, because you love to do that, don't you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think working. I worked with Shruti on some of the just events that she created, which are unbelievable over 2000 South Asia women getting involved in and some cricket, some cricket, where they'd be at clubs or coaching and being involved in some of those events, going into the schools and and meeting girls from different walks of life. Yeah, as I said, I love doing that and just seeing how happy they are when they're playing and it just always reminds me of how I started playing cricket and how how much enjoyment I had. And I guess I just want that for for all of the younger girls and just to see, just to hopefully not let them face any barriers and just like enjoy the sport for what it is and have those memories that I've had growing up.
Speaker 1:
And you talk about that, take you sort of back from sort of playing in the garden, smashing windows, still smashing windows. But you talked about that playing together, winning together, losing together, irrespective of where you start in sport, the fact that you can do that be part of that environment, community. Like you said, it's like a family sport, no matter where you go, whether you don't continue on in sport, whether you go into the world of work, sports really important to take into that, that, that path wherever you go. Isn't it that I always think that learning together, winning together, losing is really key.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think I've learned so many lessons from cricket that I'll take in my later life. I've learned to become more confident. I've learned to time manage. I've learned elements of discipline, I've learned to also just have a good time and, you know, learn to switch on, switch off. They're really important skills and I couldn't thank Cricket enough for all those skills. I honestly don't think I would have learnt them without it. So I'm really grateful to the sport for helping me like develop as an individual off the field.
Speaker 1:
So I'm sure that'll put me in good stead for whatever career I have next, and about you and you as an individual, you as Naomi the human. What kind of helps you? Kind of focus for the day? I think I saw meditation is really important to you. Is that how you kickstart your day?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I have a morning routine that's, you know, constantly being adapted over the years, but generally I like to go for a walk first thing in the morning, whether it be some kind of like meditation or just like some nice silent time when I'm walking, I would do that, have a nice coffee or somewhere out, or when I come back, sometimes I do a little bit of journaling and more recently, when I need to switch off or relax in between cricket tournaments or games, I've taken up a little bit of sketching and a bit of artwork, which, creativity, is not my strong point, but I feel like I've found a new skill that I'm really enjoying. So that's something, a form of meditation, I guess, that I try to do.
Speaker 1:
But something for you isn't. It is something that can take you into that space, and I think that resonates whatever you are or whatever you do, isn't it? It's find your, you find your, whatever that is, and you've been. You do one-to-one coaching as well, don't you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I've done a lot of coaching. I started my coaching career I guess until I was 16. And that's developed over time through working with, working with schools and some private stuff with one-to-ones and more recently trying to go into the space of strength and conditioning as well and know that those two cricket and strength and conditioning come together. So that's kind of my project at the moment is to rebuild my one-to-one business for the future and hopefully that'll be what my career leads into next. So I'm never leaving the team sport environment and that roller coaster journey.
Speaker 1:
But that's almost your forward plan, isn't it? That's your what's next for Naomi, isn't it? That's you future-proofing your next, your next, you know, sort of after you finish competitive cricket, isn't it?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's sometimes a little bit scary when I think about what's next. But I guess just engaging in like different work experience things and you know, just seeing what else is out there away from cricket, Like I'd love to get into like different sports like tennis and golf as well, and just see how they do things, but when it gives me an excitement to what the future may hold and what advice would you give to your younger Naomi before she picked up that bat and before that window went through?
Speaker 2:
I would say take more risks earlier and worry less about what the future holds. I think so much growing up I was so focused on education and doing the right thing, which might have come from my culture and the way I've brought up, which is amazing. I've learned so much from it. But yeah, definitely take risks earlier and then you'll never know what the future holds and just enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1:
I love that. I love that so many different I always think about when I hear these comments or these quotes like that. I'm like they're for the tote bag, which is going to be the biggest tote bag in the world, so take risks earlier, naomi. Thank you so so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you taking time out. You're a really busy schedule to do this, but thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
It's been an absolute pleasure. I love chatting with these women, so thank you and thanks all of you for listening.
Speaker 1:
Please do stay connected. Keep the conversation going on all of our socials at North Power Women on Twitter and Northern Power Women on all the others. We'd love to hear your comments and we'd love you to leave us a review. If you could get their chance, that would be amazing. Stay connected with all of the things that we do in our digital hub. We are Powernet, our monthly virtual speed, networking and mentoring. We love to get you involved in those. Paying it forward, giving it back, is what we're all about. Thank you so much for listening. My name is Simone. It's the Northern Power Women podcast and what goes on media production.